Teaching Kids Art
My daughter’s kindergarten class is doing a section on artists. So far, they have learned about Seurat, Jackson Pollack, Monet and Matisse. And they met the illustrator of Only Nine Chairs: A Tall Tale for Passover, who happens to be the grandmother of one of the kindergarten students.
Today, they met an artist who likes to do Jewish subjects: me.
First, I showed them my havdalah painting:
I asked them what they saw. They mentioned the candle, the cup, the plate. Then I asked them about the colors. What colors did they see on the cup? What colors do you see? Any idea why I put red next to green? I told them I was inspired by Rembrandt. Their teacher then pulled out the Night Watch (that’s not its real name, just its popular name), and I pointed out how the light and the angles of Rembrandt’s painting had similarities with mine.
Next I presented the four cups:
We talked about pointillism, and how the colors in this one differed from the previous painting. Besides the cups, what else is 4 in the hagaddah? The kids reminded me that there are four questions. But what I had in mind was the four sons. Why is one son separate from the others? They believed it was the “rasha”, the bad son. That wasn’t what I had in mind when I did the painting, but I let my viewers find their own interpretations.
They loved my final painting, a watercolor:
Not only is it someone they know well (my daughter), but the setting is their classroom.
May 13th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
wow - these are gorgeous. such talent!!!!
May 14th, 2008 at 12:23 am
Sounds like fun. We have Only Nine Chairs. The pictures are beautiful.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:04 am
Superb!
May 14th, 2008 at 1:24 am
To me, the cup on the right looks a bit aloof and hesitant, almost insecure.
May 14th, 2008 at 6:54 am
Thanks, ladies. Always a pleasure to wake up to compliments on my art work.
Ilana-Davita, I like how you see things.
May 14th, 2008 at 7:25 am
I love your work Leora, especially the way you’ve shown the wall detail reflected through the stemware, and that watercolor is just beautiful.
May 16th, 2008 at 6:37 am
Thanks, Robin. I wish I had time to do more. Sigh.
May 18th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
These are amazing…
May 19th, 2008 at 6:17 am
Thanks, Rivster.