Fine Artist Program at Kumeyaay

Jackie's yellow birds inspired by Klee

Jackie's colorful beetles inspired by Durer

Noah so happy to be in art class

The budget cuts here in California in regards to schools is a blessing in disguise. They can not afford art teachers at the public schools however our school decided to hire one teacher (perhaps she even volunteers) who gives the parents fine art workshops once a month for the different grade levels and then we as parents need to teach it to the different classes. I just had to volunteer for this great program. I was very excited at the idea of taking some art classes, learning different styles and techniques, at the same time I was concerned how parents with no art experience where going to be able to draw, paint, sketch etc so well that we could then teach the basic concepts to the kids.Luckily, we do tailor the classes to make them age appropriate and realistic for the kids to understand and mimic the style of the artist so it is not overwhelming but fun and enjoyable. We did beetle bugs by Durer for the kinder and yellow birds for 4th grade by Klee. The kinder class went GREAT!! And I teach the 4th grade class next week by the way they have 36 students in their class!!! We use twist up crayons, water colors, starch etc.. So far so good! Bare in mind the we are all beginners just exposing the kids one step at a time as we too are learning. I attached a few pictures of what we did so far I think they are pretty good considering I am using mainly crayon and have like 20 minutes to complete each piece!!! It a wonderful program and so much fun. Last month I was in class for 3 hours as it was pouring rain outside and it was heaven.