Kentucky Crafted Day at Southern Elementary
What a fun morning spent sharing art with students at Southern Elementary in Georgetown, KY ! This day brought back so many memories of my days spent in the classroom as a fourth grade teacher. Even though I did not teach art during those 34 years, just being back in that atmosphere was rewarding. I was asked to be a presenter for Southern’s Kentucky Crafted Day. This day was set aside for the children to learn skills from artist throughout the state. During this time I had the opportunity to speak with approximately 200 children about my passion, drawing and painting. Southern is one of the lucky schools. They have the privilege of a full time art teacher, which is such a necessity for a well rounded education. Each child was so attentive and really wanted to learn. I was able to show them original works of art using mediums such as pencil, watercolor, pastels, oil, acrylic, and conte crayon. A form of art called Zentangle, using a marker or artist pen, was introduced. Students were able to view different types of papers, boards, and canvases. The importance of a color wheel was demonstrated revealing how artist use this tool to plan color for their painting. Direction was given on how a photo could be gridded, drawn, and then completed in a medium of their choice to produce original art. At the end of each session, one child’s name was chosen to receive a free print of an original painting with a brief time for questions and answers. My hope is that these children learned some new skills today and ways to apply this learning tomorrow. Hopefully the information they were given will inspire them to begin drawing, painting, and trying these mediums that were introduced. I feel very optimistic that some of these children will become future Kentucky artist. Thank you Southern for asking me to be a part of your program! It was a great day to be an artist in Kentucky!!
