ARTNOTES @ CHS: February 2019

Conversations About Creativity

Wednesday, February 27^th at 7:30

Please join us for a CHS Community Discussion about Creativity:

Parents, Teachers, Grandparents and Care Givers are all welcome! We will talk about the illuminating book written by Ursula Kolbe, as well as collected articles on the subject of creativity and how you can set the stage to spark your child’s imagination! If you haven’t read the book yet, no worries - come anyway and learn ways to foster your child’s creativity!

This isn’t only about art…it’s about the human capacity to imagine, to think in new ways and to act on those ideas. Children have the magical ability to access their imaginations in ways that we want to encourage and not shut down; young children are naturally using their creativity to explore their world, and it’s up to us to give them the time and space to do this. Please join us to share your experiences, thoughts and hopes for encouraging creative thinking and actions in your children.

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WINTER was about creativity in all it's variations!

We painted the snow!

A thought about children's creativity: A creative idea for artmaking can be a spark of inspiration after a child experiences something meaningful. It can be the result of a day dream or a new connection made. Imaginative books can spark ideas, as can the availability of art materials. An idea can be the result of wondering, "What can I do with a paintstick?" It can be an art challenge from the teacher, "How many different kinds of lines can you paint?" It can also result from the observation of another artist's work, "Can I create that color that she created?" Whatever the inspiration, children are motivated to express themselves and make meaning out of their world. For all children, art is another language, a way to communicate. For those who are less verbal, art can become a very important way for them to express themselves.

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Primary Art Students have been busy expressing their "Best Selves" through our school-wide art project. Our Best Selves refers to our Emotional Intelligence Curriculum and is the child's own perception of who they are when they are at their best. To complete the project, the students made a selfportrait, a frame for the portrait, and three word cards to describe their best selves (caring, curious, creative, loving, etc...). Once they are assembled, they will be displayed around the school! Primary artists also enjoyed making ceramic valentine gifts for thier parents and families, wrapping paper and all:

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Kindergarten Art Students also completed their schoolwide art project by making mixed-media collage style frames and discussing their Best Self. It will be exciting when they are all assembled and displayed around the school. Just when the winter weather hit, the kindergarteners made snow people out of Model Magic. These imaginative creatures were a big hit! After the break, the students experimented with creating paper snowflakes which they shared at Friday Morning Meeting along with a poem they learned in their classroom. Just like real snowflakes, no two paper snowflakes were the same! Kindergarteners also enjoyed painting their Hidden Name paintings, creating a piece of abstract art. They enjoyed asking their classmates if they could find the letters of their name in their colorful creations. "Yarn Bombing" was a new concept to the students. I read a story to them about a wonderful place where a little girl knitted special gifts for everyone, including the trees and houses, and she never ran out of yarn (Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett). Then I asked them if they thought that could be a real place...what a surprise when they discovered that on the West Coast some areas do have bikes and trees and telephone poles wrapped in knitting. It's called "Yarn Bombing". The students enjoyed wrapping their own small cardboard pieces and assembling them on mat board; and just like aprofessional artist, they named their pieces:

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First Grade Artists had a great time recently climbing up on the tables in the art room and getting their entire body traced. They are using these body tracings as "containers" for drawings of all the things they love, and love to do...family members, pets, hobbies, sports and various treasured items. In addition to their journals, these tracings are an activity they can do when they finish with class projects. A highlight of our winter activities was the first grade Cat Paintings. In this activity the students first heard a story called, "They All Saw a Cat" by Brendan Wenzel. After discussing the story and how all of the animals saw the cat from a different perspective, I led them through a visualization exercise in which they closed their eyes and imagined a cat of their own, it's shape, position, location and mood. After this they painted their cats. A week later we looked at some cat paintings by professional artists, and then at the student's cats. We discussed what details they could add with oil pastels. Through this process the students were able to create a lovely collection of unique and charming cats! Most recently, the first graders created panda bears out of clay to enrich their classroom studies of China. The pandas come in all shapes and sizes!

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Second Grade Artists recently completed their clay houses and Buildings of Bethesda. They are on display near their classroom and really show off their wonderful ceramic skills. In January the students made snowflakes and worked on their frames for the schoolwide art project. They also learned more about Martin Luther King Jr. at Morning Meeting, and had the opportunity in art class to express their creativity through words and illustrations. After discussing his "I Have a Dream" speech, the second graders were asked, "MLK had a dream of how the world could be a better place. What are your dreams for how we can make the world a better place?" The students wrote their responses around their paper like a word frame and then illustrated their ideas in the middle. WOW! They really have wonderful and important dreams. We are in good hands with this next generation! In addition to this nod to MLK, the second graders have been experimenting with clay. They created mugs, office caddies, animal habitats and more. As part of their Native American classroom studies, they learned how to make a coil pot. This is a challenging hand building technique and involves several steps.

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Third Grade Art Students have completed their school wide art ptoject with self portraits, mixed media frames, and cards describing their Best Selves! These works for art will be on display soon! This winter the third graders enjoyed weaving on their handmade ceramic looms. Weaving in a circle is a different challenge than weaving on a loom, but these talented kids were up for it! Their final pieces are beautifully done and displayed in the main hallway of the school. A fun project I do with the Kindergarten, and then again in third grade, is the Hidden Name Painting. The students approach this challenge completely differently in third grade, and it's fun to see their growth and sophistication in color and composition. These paintings are currently on display in the Community Room. We just kicked off our big project of the year, Individual Shadow Boxes. In these boxes, the students will represent themselves. They will fill the boxes with items that they make in art class, as well as items and photos from home that tell their story. For the kick off we read a book called Milo's Museum by Zetta Eliott, which includes information about the job of a curator. The Third Graders will be the curators of their boxes, the ones who decide what is important and valuable to put inside the box. We also had a scavenger hunt to look at the faculty Shadow Boxes around the school in order to get their creative juices running. It will be exciting to see these boxes come to life!