Art in the Age of Lockdown

Bragging alert: I am about to go on about how amazing my students are.

But first, a side note: I wrote this blog post a month ago, saving it until my students turned in their final art projects. I rarely bring up political topics in this blog. I think we have so much in common as humans, and politics are divisive. But given all the pain our country is in, I want to add two sentences:

My students are all shades of the rainbow (with white kids being a small minority), and they all are worthy and full of potential. I’m not perfect but I try to treat all of them the same--and all kids need our love. 

These are the final two projects my art students did this school year, and I think they went out with a bang. Due to quarantine, these projects were posted online and the kids followed directions to create their art.

The students were given a choice to do pet portraits or a windmill and tulip scene. I told them that they could do an animal portrait if they don’t have a pet, and that breaking quarantine to go adopt a pet would not earn them extra credit. They were encouraged to find animal photos online or in books or magazines if they did not have a live animal nearby.

The pet portrait idea came to me by accident. I was thinking of projects that could be done without special supplies (only a pencil is needed). And I realized that the subject matter was literally right in front of them, since they are at home 24/7 with their pets. Furthermore, people adore their animals, and so this project would have a special meaning to the kids.

Without further ado, here is some of the creative art my students made at home in the last month:

First grader's fish. Quite impressive!

The other option my students had was to create a spring-themed drawing of windmills and tulips. I adapted this project from one I found online. In a way, it feels weird to borrow someone else’s project rather than create my own from scratch. But these strange quarantine times are not our usual mode. Maybe I don’t have to reinvent the wheel every single time. Even Julia Child must have opened up a can of soup every once in a while, right?

Anyway, back to tulips. I knew that colorful tulips would put me in a cheerful springtime mood. I hoped the kids would enjoy the project, too. I like how much variety there is within these scenes. The only requirements were to have a windmill, big tulips in the foreground and lots of color. Some of these kids really blew me away. It is clear to me that they put a lot of effort and time into their work.

In the Netherlands, windmills were used to pump water out of the lowlands back into the rivers. This allowed the lowlands to be dry enough for farming. These days there are more modern systems in place to pump water out of the lowlands, so now windmills are more of a decorative feature. But functional or decorative, can we just agree that windmills look cool?

Tulips are loved by the people of The Netherlands. The tulip flower was brought to the Netherlands in 1593 and the Dutch celebrate their favorite flower each January with National Tulip Day.

Thanks for reading and for all the supportive comments people have posted or emailed about the student art I’ve shared. Knowing that the kids’ art brightened your day during lockdown means so much. Bringing laughs or something positive to others has always made me happy.

Stay well, be safe, and I’ll see you again soon, right here, with more Adventures in Art Land.