As a celebration of a year’s worth of Meet the Masters art instruction from T-K (transitional kindergarten) through 5th grade, Village Elementary School in Coronado, CA held their very own Family Arts Night artwalk to showcase the diverse, individual creations. Says Cyndi Furhmann, the Visual and Performing Arts teacher, “Art is important as part of our STEAM program at Village. This year all students received direct instruction in Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) as well as through Meet the Masters. “
Families were invited to the school during a two hour evening period to walk through the halls lined with student art. Signs were placed throughout explaining which artists were studied in each grade:
Parent volunteers assisted throughout the year with MTM instruction and also for the artwalk. Cyndi shared that the volunteers “help set up the Family Arts Night with the Artwalk – each team mounted artwork for his or her class and they signed up to help hang the artwork as well as help with the event itself. The parents volunteers are highly valued and appreciated. Their dependability and consistency has made MTM a very successful program at our school. As the Facilitator I do a lot of communicating with the volunteers and teachers as questions arise.”
Many of the same artists were studied in both the younger grades and the older ones. MTM has multiple levels for each artist so the students are given age appropriate instruction and tasks. Cyndi told us, “Students, parents and teacher have loved using Meet the Masters. The students learn about the lives of influential master artists and then create artwork using those influences. They enjoy the slide shows with the real facts, it inspires them and gives them a greater depth of knowledge. They are introduced to a wide variety of materials and artistic techniques.”
We love to see the different interpretations of the lessons. From pieces that feature a subject of the child’s choosing, i.e. Norman Rockwell’s Post covers, to ones where the instruction is the same but the art turns out so different.
Find out how your school can get the Meet the Masters art curriculum, and then hold your own art show!
