A glimpse inside Hillsdale College's network of classical schools across the country.
When I talk to teachers or parents about our rich art curriculum and displays of student artwork, I often hear, “I wish I had that opportunity. I could never do something like that. I’m just not artistic.” Being an artist is an undeniably vulnerable task that requires truthfulness of expression and, as artist Henri Matisse proposes, takes courage. Each person has the ability to be an artist and as Pablo Picasso once said, “every child is an artist.”…
How do I draw a dog that looks real? As young aspiring artists, students often ask questions like this because they measure their success and growth in art based on how real they can make something look. Recently, my seventh-grade students discovered that artists possess many tools to draw the viewer in and gain appreciation for their art. And, these strategies can be much more powerful and exciting than realism. …
Classical educators endeavor to lead students to think and learn for themselves by instructing them in the essential tools of learning. Through Socratic discussion and layers of questioning, teachers prime students for the type of inquiry that ultimately allows students to discover for themselves and make decisions that align with what is good and beautiful.
As an art teacher, I feel a particular calling to contribute to this mission in the art classroom.…
Did you know that being an enduring artist, persevering with steady effort and good cheer through artistic challenges, can lead to becoming a genius? Well, that is what people thought during the Middle Ages and what my upper school students discovered this October.
By the second quarter, students in my art room are engaging with more challenging art materials and concepts and must persist to complete a project and hopefully witness the fruits of their labor.…
Looking at beautiful things can be powerful and make a difference in children’s lives. I believe this as both an art teacher and a person invested in training the minds and improving the hearts of young people.
I was reminded of this fact in an unlikely way the other day. Walking down the grammar school hallway, I stopped to ponder an unusual occurrence.…
Art is not something I generally have much time to think about, but recently I had the pleasure of listening to, and participating in a faculty discussion on the fine arts and their purpose. The occasion for the discussion was a wonderful presentation by our assistant principal on the BCSI curricular essay written on the fine arts and their place in a liberal education.…
Why do we study the fine arts, and how should K-12 schools cultivate a love and understanding of great art among their students? How should we study sculpture, and what makes the great sculptors so excellent? How should we study Michelangelo’s David in particular?
I had a fascinating conversation with Prof. Anthony Frudakis, Associate Professor of Art at Hillsdale College on these topics and many others.…
There are a number of mistakes I have made teaching throughout the years, but I think perhaps the biggest was not providing enough studio demonstrations when I first started teaching art. Back then I had a fear that my demonstrations would not turn out well and I would lose credibility with the class if they observed my struggles. After a while, I understood that I was not giving my students the best teaching experience that I could.…