Wesley Learning Center Students’ Art Gallery

It was the seventh year for the art gallery opening at Wesley Learning Center, but for the artists on Thursday, March 26, it was their first time participating.

From Salvador Dali to Mary Cassat, the kindergarteners in Randi Rote and Evelyn Sanford’s class learned about the life and art of 29 artists in seven weeks. Ms Rote said it was about one artist a day, and Ms Sanford added that sometimes it had to be two artists a day.

“We colored ‘Starry Night,’” said kindergartener Patrick Boyle, regarding what the students had learned about Vincent van Gogh.

To learn about the art of Renaissance painter and sculptor Michelangelo, Ashley Salvaggi said, “We painted under the table,” like Michelangelo painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

“We did some of the masters that we really thought they should know,” Ms Rote said, about how she chose which artists to cover with the students.

The students created mobiles, a large Jackson Pollock-inspired painting, they took photos outside of the school to learn about photographer Ansel Adams and used Q-tips to recreate the painting style of George Seurat, best known for his painting “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.”

When asked, the students could explain Pablo Picasso’s three distinct painting periods, the blue, the red and Cubism. One student said when a friend got sick and died, the painter used the color blue, and, another student added, when he was in love he used the color red.

Ms Rote said they read many books, and tried to give the students a background on how the artists’ childhoods were, whether they were sad or happy, and how these things affected their work.

When asked if the students now want to be artists, Tyler Kocienda responded, “We are.”

Patrick Boyle said, before the art show opened for family and friends, art is “something that is pretty that hangs on the wall.” He quickly added that art can also be anywhere or anything.

Before the art gallery was opened for the day’s visitors, Ms Rote asked the students what their job was for the day, and the students responded, “To show them the art.”

With that, the students walked out to meet and show their visitors the artwork they had created.