Art Workshops - November 2011

Details

Category: Student Art

Published on Monday, 06 February 2012 00:00

Written by WAN - Art in the Community

Hits: 43

Hallen School is located in the North end of the city of Bridgeport, Conn. It serves approximately 380 students each year Pre-K to 6th grade, with a limited budget for the Arts as most public schools in the city, and only half an hour of art instruction per week per group.

While Hallen School has risen to the challenge of improving test scores for their students, classroom sizes, socioeconomic difficulties and budget cuts continue to limit the children's access to high quality Arts programs. It is our hope that through our free art workshops we may be able to assist them in bridging those gaps and encourage children to believe in their potential, their ability to succeed, and the importance of learning in the context of their lives and what they find relevant.

In November 2011, we conducted a workshop with a group of 6th graders based on Edvard Munch's piece "The Scream." They had knowledge of the piece, and we gave them a little bit of history for them to be able to place the art and the artist within a historical context. With the aid of an article published by CNN in their Science and Space section (http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/12/10/scream.munch.reut/) we shared with the group the scientific reason why the sky is thought to have been actually colored red around the time Munch painted this piece.

Edvard Munch - The Scream 1893.

This painting by Edvard Munch is in the public domain in the United States because it was first published more than 95 
years ago. The painting is protected by copyright in Norway until 2015 (the life of the  author + 70 years). The painting may 
also be covered by copyright in the countries of the European Union.

After sharing with them this historical tidbit, we asked what they thought made the main figure in the painting want to scream. They were very insightful in their answers, considering the factor of the volcanic explosion as causing uncertainty and  concern.

Then we asked them about the things that made them want to "scream" - not people, but things - and got various responses from spiders to snakes, and from crime to the loss of loved ones. We sometimes think that kids have the advantage of living in their own little world of fantasy and play - but they showed a level of awareness about their surroundings and the reality around them that some may think beyond their years.

The process was cathartic, and once we shared respectfully what each one feared, and allowed everyone a turn to express these things without anyone judging, we asked them to draw their own "Scream" figure and surround it of the things that scared them instead. This way, but putting them on paper and sharing them with others, they would be a little less frightening and as a group they would all become more connected in the process.

Here are pictures of the works they came up with:

For more information on Hallen School, please visit their website and CT School Tree.

For information on our Art in the Community program, or to become a volunteer please visit Our Programs page.