Starry Night Coloring
I love 'hands on' activities for teaching Art History. The fabulous teachers at our primary school do a great job of letting the kids re-interpret modern artists, using all sorts of mediums from cut-out paper to drawing to clay to recycled found objects. Coloring pages are great, too - especially if you're not a confident drawer. You can think about the artist's color and composition as you work, or use your own color scheme. Shelley Esaak has just added a coloring page of Vincent van Gogh's 'Starry Night' to her small but growing collection of Fine Art coloring pages. You can read about the painting and create your own version. You could probably print it onto printable canvas, and DIY 'paint by numbers', too.
Image: M Esaak, licensed to About.com
Comments
Wow, the school you mention must have a much better art program than the schools in my area. I’m glad to hear that some schools are still emphasizing art. The drawing is an amazing recreation.
We’re very lucky, Anika. It’s a small school - I live in a country town - and the staff go to a great deal of trouble to make sure that the kids have a really rounded experience. We don’t have much in the way of facilities or specialist teachers, but they get to try lots of different things.
Each term they focus on a different culture, so I get some wonderful artwork - I have a Chinese fish kite hanging in my office, and a wonderful Indian elephant decorated in gold and sequins.
They do manage a good balance though - spelling and Times Tables are learnt every week.