The Magic of Art

Paul Signac, Portrait of Felix Feneon

It's easy to forget, after years as a practicing artist, how exciting it was to try out new materials and techniques for the first time.  Luckily, I have my residency as an artist assistant for Learning Through Art to remind me.

We're two weeks into the classroom sessions now, and the experience has been incredibly rewarding.  Both times we've entered the room, our three third-grade classes have given us a reception that this age bracket usually reserves for Santa Claus: gasps, cheering, and applause.

The energy level in the room gets even higher when the lesson starts.  Our students are avid aficionados of Picasso and Matisse, and never tire of telling us that they want to be artists when they grow up (we tell them, "you're artists now!").  During the demonstration yesterday, after first seeing the broad strokes they could make with the side of a vine charcoal stick and then seeing how easily the strokes could be wiped away, our classes reacted as if we'd produced the drawings from thin air. 

Witnessing moments like that, who could doubt that the arts are a fundamental part of our schools?