Art Lessons in Resilience at Mapleview Elementary School
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Leaking Lips by Charlotte
“I drew this picture because I saw it drawn elsewhere and thought it was a good idea; however, I didn’t like the style it was drawn in so I decided to recreate it in a colour-block style. The emotions I felt are: happy, joyful, and high-spirited. I picked these colours because I was recreating an art piece, but wanted to switch the style of the art, so I chose colours that matched that art piece.”
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Sky Drawing by Kendra
“I was inspired to create this image because I have been seeing a lot of landscape photos recently. I was mainly calm and relaxed during the drawing. The colours give a warm feeling as well as a cold shadow.”
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MIXED FEELINGS by Aspen
“I was inspired by the different emotions people have. The emotions I get are mixed. When looking at my art, I do not get one emotion, but I feel the emotions that the people are representing. I choose these colours because I thought that each colour goes with one of the emotions, but instead of them being the normal shade, I changed them to be more of a lighter colour and I liked them all together.”
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The Pup has Left the Den by Peyton
“I decided a 2019 drawing needed a re-draw. It shows the progress I have made since then in my art skills. My emotions started out neutral, but by the end of the drawing I was excited and proud. I chose these colours to enhance the details in my drawing.”
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Flamingo by Owen
“I chose to draw this picture because I saw a flamingo in a YouTube video the day before. The emotion I felt while drawing the flamingo was happiness. I chose the specific colors so that the picture was bright and happy.”
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Summer Sunset by Jalyn
“The day before I drew my art there was a very pretty sunset and I had wanted to draw some form of a sunset. The art feels happy and warm, and this is due to the colours. I selected the shades of yellow and orange to give the drawing a feeling of warmth along with happiness. The light blue, purplish-grey, and black even out the warm colours and give the drawing more depth.”
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Super Sponge Bob and Pink Patrick by Lucas
“I was watching Sponge Bob when I began to wonder, “What if Sponge Bob was a super hero, with a light sabre, who looks over the city with his side kick Patrick?” It made me feel happy that SpongeBob was protecting the city with his best friend. I chose bright colours because SpongeBob had just saved the day from spies in a helicopter.”
Teaching hands-on art lessons during remote learning can be one of the trickier subjects to translate online, but Grand Erie educators are finding ways of adopting new approaches that ensure the arts stays front and centre so students can continue to flex their creative muscles.
At Mapleview Elementary School, Grade 8 teacher Lisa Dunham’s class is exploring digital tools available on the internet to create images. They’ve experimented with Pixilart, Sketchpad and Sumopaint to figure out which one suits their individual learning styles and creative approaches before working on and presenting a final piece exploring the use of colours to evoke emotional responses.
“The day before I drew my art, there was a very pretty sunset, and I had wanted to draw some form of a sunset,” explains Jalyn, who completed a work titled Summer Sunset for the project. “The art feels happy and warm, and this is due to the colours – I selected the shades of yellow and orange to give the drawing a feeling of warmth along with happiness. The light blue, purplish-grey, and black even out the warm colours and give the drawing more depth.”
During Education Week (May 3 – 7), Grand Erie students and educators have been reflecting on the theme of resilience, and over the past year, they’ve shown just how resilient they are. For Dunham, she’s seeing it firsthand through arts projects like this one.
“I’m extremely proud of the students for their perseverance with online learning and adapting quickly to creating digital images,” she says. “They’ve shown great resilience by learning new programs quickly, and demonstrating their understanding of colour in digital formats.”
Check out the images of the students’ completed work, as well as they’re reflections on colour choices.
