Before Home School, in second and third grades, Papa Gene sponsored GraceNotes participation in an after school art class by a franchise called Abrakadoodle. The instructors were local artists and art students.
Each week’s gathering would begin with a look at an artist’s work (usually from the Modern Art period), a discussion of the artist’s style and technique after which participants were released to create original art, while being encouraged to incorporate some aspect of the artist’s style. At the end of class, each child was given a few minutes to describe their piece to the class, and their fellow artists were invited to make a kind comment or observation about the student’s work.
GN loved this class – it was the highlight of her week! I loved it too because the materials were provided (YAY), and I didn’t have to clean up (YAY) but mostly because I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the individuality displayed by the children, even as they work with the same inspiration piece and similar materials!
Here’s a gallery of GraceNotes work, from her Abrakadoodle period…