April 30 Home Communicator -Our God is an Awesome God!
During the past two weeks, the Middle School students have been engaged in the process of art as we celebrate the creativity of our God. We were blessed to be able to work with artist Joel Schoon-Tanis. Joel talked with our students on April 12 about how and what art communicates and also about the art process. Part of the art process on which he focused was brainstorming ideas. During the following week, the students in all the homerooms went through the brainstorming process. These were the questions Joel asked them to consider during the brainstorming focusing on our school theme ‘Running the Race’:
- What does it mean to “run the race” well? Think about it literally. That is, what makes for a good race? What’s the end goal? What does that look like in an image? What details need to be included (be specific)?
- Next, what does it mean as a metaphor? When taken in light of our faith what isthe race and what does it mean to run it well? How does that change the image?
- Now get imaginative! How might these same ideas be represented in different ways? Would they be more fun with animals? With a different setting? Changing the race to some other metaphor?
On Friday of that week, Joel gathered all the ideas to solidify what the mural might look like. During this past week, Joel worked with small groups of students and they painted something on the mural. By the end of the day on Thursday, every student had painted something on the mural.
On Friday, April 26, the middle school students traded a day of traditional learning with one more experiential and focused on the many different arts that the Lord has blessed people with talents to create. The goal of the day was to experience art in ways that we may not have thought about before. We started the day with Joel leading us in chapel worship. (Soon there will be a link to this chapel in on the website.) For the rest of the morning, students attended four different sessions; there were 20 different presenters gifted in diverse areas here to work with our students. In the afternoon, each grade level enjoyed three different programs – The Hark Up Horns; a magician and a chalk talk artist; and a storyteller. During this time, Joel finished the mural. We now have a commissioned piece of art on the wall of the entryway by the north gym! It was an amazing day! Be sure to ask your middle school student about the day. What an awesome God we serve to give people such incredible gifts.
Serving together,
Mary Broene, Middle School Principal
http://www.joelschoontanisart.com/
