Students at Cypress Cove are learning to read art by paying close attention to the lines, shapes, colors, textures, values and spaces between objects.  Art is everywhere!
 
 
Kindergarteners at Cypress Cove learned about the importance of dragons in China and how to say hello in Chinese.  We talked about how some people in our country might be afraid of dragons, but in China, dragons are supposed to bring you good luck and will protect you from harm.  
 
Kindergarteners also learned the primary and secondary colors and how to mix the primaries to make the secondaries.  They made some very exciting dragons!
 
First and second graders learned that Kandinsky is the founder of abstract art and that he would see music and hear art.  We can do that too!  We discovered that the warm colors make the most noise while the cool colors are quieter.  This is especially true when we look at our art through our 3-D glasses.
  
We are discovering the art of Peter Max.  He is 71 years old, grew up in China and loves America, animals and outer space.  If he hadn't been an artist he might have been an astronomer.  We looked at photographs of outer space taken by the Hubble telescope and created space pictures by using the ancient art of marbeling.  If you would like to try this at home, pour liquid starch (under $3 at Walmart) into a shallow pan.  Squirt watered down acrylic paint (@ 50 cents per color at Walmart) on top of the starch and swirl it around with a pencil.  Drop paper on top and then rinse it in warm water.  What happens next is always a big surprise!
 
You may want to help you child look up Kandinsky, Peter Max, and Hubble on the internet and encourage him or her to share more information in art class.  Soon we will be turning different shapes into paper quilts inspired by Ida Kohlmeyer, a New Orleans artist whose sculptures can be seen in the New Orleans Museum of Art sculpture garden and in front of the Aquarium.
  
Please feel free to contact me for more information.  It is always my pleasure having the opportunity to learn so much from your children!
 
Mary Christopher  mary.christopher@stpsb.org