Archive for June 6th, 2014

  • Letter to Parents——June 6th, 2014

    Date: 2014.06.06 | Category: Uncategorized | Response: 0

    Dear Parents,

    Time goes by so fast that we come to the end of this school year soon.  We only have three more classes. This period is always a challenge time for me to face a fact that all my students whom I have cared, loved, and taught for a year are moving up to a new level of their studies, leaving me behind, though they remember me because some of them came back to visit me.  I am glad to see their growing not only in their bodies, but also in their studies. I wish them the best and come back to visit me. Over the course of this art class, while the students learnt how to draw and color, making a progress in their art study, they also learnt how to be a student in the school.  It is a good exercise for them to get ready for school.

    In the past four sessions, we have drawn eagles, flowers, geese and African bulls.  On May 4th, we drew eagles. The two teaching paintings made by oil pastels containing three or five different postured eagles were introduced, but the students are only required to draw one postured eagle.  On the whiteboard of the classroom, I taught, by demonstration, step-by step, how to draw one postured eagle.  The students followed me very well.  If they have a time after drawing one eagle, they can repeat one more, or two more, or copy one entire teaching painting, depending on how they are motivated.  Some of students’ artworks were exhibited in the school wide art show.

    On May 11, in line with celebrating mother’s day, one session was set up to draw flowers.  The three teaching paintings made in watercolor containing two, four or five lilies with their own leaves were introduced, one of them is required for students to copy.  Meanwhile, on the whiteboard of the classroom, I taught students step by step how to draw five lilies with their own leaves.  Most students followed me very well, and made a nice flower artwork, and wrote “Happy mother’s day” on it.  Most of the students’ artworks have been posted in my blog.

    After this, the following Sunday, May 18,  we drew geese, a gosling.  The teaching painting is a Chinese brush painting containing a mother goose and five little baby geese, forming a gosling.  On the whiteboard of the classroom, I taught students step by step how to draw a mother goose and a baby goose.  Kids did well.  I did not have time to take a picture of their artworks during the class.

    On June 1st, we took a big step further in an attempt to draw a big animal in a three dimensional manner.  The teaching painting made with oil pastels contains two African bulls, very big animals, one facing to me, walking towards me, the other overlapped facing a right side. On the whiteboard, I taught students how to draw, by demonstration, step by step, one bulls facing to me, walking towards me.  The difficulty in technique is to show the entire animal from head to tail all  in one circle.  The body length and shape have to show up in whatever size circle designed.  Three-dimensional animal has to be drawn in a two-dimensional circle.  The students are too young to get a sense of it and did not make a good artwork.  Even though some students did a good drawing, due to missing the real sense, when they color the drawing, they completely destroyed the drawing.  Anyway, it is a good attempt and students got an expose to advanced drawing and coloring.

    Continuing this direction, in combination to students’ opinion to draw a car,
    in the next class, on June 8, we are going to draw two cars.  One car will be drawn in a two dimensional and the other drawn in a three dimensional scale. By comparison, I hope to teach students some sense of drawing 3-D objects.

    As usual, towards the end of this one year course, we may attempt to let students expose to several advanced art areas such as 3-D object drawing and abstract drawing and pattern drawing.  Based on the previous experience, I don’t think that kids will get sense of it, but they will remember it because the older students came back to tell me that they remember they did that before, when they run into the same situation.

    Best regards,

    Michelle Yu, teacher