Four core values form the foundation of elementary art education in the Center School District. Those values are “I can create”, “I can respond”, “I can present”, and “I can connect”.
All four values are present in the work done by the students in Tracie Loux’s classes at Boone Elementary this fall. Tracie, a veteran artist and teacher who taught in Pennsylvania and Georgia before moving to Kansas City, has focused on integrating culture with art. During October, she and her students celebrated Hispanic Heritage month by learning about Hispanic artists, their cultures, and their styles of art.
Students “connected” with Hispanic artists, learning their styles and how those were influenced by their culture. They “responded” to the work as they “created” and “presented” their own art in the styles of the artists they studied. Their work is displayed in the hallway outside the Boone cafeteria. Some of the beautiful results are shown below.
Kindergarten Artists created this collaborative work of art while learning about contemporary Mexican artist Lordes Villagomez.
These young artists had so much fun working as a team to fill this butterfly with color! In Kindergarten, we are learning our colors and shapes and how to use scissors! We also got to learn our colors in Spanish with “Pete the Cat”.
1st grade artists learned about Mexican Artist Jamie Dominguez who uses geometric shapes to create artwork often inside of huge circles. His colors reflect his indigenous heritage.
3rd grade artists celebrated Hispanic heritage month by learning about one of the most famous artists in the world, Spanish artist Pablo Picasso! We looked at the way he used shapes and texture in his paintings and learned about the abstract style of his work called “Cubism.”
5th grade artists looked at the work of Peruvian artist Lizeth Prieto for Hispanic Heritage Month. We learned about how crystals are formed and examined some crystals in real life. Students learned how to draw crystals to look 3-dimensional and also learned a variety of watercolor techniques.
Update - Ms. Loux shared this wonderful image from one of her fourth-grade students.
Thanks to Ms. Loux and all of her young artists for "presenting" their talents to each of us.