Old-fashioned art

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Old-fashioned art By Michelle Klein
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[ Corl Street Elementary fourth-graders including Tyler Smith,9, and
Isabel Burgos,8, paint using natural materials such as yucca leaves and
pine needles on a vertical textured surface.] CDT/Michelle Klein Corl
Street Elementary fourth-graders including Tyler Smith,9, and Isabel
Burgos,8, paint using natural materials such as yucca leaves and pine
needles on a vertical textured surface. More photos For these artists,
there were no paintbrushes, no smooth canvas, no acrylic paints. The
challenge for a group of Corl Street Elementary students was to create
art as the American Indians did, using materials found in nature: yucca
leaves, pine needles, sticks and grasses. The project, said art teacher
Lisa Taylor, is more about process than product. "It's the experience. I
think it helps them understand that (American Indians) had to use what
they had available," she said. "When painting, the kids want a glob of
paint to use. I want them to know that if they were making this with
berries, they would have had to hike to get more." Taylor gave students
a brief introduction and urged them to paint by clustering symbols, as
American Indian artists did in their rock art. The students then each
found a spot on the floor, using overturned tables as easels and paper
in place of rocks. Some students crumpled up their smooth paper to
achieve a painting surface similar to that of the rocks used by the
American Indians. Others began by selecting their painting tools,
cutting loose tips off ornamental grass, or binding pine needles
together to form paintbrushes. Then, using the tools, their fingers and
their imaginations, the young artists filled their canvasses with simple
symbols such as turtles, hunters with bow-and-arrows, and streams. When
they later gathered to talk about what they'd learned, the children
spoke of how difficult is was to paint curves, both because of the tools
they were using and the rough painting surface. "So we have developed an
appreciation for the artist?" Taylor asked. The lesson doesn't end
there. This week, the students will create a written story to accompany
their art work. Later in the school year, they'll explore other forms of
American Indian art, such as weaving and pottery.