It seems so crazy that the entire month of September has just whizzed by without my noticing. I wanted to write a little bit about what we have been doing in class these last few hectic weeks. In fourth grade we started practicing drawing nature from observation after a few short drawing exercises. One of my favorite things to show students are the before and after drawings from Betty Edward's "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". These examples show that inexperience is inexperience no matter what your age. Students were flabbergasted that some of the childish portraits I initially showed were actually done by inexperienced adults- as if when you get older you're not just automatically skilled at something- WOW what an idea! Students were even more surprised when I showed them the end results after these same adults attempted to draw again after training. The point I was trying to get across is that art is just like any other skill, it takes practice and hard work to reach mastery- no one is gifted with INBORN TALENT! Inclinations and personal taste, maybe...but TALENT is the dirty word I would like to abolish in my art room. Talent implies that things cannot improve with practice and it undermines skilled artist's years of hard work and dedication. After we learned some basic drawing skills we began our leaf/nature drawings. (images coming soon) 5th grade completed the same drawing exercises, but instead of drawing leaves from observation, they took on the challenge of drawing their hands. For the 5th grade assignment we are creating narrative drawings that are personal and express our connection with nature.
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AuthorI am currently an elementary Art Teacher in Barrington, RI teaching 4th and 5th grade, previously I worked for over 5 years as an art teacher for students on the autism spectrum and other special needs. Posts from August 2019 and earlier are from my previous job. Archives
July 2021
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