Students Make a Splash in Art World

The students at Carpenter Avenue Elementary School fearlessly splashed paint Friday as they put the finishing touches on the school’s work of art.

The painting, inspired by the work of artist Jackson Pollock, and the mess, generated by energetic children in classes from kindergarten through fifth grade, were part of a yearlong arts program made possible by a $7,500 grant from the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum.

“The program is meant to introduce the students to art and give them an appreciation of art,” said Brooke Belsey, a second-grade teacher and the program coordinator. “We really try to make the learning of art relevant to their lives and fun. The fun is very important.”

All 900 students at the school will have applied paint to one of the artwork’s three canvases by the time it is finished in a couple of weeks.

Students have been painting all year. The walls of the classrooms and hallways are covered with student-produced copies of works by Vincent Van Gogh, Diego Rivera, Edvard Munch and others.

“As you can see, we have some blooming Picassos,” Principal Joan Marks said.

Teachers have also integrated arts into many of the writing lessons, by showing students how to create their own art books full of drawings, poems and written critiques of paintings.

“We’ve learned a lot about painters,” said Ellen Friedman, 8. “Van Gogh did the starry nights when he used to go outside at night and paint.”

Students were not the only ones having a good time. Teachers and parents, many trained to teach art through a program at the J. Paul Getty Museum, were having fun, too.

“The kids are learning a lot about mixing paints and applying it to a canvas,” said parent volunteer Mary Kate McGeehan-Hatch, as she wiped paint from her hand onto her shirt. “We get to do swirling paints next week.”