In late March, when people no longer could come to visit its collection in person because of the COVID-19 pandemic, J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles issued a challenge: Recreate a piece of art from its collection using just three objects that you have at home. Thousands of people all over the world took on the Getty Museum Challenge, including the Digital Photography I, Digital Photography II, and Image Development classes at Verona High School.
Chrissy Sciacchitano, who teaches the three classes, asked her students to submit three ideas that they thought they would be able to recreate at home with what they had. “It was their choice which one of the three they recreated and from there it was a surprise for me,” Sciacchitano said. “I think many of the students are still undecided if art school would be for them, this assignment was more to alleviate stress and anxiety and just have some fun.”
Some of the art created was based on the Getty’s collection, which ranges from painting and drawings to sculpture. But some students picked works from other museums. Grant Wood’s iconic “American Gothic” is owned by the Art Institute of Chicago, while “The Death Of Marat,” Jacque-Louis David’s painting (above) of a murdered leader of the French Revolution, is at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels, Belgium. And you might expect of a creative exercise during a global health crisis, toilet paper and cleaning supplies took center stage in more than a few of the pieces.
“I think the kids did an amazing job,” says Sciacchitano. “I was very impressed with all of their creativity. I miss them all very much and can not wait to get back into the classroom.”
To see more of VHS’ work for the Getty Museum Challenge, click here. The students who participated in it include:
Sydney Aiello, Britney Allteni, Dermot Badman, Dylan Bakst, Julia Balogh, Jane Bartell, Emily Baumgard, Xavier Beltran, Kidus Berhanu, Malachy Black, Killian Blitz, Mikayla Bush, Aidan Callari, Sadie Cantwell, Julia Capriglione, Peter Caputo, Selena Caraballo, Sean Carney, Abigail Castillo, Amanda Cavallo, Alejandro Celi, Raymond Chesney, Jadyn Chu, Joseph Ciccolini, Paul Cillik, Paige Cooney, Samantha Costigan, Robert Curtis, Matthew Day, Valentina DelBarba, Paige Dennis, Richard DiGeronimo, Luca DiNatale, Ashley Duhaney, Kiernan Dunphy, Samuel Eisenstein, Andrew Eremita, Vincent Eremita, Faith Fauerbach, Lucas Ferrara, Evan Fersch, Sara Fiedler, Isabella Freda, Jack Freedman, Liliana Freire Pires, Viviana Freire Pires, Alexa Friedman, Liam Frey, Jenna Gabbe, Pierre Gadelkarim, Aleksander Grant, Maryclare Hahula, Jordyn Hannigan, James Haveron, Serena Henderson, Emma Hogan, Lucy Hogan, Katherine Hunt, Cole Jenkins, Adam Karpinski, Meghan Kenneally, Charles Kenrick, Collin Knight, Sarah Knoetig, Isabella Lachina, Luke Lambert, Shane Lawless, Sloan Lawless, John Lermi, Priya Limbachiya, Alyssa Lipesky, Michael Lipesky, Bridget Lonsinger, Steven Luehs, Colin McAneney, Kaitlyn McCaffrey, Cole McClain, Owen Merle, Adam Mizia, Ivan Morales Santiago, Frank O’Neill, Jack O’Neill, Dean Palmer, Domenick Pandiscia, Ciana Popolizio, Sara Remler, Katherine Repoli, Aaron Richards, Brooke Rienecker, Mateo Salerno, Alessandra Sales-Muhar, Henry Sampers, Connor Santos, Robert Schwegler, Rebecca Siclari, Isaac Skrivanic, Nicholas Socci, Ryan Stanisci, Daisy Steup, Sean Stiefbold, Brady Swanstrom, Catherine Swanstrom, Dylan Toriello, Gavin Tremper, Michael Vaccaro, Ashlee Vargas, Alexander Vasquez, Joseph Visone, Regina Waldron, Kelly Waterman, Nandi Webb, Emily Weisser, Jenika Ying, Emma Zalewski, Daniel Zamloot, Daniela Zehnder, Christopher Zysk
