Every Friday for several years I have gone into my son's classroom to teach an art project since there is no formal art training in West Virginia elementary schools.
In preparation for these projects I discuss with his teacher which kind of thematic project might best reinforce the curriculum. When my son had a
Charlotte's Web unit we made cold spaghetti webs with a positive affirmation in the web ala Charlotte.
I also consult the internet to try to find prepared projects that I can appropriate for my own purposes. One of the great confusions is that many teachers seem to mistake cookie cutter or "turkey hand" types of projects for art. We all know the Turkey Hand project...right? Kids trace their hand and then make it look like a turkey by adding a beard, eyes, feathers, etc. This is not an art project and has nothing to do with the critical thinking necessary to qualify as such. Why? Because each child does not necessarily have a free choice and the projects come out looking very similar, hence the cookie cutter name.
So what are the components that create a valid Art project? First, display your cultural exemplar. For a Van Gogh project we first look at a projected picture of Vincent Van Gogh's
Starry Night. Discuss the various elements of the picture and lead the kids through the process of looking at a painting. Discuss the color and shape and ask them to give words to describe the mood of the painting.
Starry Night is a great painting to start with not only because of its great cultural prominence, but also because it has a lot of mood and feeling.
The materials for drawing include colored chalk and/or pastels on black construction paper. On the board, I roughly sketch out a
West Virginia landscape and trees using a Van Gogh-style approach of using lines to define objects and space. The kids need someone to lead them through how to draw each element, but stress that each child can personalize the landscape and make it their own by adding their house or pet.
By introducing the students to
Starry Night, you've included art history, the genre of landscape painting, the medium of pastels, and the idea of freehand drawing. And the kids love it.
