We had our end of the semester art show at Samuels school this past week I interviewed the students the week before making artist statements. Here is one of the comments as an example:
“Erik is a four-year-old artist in Philadelphia. He enjoys drawing and coloring when making art at home. His favorite colors are white, green, and blue. He thoroughly enjoys using play-doh. He hopes to make art about cotton candy for his future projects.”
I asked them simple questions about their art-making to create the statements. It is also an excellent way to get them thinking about what they do like to make and what they want to make next.
We had them decorate a sign similar to the one at Fishtown. I painted their hands and had them press down the prints on the sign. We also colored in the letters together. The students all watched as I set out their artwork from the semester. I called them over one at a time to look at what they had made and to photograph them with their work. Each student smiled when remembering what they had made that semester. The biggest surprises were the ceramic pieces. Most of the students had never made anything with clay before. They had only seen their pieces as wet clay, and then as glazed unfired pieces. To see these animals complete was quite a transformation. I would really like to bring more clay projects to young children. There is a great interest in the magic that happens with this medium.
