Paul Klee once said, “Drawing is the art of taking a line for a walk.” That is just what some of the fifth grades girls of Matthew’s Elementary School did last week when they designed landscapes for the backdrop of their final performance with the Alabama Blues Project.

The lesson started by reading Crockett Johnson’s Harold and the Purple Crayon. The girls were then broken into groups to plan, draw and paint the landscapes. The goals of this exercise were to elicit collaboration and communication through group activity, produce planning skills and

reveal how lines make-up the things we see every day. The girls became so enthralled with planning that many almost ran out time to paint. Because of the time constraint, the lesson began to be an exploration of creativity and problem-solving to come to a stopping point.

Interestingly, the three groups designed and implemented different lines and symbols in each landscape and created three unique and clever designs. This lesson was a reminder of just how important every person is to the design process and how fun every step in the process of creating can be.

Thankfully, the girls finished their landscapes beautifully and will be on display along with the other talents the students of Matthew’s Elementary are learning from the gracious volunteers of the Alabama Blues Project.

Advertisement