| May Letter |
|
Hi everyone, It is the beginning of May and the sheer beauty of spring always makes me wish I were an artist. While I'm not an artist, I can recommend some incredible books for you to use to bring out the artist inside each of your students. I stumbled upon my first recommendation. I was reading all of Jen Bryant's books and found one I hadn't read: Pieces of Georgia. After reading it, I immediately called the principal of the middle school where I work as a consultant and recommended she tell the art teacher about this book as I knew it would make a great shared reading in her art class. The main character's life is in turmoil and art-specifically Georgia O'Keeffe's art-saves her. There are many beautiful passages to support looking closely at art, imagining the artist, and making connections to our individual lives. That book led me to a picture book, My Name Is Georgia, by Jeanette Winter. After reading the book to your students, you could discuss the author's purpose. What does Jeanette Winter want us to know or imagine about Georgia O'Keeffe? It's a simple picture book but I thought it would be a great model for students so they could chose artists whose work they admire and write portraits of those artists. What would each artist like us to know about his or her childhood? What would they like us to know about how they became the artists they are today? Finally, I was very pleased to discover that Jan Greenberg has a new collection: Side by Side: New Poems Inspired by Art from around the World. I have long loved Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art so was very pleased to see a new collection. Each of the poems in this collection is written in the original language accompanied by a translation. Greenberg has divided the anthology into four categories: · Stories: The poet looks at the work of art and imagines a story. · Voices: The poet goes into the piece of art and speaks as the voice of the subject of the art. · Expressions: The poet "talks" to the piece of art asking questions, etc. · Impressions: The poet describes what he or she is seeing artistically. Wouldn't this make a great art/writing exhibit for your students? They could each choose a work of art and write in one (or all four!) of the categories above. Perhaps they could write one poem for each of the four categories and choose the one that best expresses their connections to the pieces of art chosen. I hope each of you is enjoying a beautiful spring wherever you are and that your students are becoming the pictures of reading and writing you have imagined all year. Janet |
| < Prev |
|---|