Children’s art is a realm where one can clearly see and share in the joy of children’s discovery and imaginations. This joy in creativity and self-expression is visible in a current show of Marymount of Santa Barbara student artwork at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.
The featured kindergarten through fifth grade student Nature Houses were built using salvaged, natural materials, most of which came from students’ own backyards. The show is sure to delight, surprise and remind the viewer of the beauty of children’s imaginations. More than this, however, this show is an example of an art program intentionally designed to enhance and add depth in learning.
Studies show that art enhances learning. According to a recent Early Childhood News article by Anna Reyner, the U.S. secretary of education’s report on “The Value Added Benefits of the Arts” states, “Arts teaching and learning can increase students’ cognitive and social development. The arts can be a critical link for students in developing the crucial thinking skills and motivations they need to achieve at higher levels.”
Marymount’s art program takes advantage of the opportunity that art provides students through a cross-curriculum art program that touches many areas of student learning.
“By collecting their own project materials outdoors, student perception of natural beauty and respect for protecting our environment intensified dramatically,” Marymount art teacher Jessie House said. “Within the art room, students challenged themselves to push the creative limits of how to use their collected natural materials, such as sea glass, leaves, shells, twigs, pebbles, moss and other interesting pieces of nature, to create biodegradable Nature Houses in honor of Earth Day. Each artistic piece reflects a unique architectural approach to a complex and beautifully landscaped Nature House.”
When looking at the houses, it is easy to see the fantasy, creativity and heart poured into each. It is perhaps less obvious, but equally important to understand the depth of teaching behind the project. The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden show continues through 6 p.m. Thursday in the Botanic Garden’s library.
An upcoming CAIS Faculty Newsletter on 21st Century Education (California Association of Independent Schools) article titled “The Art of Teaching Interconnectedness” describes a student project that House did recently that reinforces the idea of human interconnectedness through a unit on Islamic mosaics. The project was a collaboration between the Kaleidoscope Program (world religions) and the art curriculum.
In another example, middle school history teacher Andy Siegel and House collaborated to create a sixth-grade history course that helped students visualize and experience history in entirely new ways. The CAIS Faculty Newsletter on 21st Century Education had previously selected Marymount’s art program as exemplary for a project in which students created a Matisse collage. Matisse worked in a wheelchair in his later years. Sitting in and working from borrowed wheelchairs, lower school students created their own versions of Matisse collages to more fully understand and immerse themselves in Matisse’s work. The students then donated the collages to a Santa Barbara occupational therapy/rehabilitation office and learned about the work of rehabilitation therapists.
Marymount’s art curricula goes a step further and is differentiated from other academic art programs in that the Marymount curricula has a foundation in ethics and is intentionally designed to help students develop traits such as empathy, a sense of interconnectedness and a respect for natural and sacred spaces.
Marymount is an independent coeducational school, junior kindergarten through 8th grade, on a picturesque 10-acre campus nestled on the Santa Barbara Riviera. Building on a 75-year tradition of excellence, the educators at Marymount have crafted a unique learning experience that blends mastery of core subjects with acquisition of the essential skills students need to navigate and be successful in a rapidly evolving world.
— Molly Seguel is the admissions director for Marymount of Santa Barbara.