2009-2011 Can Do Day

During the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years I taught weekly art classes to elementary students visiting on field trips to the Maui Arts and Cultural Center through their Can Do Day program. The Maui Arts and Cultural Center provides extensive professional development in Arts Integration to the schools of Maui through the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington DC. I regularly attended and assisted with these events.

In the Can Do Day classes my goal was to give the students a positive art experience. These students may or may not get any more art classes that year. (Many did, and some I even had later in my own summer camp.) I wanted them to feel excited about the possibilities open to them with a white paper and some paint or oil pastels. I rarely had erasers available. Rather, if a student felt they had made a mistake, I would say “A mistake is just a chance to be creative.” I would ask them what the the errant line be turned into. Skills appropriate to their grade were introduced, and quality work was encouraged, but the positive experience of expressing yourself was at the heart of the class.  

These pictures are from one of my two visits to the rural island of Lanai where we brought the art class to the school since it was to far for the students to travel.

I always encouraged the classroom teacher to join in the project, and share the experience with their students.  

I'd pre-glued the white papers to the construction paper frame to save time, resulting in a fantastic discovery by the students: It was so much fun to let the elephant's trunk and tail spill over the edge into the other color!

A first grader showing off some careful work.

A completed elephant!

I always encouraged the blending of colors.  What new colors can you discover?  How did you blend that color?  

A very happy group of artists!