Art is constantly happening at Chickadee, from quickly-done scribbles, to drawings and paintings, to focused art lessons, to illustrations and story pages about animals and people, to special projects which we set up and support. All of these experiences are a rich aid to the children, as they begin to discover and express the immense creativity which lies within, such a vital part of being human.
And what are our goals in supporting and encouraging all this art? Not all Montessori schools have such an extensive and active art curriculum, but through the years I have come to feel very strongly about its importance. I believe that it awakens within the children the potential for creative thought and imagination, for making connections, for awareness of beauty, and for self-expression. It celebrates their differences and honors their developing skills. It stimulates different parts of their brains and weaves a rich neurological web. And it's fun....
Look at Megan proudly holding her "haunted house" from last Halloween. I do love these special projects! The younger ones, three or four years old, couldn't have done a collage like this successfully on their own, but with our assistance and guidance, they were totally engaged in making their own scene. Our "assistance" might mean holding the paper for a younger child while she cuts with scissors, or pointing out how the roof can be a triangle. None of it is done for them, they feel fully empowered. When finished, the kids all loved having them up together, and then they had a keepsake to take home for Halloween, and with luck and your support, discover again next October!
So we keep the basic tools of art available all the time - water colors and oil pastels, crayons and pencils, easel and tempera paints, scissors and lots of paper. We give basic lessons in how to use the different art mediums, we encourage, and we observe. We always honor that the process is more important than the product. At the same time, usually when asked, we also describe what we see in detailed and concrete terms, without false praise, affirming their efforts, asking questions, listening to their perceptions.
We also give focused art lessons, like this recent, wonderful sequence on the values of color - the tints and shades which make color, paint, and paintings so interesting. What a discovery for them! We gave individual lessons in how to create the tints by mixing white into a color on a pallet, bit by bit, and watching the resulting sequence, and then the shades, using black instead of white. As always, each child had his or her own experience and learning when we gave these lessons. Then as they happened, we put the color strips up for each other to see, which made the experience more impactful.
The part I had never done before was to have them use tints and shades in an earth-and-sky painting, based on a Van Gogh landscape - a lesson idea I found online, as I read more about tints and shades. It was amazing! Each of these seven children became so totally engrossed, and I simply sat near them, giving only the smallest amount of guidance. The child's creative process always includes elements of joy, peace, excitement, and wonder, and for each one, it is very personal. I try to draw your attention to these projects by using the big bulletin board and walls, but unfortunately, it's not possible to share the magical process itself. You can, however, find ways and create opportunities to witness it yourself, at home.
Another new and more formal aspect of our art curriculum is a great set of many sequenced folders of art postcards. I purchased them and prepared and organized all the folders during Winter Break, and since then the children have been exploring the folders little by little. The postcards are organized, first pairs of very different and distinct works of art, to two pieces by each of five or six different artists, to themes, and finally, to styles of modern art like Impressionism. It's a wonderful, open-ended introduction to fine art.
Last week I sat down with Ava as she did this folder in the second set, two pieces by each artist, to match and examine, with six artists - Degas, Audubon, Chagall, Goya, Mondrian, and Manet. She looked so closely at each painting, almost enraptured, and I managed to write down some of her comments: "How did he paint the glass vase?" [We looked in detail at the colors he used.] "Look at that tiny person." [I reminded her again that these are small reproductions of big paintings.] "I wonder how he got that white right there on the horse - maybe he just did a little tiny dot." "How did he make that ballerina look like she is moving?" "I'm thinking about how he did the windows in the house...." 
Which leads us full circle to Trevor painting the flowers at the top of this blog. He had just looked at a set of postcards, all vases with flowers done by one artist, Redon. He chose the one he liked the most, and he proceeded to paint his own version, and another the next day. This was part of a new explosion of "art from art." Cara just did her impression of the Turner sea painting above, and on another day Terra tried a Mondrian. So now you know where these postcards are coming from. And now, who knows what your child will do this week!?
