TEACHING ARTISTRY

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT WHERE I LIVE

By articulating what we love about where we live, we better understand, nurture and advocate for our place within it. In this project, children and their communities examine what they love about their home (or special spot in their community) through materials exploration, drawing, and other art forms. The project culminates in a print-a-thon depicting what they love about where they live. Students make at least 3 collagraph prints: one to keep, one to share, and one that becomes a collaborative artwork as another artist builds upon the print through drawing and collage.

IDENTITY PORTRAITS: HOW I SHOW WHO I AM

Students investigate and create portraits as a way to know themselves and each other better. They learn that, as artists, we can make choices about how and what we want to share about ourselves.

OBSERVATIONAL DRAWING

How does the art of close observation give us opportunities to wonder, discover and understand more fully and deeply? In this residency, students practice slowing down and observing closely. They use the principles of art and design to name what they are seeing and to make choices about how they want to make their own works of art.

How can closely observing something inspire the love of and connection to the earth that will make us ecological stewards? Through sustained exposure to the natural world and the agency to make meaning through creating their own work, students naturally develop a connection with objects and ideas from the natural world. 

WHAT MAKES A HOME?

In this residency, developed for K-2 students, we examine and name the shapes that make up different kinds of homes. Students then use those shapes to depict their own home in a drawing and finally in a print.