A well rounded education and English class

Every year I do a combo English/Classical Art class with my students where we study a famous artist and then they create their version of this artist.

This year I decided to go a step further and introduce classical music in the background while they did their art project for the day.

Today was their first experience and they loved BOLERO by Ravel!


The artist was Dali.

On a typical day, one of the students is responsible for handing out colored pencils and crayons to those who don't have any:






After I lecture on the artist, then they start creating their version (in this case titled "MY DALI"):







This year had some fun creations, so I thought I would share:









Because this is their last year with me, I also have them creating their personal signatures. Most Mexicans here in town, print their name as a signature. Once both they and I are satisfied that it is a bona fide version which is repeatable, they sign their art project - Andry signed on the back which means she ain't quite satisfied yet:






No signature:











Montserrat has a gorgeous signature towards the right on the bottom:










Now this is Guillermo's and he was the only one who cut his out.

AN ASIDE: Notice the two eggs with faces on his desk. This is a project their regular teacher is doing with them where they get eggshells, paint them with baby faces and they have to carry them around 24/7. I heard of this project in the states and this is the Mexican version.

The goal is to give teens an inkling of how hard it is to care for a real baby - idea is to prevent teenage pregnancy!





All the art was done listening to Ravel and passing around pics of Dali's artwork in a book I have. One of the students commented on how long the song Bolero was (15 min) and someone else asked if the artbook was mine or from the library. I love that they are so engaged.


It was a great day all around. We have already done Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec and Monet. Tomorrow will be Bach and Katsushika Hokusai whom I really like.

I would love to be a student of yours Blanca

I applaud over and over to what you do, and how you do it.