Tag: art

MCS Art on the University of Utah Campus

Written by Montessori Admin on March 24, 2015. Posted in Blog.

MCS Lower Elementary students, 1st – 3rd Grade, created art pieces for the University of Utah’s Eccles Institute of Human Genetics Building. The showing is on the 3rd floor atrium of the building. This building houses the Department of Human Genetics, Molecular Medicine, USTAR, [2007 Nobel prize winner Dr. Mario Capecchi], and many other researchers.

Amy Fought, our Lower Elementary Art Teacher explains, “At Montessori Community School we have enjoyed exploring paint and color with our creative art installations of ‘Shapes and Silhouettes.’ Working in groups of two or three, students got together to practice the style of Wassily Kandinsky, famous for his abstract art. “

“We spent time emulating a few of Kandinsky’s famous pieces that focused on repetitions of circles. Although art often focuses on the foreground, or “positive space,” we chose to bring to life our background, or “negative space,” by choosing bright and colorful shapes to paint, as Kandinsky did.”

“The students were given only the primary colors (magenta, yellow, and blue) to begin with, and they created their own beautiful variations of colors to create layers upon layers of their shapes. They then overlaid their work with a tree silhouette of their choosing, drawing and cutting a simple picture that would not detract from the beauty of their background. The result was a beautiful set of pieces that shows the ingenuity and creativity of young minds.”

MCS Celebrates Dia de los Muertos

Written by Montessori Admin on November 5, 2014. Posted in Blog.

Montessori Community School is celebrating Dia de los Muertos this week by creating beautiful candy skulls, key chains, and other festive artwork. We have three altars set up in our lobby to celebrate the lives of people we love and admire.

Dia de los Muertos assures that the dead not be insulted by mourning or sadness. Instead, Dia de los Muertos celebrates the lives of the deceased with food, drink, parties, and actifities the dead enjoyed in life. The holiday recognizes death as a natural part of the human experience, a continuum with birth, childhood, and growing up to become a contributing member of the community. On Dia de los Muertos, the dead are also a part of the community, awakened from their eternal sleep to share in the celebrations with their families and loved ones.

We give a special thank you to all those involved in our Spanish program and for the wonderful job they do in teaching, sharing, and enriching our lives with such a beautiful language and culture.

MCS’s Collaborative Murals

Written by Montessori Admin on May 2, 2014. Posted in Blog.

“The human hand, so delicate and so complicated, not only allows the mind to reveal itself but it enable the whole being to enter into special relationships with its environment…man ‘takes possession of his environment with his hands.’ His hands, under the guidance of his intellect transform this environment and this enable him to fulfill his mission in the world.”

– Maria Montessori, The Discovery of the Child

Thank you to MCS’s Art Instructor, Kindra Fehr for organizing and implementing the painting of two murals on our school grounds.

A garden theme designed and executed by our Middle School class. Oquirrh, a Lower Elementary (1^st – 3^rd grade) class and two Early Childhood classes, Sequoias and Willows (ages 3 – 5), contributed to the design by adding various bugs, butterflies, and flowers.

Mural 2

Mural 2 is being painted on MCS’s new traversing wall. Designed by our Upper Elementary (4^th – 6^th grade) class, the wall features a desert theme. Wasatch, a Lower Elementary (1^st – 3^rd grade) class and two Early Childhood classes, Aspens and Magnolias (ages 3 – 5), will contribute to the design by adding various desert creatures and plants.

Art is one of the many ways children express themselves. Art is a way for children to communicate their feeling. It is through art that children develop their fine motor skills. In the Montessori environment, we provide open-ended art activities that help children explore and use their creativity.

When it comes to art, it is the process not the product that is important to the child. As adults, our goal is to produce a product. The child interacts with the world differently. The child works to develop self. The focus is on the process, not the product. Once a child creates something, he does not feel the need to keep the product. It is the process that gives satisfaction and inner joy. (Personette, 2011).

It has been a pleasure to witness the processes our students have gone through to prepare, plan, and employ as a school community to make these murals happen. It indeed, has been beautiful to see the cohesiveness and tight-knit relationships between our students, no matter the age or grade.

Cited

Personette, Pamela. (April 2014). Art in the Montessori Environment. Montessori Services: A Resource for Preparing a Child’s Environment. Retrieved from http://www.montessoriservices.com/ideas-insights/art-in-the-montessori-environment