Using art to express ourselves.
Young children are not interested in art as a product but in the process of creating. Art experiences occur daily at SMP, sometimes as a simple exploration of a medium, other times more intentionally focusing on an interest or the current study—we might have friends draw one another- creating friendship portraits, explore the colors and symbols of the season – creating a pumpkin still-life, wonder about creepy crawly things – painting insect watercolors, or even think about what makes us each unique – using mirrors to create self-portraits.
Bug Watercolor Paintings
When spring comes, you’ll find us outside looking for bugs! This interest often evolves into a study of insects - how they move, what they eat, where they live, etc. One year, as a part of the study, the children created watercolor paintings of the bugs they had explored.
Teacher Self-Portraits
Even our teachers have fun exploring with art. As part of our professional development, we each took the opportunity to create our own self-portrait. The choice of medium, paper, size and approach was all open for interpretation. As you can see, the portraits are as different and as special as each of our teachers are. Can you guess which one belongs to which teacher?
Pumpkin Art
The presence of the pumpkin patch at St. Mark’s each fall provides a joyful space for exploring. This exploration sparks curiosity and often leads to a study of pumpkins. This project began with the kids mixing colors together to get just the right shades of orange, red and green. They then used the paint to create their own “pumpkin patch” on paper.
Yellow Flowers
On a walk one day, children discovered some yellow flowers. A conversation began about the aspects of the flowers - petals, stems, etc. The following day, teachers brought the children back to the flowers with materials to create observational paintings. The children each created their interpretation of the “Yellow Flowers.”
