Beginning last quarter, grades 6-8 have been going through John Paul II's Letter to Artists, written in 1999. We've been going through this in sections, two or three chapters at a time. If you have not read this, it is well worth your attention! It is easily found on the Internet: type in "Letter to Artists John Paul II" and several sites, including the Vatican's website, will be found having the complete text.

The Pope makes some very excellent observations regarding the arts, observations that I'd like to focus on here as they are worth your reflection.

The Letter begins with a quote from Genesis: "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good"(Gn 1:31). John Paul observes that the artist, when looking at the work of his own hands, can sense in it "some echo of the mystery of creation with which God, the sole creator of all things, has wished in some way to associate you." Since we are made in the image of God, and God is Creator, then it follows that the creative impulse and artistic gifts are the expression of that divine creativity imaged in man. This reminds me of a favorite quote by G. K. Chesterton: "Art is the signature of man." As I have pointed out to my students, art is a uniquely human endeavor -- when barn swallows build their nests, none decide to construct Gothic arches over them. When foxes dig their dens, they don't line the walls with tile mosaics. This has always elicited laughter from the students, but it is interesting how something so obvious has such a deep and profound implication: The uniqueness of the artistic impulse really does point to our being made in the image and likeness of God. This, in turn, points to the real responsibility the artist has in utilizing what gifts God has given him.

And that's just from the first page!

In my last entry, I briefly discussed the nature of the basic drawing lessons that all students are given in my classes. I realize, however, that I may have put the cart before the horse in so doing -- before discussing the specifics of drawing lessons, it would be appropriate to first discuss the overall objectives of the classes.

Mrs. Coone had a most helpful inspiration: She suggested that I post the letter that I sent out to parents on the first day of class. In this letter I discuss my objectives as well as give a brief discussion of the philosophical underpinnings of my approach -- in short, Catholic philosophy!

I hope you find some food for thought in this letter.

Dear Parents,

My name is Mrs. Matheny, and I am greatly privileged and honored to be teaching Art at Holy Family Academy in grades 4 through 8. I have been a professional fine artist since my youth, and I am looking forward to working with your children and sharing what knowledge and skills I possess with them in the coming school year.
I have two main objectives, which I would like to explain briefly:

1. To develop each student’s ability to draw and to "see"; to accurately represent objects and their spatial relationship with other objects.

The ability to accurately represent shapes and forms is foundational in the visual fine arts. Perhaps the best analogy I can employ is from music: when students are learning an instrument or to sing in choir, they must learn to duplicate specific musical notes correctly – these notes are the building blocks of intelligible music. This involves repetition and correction, but this hard work is rewarded when the student has mastered these basics and is thus equipped to express his- or herself musically if so gifted. So it is with the visual arts: creativity in and of itself cannot be taught, but rather is best served by providing the individual student with instruction in the basic elements of drawing and design so that creativity can be intelligibly expressed without being hampered by poorly developed basic skills. I mention this because your child’s work from my class may seem at times (especially initially) to be repetitive: this is because I will be working to develop each student’s proficiency at the basic building blocks of the visual arts before progressing to more complex concepts. With this in mind, the classwork your child produces should be viewed as a means to an end rather than as finished artwork.

It is important to note here that artistic talent is not something that can be taught but is truly a gift from God. There will be a range of natural ability in every class, but each and every student can develop and improve what talent they possess. Grading, then, will be based heavily on the progress and improvement each student makes.

2. To develop each student’s ability to discern and appreciate fine works of art.

Within approximately the last 125 years, generally and historically accepted concepts of what is and what is not art have undergone a drastic and destructive revolution. What is not always recognized is the very secular, anti-God aspect of this revolution. St. Paul’s words to the Philippians come to mind here: "Finally, my brothers, your thoughts should be wholly directed to all that is true, all that deserves respect, all that is honest, pure, admirable, virtuous or worthy of praise." This admonition stands in contrast to the relativism apparent in our art museums, where ugliness, chaos, and novelty are held to be, at the very least, the equal of beauty, order, intelligibility, and skilled workmanship – indeed, they are typically regarded as superior. Beauty, order, and harmony are aspects of creation that invite our minds to contemplate the Creator: hostility to these qualities is typical of a secular mindset that is hostile to God. Our children need to become cultural warriors, to reclaim beauty and order. To this end they will be exposed to great works of art that have withstood the test of time and display the qualities mentioned above, and these qualities will be examined in greater depth.

Please feel free to contact me at the school with any questions or concerns you may have. The easiest way to reach me is at davematheny@pngusa.net or at jmatheny@holyfamilyacademy.cc . I can also be reached by school voicemail at 952-925-9193, extension 123. I look forward to meeting you in the coming school year.

Yours in Christ,

Mrs. Jean Matheny

As I mentioned in my previous entry, all of my students are receiving some basic lessons in drawing that are the same regardless of grade. There is a certain progression being followed here: for example, all of my students, on their first day, are asked to draw a simple outline of a hare drawn from a watercolor by Albrecht Durer (1471-1528). When I say "simple", I mean that the weight of the line doesn't vary and there is no shading involved -- the exercise shows how well the students can reproduce shapes. Later, their classwork explores the expressive qualities of line: how it can indicate form by its direction and weight.

As many of you know, with the start of the new semester, I am now teaching Art to grades 6 - 8. This means, of course, that I am often teaching the older brothers and sisters of the fourth and fifth graders that I have been instructing since the beginning of the school year.

Recently a parent remarked to me that her older son was surprised to learn that he was having to do the same drawing assignments that his younger sister had been doing in the fourth grade. This comment provides me with the impetus to explain the progression of assignments that I give to the various classes, and so was most welcome.

Some of the skills needed to draw to the best of one's ability are learned skills. That is to say, that whatever God-given artistic talents a child may possess (and they do vary considerably), they can be developed by learning the basics of drawing: how to "see"; how best to represent shapes accurately; how best to express form through line; and so on.

These are not skills that are automatically advanced and incorporated by students merely by the advancement of years: an older student with no drawing instruction is simply not likely to be as advanced in drawing skills as a younger student that has had more instruction, given the same amount of natural ability.

With that in mind, I have not varied the beginning class assignments given to the different grades. The same steps are required for all students, regardless of grade, as they are all learning methods they have not been previously taught. In addition, using the same assignments in the beginning stages gives me a useful gauge by which to determine an individual student's natural ability: this would be harder to determine if different assignments were given to students.

I hope this information is useful to you, the parents! In the future I will be posting images of some of the class assignments given to your children, along with an explanation of the particular lessons I am seeking to impart with these assignments.

May God bless you and keep you in His hands.

Welcome to my online message board, courtesy of Holy Family Academy. I'll be posting information about the classwork and homework that your children are working on --and the objectives of this work -- as well as showing you examples of individual assignments. I hope you will stop by and visit this blog often!