The Long Beach Museum of Art, 2300 E. Ocean Blvd., is exhibiting works created by students in its KidsVisions program, through September. Now in its eleventh year, KidsVisions is a collaboration between the Museum and the Long Beach Unified School District to engage fifth-grade students in art experiences.
Each school year, more than 6,500 students are taken on docent-led tours and participate in hands-on art making activities. Prior to each field trip, Museum staff visits each classroom to give students an overview of the Museum. During this orientation, classroom teachers receive a pre-visit packet that includes pre-lesson curriculum materials and reproductions of artworks in the Museum’s collection. Teachers also receive post-lesson curriculum materials, activity booklets, and family passes for their students to broaden their touring experience. This exhibition represents the art-making activities that students experienced over the 2010—2011 school year. Each of the three art lessons were inspired by artworks on display in three different exhibitions.
The first art lesson was based on pattern and shape found in Branching Out in the fall of 2010. Students created diptychs using their initials as the starting point for exploring pattern design. The designs they created reflect their own personal identity. They focused on lines, shapes and colors that could symbolize their family’s cultural history or their own personal experiences.
The next set of artwork was inspired by the Influential Element: Exploring the Impact of Water exhibition in the winter of 2011. Students practiced a variety of watercolor painting techniques, including wet-into-wet, dry brush, and loaded brush methods in the first three sections of the paintings. In the fourth section, students applied these techniques into their own composition based on the subject matter of water.
The last art project was inspired by several artworks in the Wilma and Roland Duquette Collection: World Collector’s Enthusiasm and Jason Wong Estate: One Collector, Many Media exhibitions in the spring of 2011. Students created collages and block prints emphasizing pattern and repetition. The final artwork is a combination of the two mediums, resulting in a multi-layered monoprint.
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