Erin and Kevin's Class Notes

The children have been busy creating one-of-a-kind Valentine's Cards for one another. We read Roses are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane de Groat to get ideas for thoughtful Valentine's messages. We got ideas for some not-so-kind messages as well! Don't worry, we won't be using those!

We have also been preparing some artwork for Thursday's Soul Food Night. We read Art From Her Heart, by Kathy Whitehead and Shane Evans. It is a story about the self-taught artist, Clementine Hunter. Clementine was born around 1888 and worked on plantations in Louisiana. At Melrose Plantation, she used paint left behind by a visiting artist and made paintings about her life. As she didn't have canvas, Clementine would use any available surface for painting: Glass bottles, window shades, wooden boards, and walls. We learned that even though Clementine's work began to be shown in art galleries, because of Jim Crow laws, she was not allowed in the gallery during public hours. She had to enter after the gallery was closed, through the back door.

Inspired by Clementine, we have been painting images from our lives and imaginations on wooden boards we found in the wood shop, and an old bench, too. We plan to hang some of our paper art from a clothesline, as Clementine did, when she first began showing her work. We look forward to sharing our work with you!