Book Themed Art Show showcases elementary students' imaginative talents

The Makerspace at Chester Academy was transformed into a mesmerizing museum of artwork as students from Chester Elementary unleashed their imaginations and creativity during the Book Themed Art Show on Tuesday, May 20. Families congregated to observe the artistic talents and projects students have been working on throughout the year.

Many of the pieces featured in the show correspond with various children’s books, such as “Mouse Paint” by Ellen Stoll Walsh, and “The Pigeon HAS to Go to School!” by Mo Willems. Additionally, students recorded themselves reading these books so observers can listen to the book while looking at the different exhibits.

“I think it's really great and it shows off the mass amount of artwork that we do,” said art teacher Emily Daunicht when asked about how it feels to see all the students’ art displayed. “I'm a firm believer in hanging up every single kid's artwork, not just the best ones. It's really a moment for the students to see themselves as artists and to be proud of that.” 

Preschoolers used what they learned about different types of lines and used crayons to explore creating lines after reading “Monsters Love to Color” by Mike Austin. 

Kindergarteners listened to a reading of “Giraffes Can't Dance" by Giles Andreas and used simple shapes to create a giraffe on the page, coloring it with realistic colors. Students practiced paintbrush skills by painting a blue night sky and green grass.

In first grade, students looked at the selective coloring in the book “If Dinosaurs Came Back” by Bernard Most, and used the illustrations to mimic what they wished the dinosaurs would do with them if they were unextinct.

Second graders created their own fictional trucks inspired by the book “Trucks: Whizz! Zoom!
Rumble!” by Patricia Hubbell. Students drew their truck and used crayons or colored pencils to color the truck. Once their trucks were complete, they used map collages as their background surface to glue their truck on top of.

Third graders drew a self portrait of themselves flying through a dream sky after reading the story “Sky Color" by Peter Reynolds. Students explored different watercolor techniques such as wet on wet to color their background with any color except blue, just like the story.

In fourth grade, students read “Color Blocked” by Ashley Sorenson. Afterwards, they created line drawings of pipes and added watercolors to create dripping paint effects. Students could use gravity or air to help their paints move down from the pipes. One way to use air was to blow through a straw to make the paint move on the page.

“My daughter was super excited to show us the work that she's put into all of her art projects, and it's really nice,” said Karine Ibocko, a mother of three with one child in fourth grade at CES. “I think the abstract piece in the hallway was my favorite.”

Identity jars were created by fifth graders after reading “The Name Jar” by Yangsook Choi. Students illustrated their name, and filled the jar with things about themselves in illustration and word forms.