PRESCHOOL ART PROGRAM AT LAKEWOOD CENTER

Children at the Lakewood Center’s Community Arts Preschool are learning about art in a new program started last December.  Marilyn Katcher and Carol Patton meet with preschool classes once a month using the paintings in the Entryway Gallery as the basis for their monthly lessons.

The children, who are grouped in classes of 4 and 5 year olds, study the paintings and answer questions based on Art Elements and Principles during the 15-20 minute lessons.  At the end of the lesson they are reminded to share what they learned with their parents as they walk together past the Gallery.

This is essentially a pre-Art Literacy program that introduces young children to basic concepts and vocabulary of art.  Even those that may be a little hard for them to grasp are mentioned with the hope that they will be tucked away, ready to be accessed sometime during their future Kindergarten Art Literacy lessons.  We also expect that the program will create an expectation among the parents for art education in public school and perhaps get them thinking about their role as Art Literacy volunteers.

A nice offshoot of our program is an exhibit of children’s artwork that they they’ve done with their classroom teachers.  It will be held at the Lakewood Center with the official opening on Friday, April 15th, from noon to 1:00 p.m. with refreshments served.  The exhibit will be in the south hallway near the Pre-School studio. All the artwork will be framed and will remain up in the hallways until April 22nd.  The Lake Oswego Review has promised coverage of the show so check your paper for more information as the show date draws near.