Volunteers Learn the Finer Craft of Teaching Art Lessons

By Paul Clinton MORE SAN PEDRO

Several times a year, Art to Grow On teaches the teachers.

The Harbor Area nonprofit art-enrichment organization organizes workshops to train parents, grandparents and other community volunteers how to teach art in local elementary and middle schools.

The group’s teachers emphasize to parents that they don’t need to know much about art to teach the subject to children. However, they do need to differentiate that the art lessons should rise above basic craft-type activities, said Marcia Spaulding, the group’s chairwoman.

“They need to feel comfortable [in the classroom],” Spaulding said. “We like to do fine arts, not crafts.”

The group’s program — now in 17 Harbor Area schools — has been cresting of late. This year, the group expanded beyond its scope of teaching art in elementary schools by adding the program as an after- school session at Dana and Dodson middle schools.

In giving an art lesson, the group asks students to mimic the style of a famous painter or painting style. In the past, the group has offered a paint-by-numbers style similar to Jasper Johns. A “surreal meal” asked children to create food items using toilet paper and other items as a nod to surrealism.

At a March 23 workshop in the auditorium of the Los Angeles Boys and Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor a few blocks from Dana Middle School, parents and others learned to create a kaleidoscope, which was invented in 1816 by David Brewster.

The lesson came with snippets of history, mathematical measurements and various supplies (reflective paper, cardboard and a multicolored marble).

By signing up for the workshops, community volunteers agree to teach two Art to Grow On lessons in any of the schools that have asked for the program.

Many of the volunteers are moms who enjoy a glimpse into their own children’s classrooms.

“The children we’re teaching are our kids’ age, so we know how to reach them,” said Yvonne Lopez, who teaches the lessons at Christ Lutheran School in Rancho Palos Verdes. “We already have experience with that age group.”

Lopez’s daughter Destiny, a third-grader, attends the school.

Mary Ponce’s daughter Mandolin, a first-grader, attends Point Fermin Elementary School, where Mary teaches her lessons. Teaching art is a joy for her, she said.

“Kids are natural artists,” Ponce said. “All we have to do is tell them what to do. It’s great seeing their style come to life.”

Oftentimes, the younger students are easier to teach, because they follow directions to the letter, Spaulding said. Older children tend to take more liberties with the projects, she said. She has enjoyed teaching first-graders.

“They will listen to you step by step,” Spaulding said. “They’ll just sit and listen to your every word.”Find out

moremoreEDUCATION