The third grade students have begun an exploration of traditional Chinese art, engaging with techniques and motifs of Chinese art which they will encounter in an upcoming field trip to visit the new China galleries at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In conjunction with their Social Studies curriculum, the third graders are gaining an understanding of Chinese history and culture through observing artwork and emulating traditional art-making techniques.
During our introduction, we discussed how people from different cultures have different approaches to and reasons for making art. Some cultures emphasize personal expression and creativity, while others place importance on tradition and carefully replicating specific techniques. Examples of these diverse approaches to art-making can be found within one culture in different time periods, regions and art disciplines.
In traditional Chinese ink paintings, more emphasis is placed on passing down specific motifs and means to create paintings. In this light, we took a more regimented step-by-step approach to learning ink painting techniques. In our first session, the third graders learned how to hold the brush, and to use lighter and darker tones of the ink to create different effects, painting bamboo stalks. In the second session, the third grade artists were delighted to learn how to paint panda bears, and will move on to painting landscape scenes in our final session. We look forward to making the connection between our own Chinese ink painting exploration and the ink paintings that we will see at the museum.
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