The walls were adorned with the artistic creations of our preschoolers as the school came to life for our annual Art Show. Some were inspired by the works of a master artist while others investigated different art processes.

Miss Rosemary’s classes spun their easels round and round as they painted to the inspiration of their favorite music, not unlike the artist Michael Isreal and Miss Susanne’s class used various shaped blocks to stamp paint a collage similar to the illustrations found in books they had read.  Inspired by the work of Andy Goldsworthy, Miss Christi’s classes fabricated nature’s elements into their very own masterpieces.  Miss Lynn’s class used the “process” of melting wax to make crayons burst into colors on canvas.

The children in Miss Colleen’s classes patiently assembled small snips of colored paper using their fine motor skills and imagination to make magical mosaics much like Gaudi did with colored glass. Using a process made famous by the Mexican artist Hugo Montero, Miss Sue’s class sprayed their canvases with vibrant colors to create their pictures. The children in Miss Jackie’s class combined science with art and learned that nail polish floats on water (a lesson that surprised many) as they swirled beautiful colors of polish atop tepid water and then tapped their paper to transfer the polish.

Andy Warhol’s replicated images were the foundation for Miss Maxine’s children’s photographic art work that “popped” out at onlookers as they walked by. Feathers, plastic forks, legos, toothbrushes, yarn and many other objects were the instruments used by Miss Tracey’s children to paint their creations. Textured art was the inspiration and aluminum foil was the medium that formed the basis of the shiny, crinkly pictures that Miss Jenn’s class contributed.

Author and illustrator Eric Carle has “eaten” his way into the hearts of millions of children. Miss Kathleen’s and Miss Dina’s classes utilized his “collage technique” of using hand painted pieces of paper to build an imaginative picture.  Miss Amy’s children were inspired by the simple lines and bold colors of the subway artist Haring as they used their bodies and their minds to create their whole body of art.  The children’s creative thoughts were the inspiration for Miss Lesilee’s class as they used a variety of colored shapes to make their shape art pictures. Master artist Joan Miro and his brightly colored shapes inspired Miss Jen’s classes to use their imagination to capture fantasy on paper.

The halls filled quickly with parents, grandparents and children as they all gazed with pride at these very unique masterpieces. Adding to this night of culture were the sounds of flutes, saxophones, percussion instruments and clarinets as the Half Hollow Hills School District Candlewood Middle School Band entertained the crowd. Many thanks to this group of middle-schoolers for volunteering their time and talent. They surely enriched our evening.

What a special night this was as, once again, the children had a “gallery” of fun and shared their enthusiasm with their family, teachers and friends.