End of year art show at LOLPS

Jul 05, 2012

Photo: aspiring young artists in the Land O”Lakes Art Club displayed their finished woks at an end of year show in the school library

Students and members of the community had a chance to view the fine works of aspiring young artists recently in Mountain Grove. Twenty young painters from the Lake O' Lakes Art Club invited the school and community to a show of their finished art works in the school library on June 27. The show, which included live music by members of the school's Ukulele Orchestra, showcased works created by members of the school's art club, which began in May thanks to grant from the Limestone Learning foundation.

LOLPS grade 7/8 teacher Lee Hull, a trained and talented painter in his own right, taught the classes and he was overwhelmed by the diversity of styles that were produced by the club's members, who over the course of eight classes created still lifes from a tableau of objects that included bouquets of flowers, animal skulls, balls, sports equipment, and stuffed animals. The students were instructed to choose a portion of the display to paint and were given the freedom to include the objects that excited them most.

Hull spoke of the challenge of trying to teach the students while at the same time allowing them to express their own individual styles and tastes. “While showing them how to proceed with the painting process, when it came time to create their own compositions I let them do their own thing and helped them to accomplish what they each individually were after.” The results of the finished works are astounding in their diverse approaches to composition, colour and painting techniques. “The styles they came up with were amazingly diverse ranging from hyper-realistic, to abstract, to expressionistic. Some of the works created were reminiscent of Joan Miro and Egon Schiele, which was really amazing because the students came up with those styles themselves, having never seen works by those particular artists before.”

Hull felt that that club was an overwhelming success, with the painters and their parents being very pleased with the works created. This was Hull's first time instructing students in painting and he said it was a also learning experience for him. “I was amazed that with just a bit of instruction, the students seem to be able to take it and run with it and create something very individual that I would have never expected or dreamed of. For example, I showed them how to apply both thin and thick applications but they started experimenting and ended up finding their own methods of working. For example, one student really liked the effect that she had created on her palette and she went with that approach.”

Hull said he plans to continue the club next year and will increase the amount of time that the students have to paint. Judging by the pride demonstrated by the students who had their work on display at the show, no doubt the club will again fill up fast.