ART CONNECTION

Learning from the Old Masters

These were some of the impressive artworks that my students produced when they were in the middle school. These were exhibited in international schools abroad. I taught foundation drawing, painting and sculptures from lower school to middle years. These were some of the photos I brought with me here in California when I relocated two years ago: classical painting studies of Matisse's painting and another, of Da Vinci's earlier work; both were done as "pastel paintings" by my two middle school students (8th grade) who had no flair at all for drawing or painting at the beginning but blossomed as promising artists afterwards. Students need guidance and as an educator, all I needed was to build their self trust. Others followed: lectures were given on color theory, perspective and compostion- these helped them to develop skills and acquire confidence to create various artforms. Most of my students seemed to have no evident talents at all (they didn't seem to care much) but as they processed the learning experience, they improved. To polish their skills, they did a lot of line drawing exercises (freehand drawing) in pencil then charcoal and eventually with chalk pastel. Doing art is learning how to look at your subject and being able to see what draws the details of lines and shadows of your subject/ model. Here in this art project, the kids worked on these diligently for a month. Each stage they took, they felt accomplished; sometimes they felt ambigous but positive reinforcement worked great with them. Weeks later, each moment taken became an event; as their progress were recoginized by the school community. The large scale papier mache of artists' heads- of Picasso, Kahlo, Da Vinci...were done in the early 90's by my former middle school students as group projects where two students worked on a head sculpture. I had these displayed at the school's courtyard and during the opening of the exhibit, these were a sure eye catcher! Picasso was my favorite. Look! You could easily recognize them like Frieda Kalo and Da Vinci on the right! Frieda was my student's favorite in the early 90's way earlier before the movie on her was made and enticed the world. The mural below was impressive, created as a muralmaking project of this little ones, after learning about Picasso's life and times and the story behind his famous mural, "Guernica." These were 3rd grade kids and their first inter-action painting to date! Amazing, isn't it? I miss being with kids. Perhaps, I should go back to the classroom? What do you think? Just wondering, that's all.