Friday, January 31, 2014

FIRST GRADE . . . Seeing with our fingers!

Last time we met, first graders were introduced to the artwork of Joan Miró, a Spanish artist best known for his whimsical paintings. We learned how he was inspired by the colors and movements of the circus and we talked about how he showed that through his artwork.

When Joan Miró was a young art student, he became frustrated when he tried to draw objects realistically. One of his art teachers saw that Miró had a good understanding of color but had a hard time copying shapes. The art teacher blindfolded him so that Miró could better understand the forms of an object by feeling it with his fingers before trying to draw it.

We tried that in our classroom today, using brown paper bags to hide our objects instead of wearing blindfolds. Putting our hands inside the bag, we felt the objects with our fingers and then drew what we felt. We let our fingers see for us! Everyone was so surprised and impressed with their "touch only" drawings and I had a hard time believing that this was the work of just first grade!

Here is a video taken today in art class... part 2 of the Ranney School Miro Project.

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Thank you for your thoughts!
Barbara Levine
Ranney Lower School Art