The Wedgwood School Art Program
The Wedgwood School art program includes grades one through five for all students in the school. Each grade level homeroom comes to the art room for a forty minute period each week. Teaching units include both guided studies and independent creative exploration. The program is taught by Mr. Wolf, who began his career as a professional graphic artist and who has earned degrees in commercial art and art education, including a Masters Degree in art education and numerous post-graduate educational experiences. Mr. Wolf currently has twenty-three years of experience teaching art in the public schools, and has been teaching in Washington Township since 1983. He greatly enjoys seeing students grow individually in their creative skills and artistic perception.
The Wedgwood School art program follows the district elementary art curriculum. This curriculum is based on several art education fundamentals:
· the study and application of the elements of art (color, value, line, shape, form, space, and texture)
· the study and application of the principles of art (balance, emphasis, harmony/unity, contrast, pattern, movement, and rhythm)
· the study of artists (a so-called “discipline-based art education” approach of studying the history, criticism, aesthetics, and creation of art)
· perceptual and creative skill development.
Generally, students study a minimum of three artists each year, and are encouraged to explore the work of the artists outside of class as well. Today, this is easily facilitated by access of the internet. All a student has to do is type the name of an artist in a search engine, and a variety of sites will appear to take the student on a virtual tour of the artist’s work. A word of caution to parents, however. It is advisable to work with your children as you do this, and to use “kid-friendly” sites due to the nature of art. Many such vehicles are geared for children’s use and present only those works which would be non-offensive and age-appropriate. The best suggestion is to sit with your children as they inform you of what they’ve already learned, and then look together for further work on-line, in the library, and best of all, in museums. Not far away is one of the great world art museums – the Philadelphia Art Museum. Make it a family trip – students come back eager to share what they’ve experienced, and parents are generally thrilled to see the interest their children have in the artists they’ve heard about in school. Enjoy!