This year in Art, our scholars will have the opportunity to experience something that is increasingly rare: the joy of slowing down.
In keeping with our school-wide theme of Scholé, or leisure devoted to learning and contemplation, our scholars will spend the year creating one very special work of art—a personal masterpiece on canvas.
Rather than beginning and finishing a project in a single class, scholars will return to their paintings throughout the year, working on them approximately twice each month. They will have time to observe, plan, paint, make mistakes, make changes, and gradually develop their work.
The goal is not simply to make a beautiful painting. The goal is to experience the process of becoming an artist.
What Will They Paint?
Instead of giving every scholar the same subject, I want each child to create something that is personally meaningful to them.
Their masterpiece might be:
❤️ Someone they love — a family member, friend, or pet
🏡 A place they love — their home, a favorite vacation spot, a grandparent's house, or a special place in nature
🐾 An animal they love
🌻 Something they find beautiful — flowers, nature, a landscape, or another subject
⭐ Something they imagine — a magical place, creature, or scene
The important question is:
“What is something worth painting?”
I want our scholars to discover that art can be a way of paying careful attention to the people, places, experiences, and ideas that matter to us.
How Parents Can Help
You can help your scholar by looking for inspiration together.
If your child decides to paint a beloved pet, for example, you might provide a few clear photographs of that pet from different angles. If they want to paint a special place, you might find photographs from a family trip. If they want to paint a favorite flower, animal, or landscape, you can help them gather a few reference images.
These references are inspiration, not something they need to copy exactly.
Please feel free to send your scholar to school with a small selection of printed photographs or reference images when appropriate. We will use them to help the scholar observe details and make artistic decisions.
A few helpful guidelines:
Choose clear, well-lit photographs whenever possible.
Several photographs of the same subject can be more useful than one.
Avoid photographs with lots of distracting background details.
If your scholar is painting a person or pet, photographs showing the subject clearly are especially helpful.
Please don't worry about finding a “perfect” image. We are learning how artists use references to develop their own compositions.
A Different Kind of Art Project
Over the course of the year, scholars will gradually move through the artistic process:
Inspiration → Planning → Sketching → Building → Detailing → Refining → Presenting
We will work on composition, color, shape, proportion, texture, brushwork, value, and other artistic skills along the way.
Most importantly, scholars will learn that good work takes time.
They may paint something they don't like and learn how to change it. They may discover that a color doesn't work and try another. They may spend an entire class working on one small section. They may look at their painting weeks later and suddenly notice something they didn't see before.
That is part of the process.
In a culture that often encourages us to rush toward the next thing, I hope this project gives our scholars an opportunity to practice Scholé—to slow down, look carefully, work patiently, and take genuine pleasure in making something well.
At the end of the year, each scholar will have not just a painting, but a record of a year spent learning how to see, create, persevere, and care about their work.
And I can't wait to see what they choose to paint.