Today the students learned a whole bunch of terms, collage, cubism, sculpture, ceramics. They also Learned that Pablo Picasso was born in Spain, lived until the age of 92, and most of his years were spent in France. They started making their background for the project by creating a collage with printed, plain construction, or newspaper. They used glue sticks, scissors, and those fancy scissors. Once they had completed the background they made a guitar shape either on their own or I offered a template they could trace and cut out. Markers were also offered to make details and finishing touches. I learned that this group of kids thought his human figures were creepy. They were able to get beyond that and really liked all the shapes and angles they saw in the cubist work. 

This school year I was blessed with a space to teach art. I never had a classroom of my own. I do share the space with a lot of other small groups and science, however the majority of it and the maintenance of it is mostly mine . What blessing it is to have a space that I can store, organize and find project materials at hand in a moments notice. Or to plan ahead and have the weeks materials and projects ready to go. The storage it key. Art needs STUFF and lots of it, and STUFF need space. My twenty year old self would have things all willy nilly with some sort of stuffed "organization". Four children of my own and 20 years later I look at organization a little differently. I do the little things. I cap the markers, separate the crayons, rinse the watercolors, store your examples in a designated space! 

So my vision for this classroom evolved pretty quickly and five months later looks pretty similar to its conception in August. I teach Kindergarten through eighth grade. It is a challenge for all age groups to sit at the listen without moving them around. It didn't occur to me that the children have desks in every other classroom but art. So we needed to work on how to "sit" on our bottoms and not "move the furniture".. I love the tables and being able to assist the kids from the center because they are arranged in an "U" shape it has been so helpful.

I teach art for an hour to each age group, 4-8th grade, 2-3rd grade, and K-1st grade. In the lower grades I must divide the lesson into three sections. We read an illustrated story pertaining to the lesson in either content, artist, technique, or idea. For example we will read a story about Frida Kahlo or Picture Day when we learn and create a self portrait. We also have sketchbook practice time, in which we practice the project or sometimes just free doodle time. The third component is the main project. With having these three interchangeable and flexible activities to put into place has been super huge with the hour I am given. In 4th-8th grade they have sketchbook practice and the main project, they also have an "image collection binder" in which they can find images in magazines, etc, and keep them in a binder for reference. This simple exercise gives them an opportunity to make conscious decisions on what they like visually and keep a collection of it. 

I am truly humbled to share my passion for the visual arts and my knowledge of art history and have the space in which to do it in. The children are learning and growing in creative ways only the visual arts can encourage. In this new year we start off with Pablo Picasso and his guitars and Cezanne and still life, I'm excited to see where this will lead us!

For the month of January 2020, the artwork of the students of St Paul's will be on display at the Menomonie Public Library. Menomonie Public Library was build by John Howe, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, which makes this venue even more special. The fall of 2019 was very productive for the students of St Paul's. We focused on line and shape, watercolor and oil pastel, Kandinsky, Klee, Monet, Thiebaud, Benavidez, and Renoir. What a great opportunity for student to shine and show their accomplishments!