ARTiculations

ARTiculations is an integrated eight-week residency program that fosters appreciation for the visual arts and builds art vocabulary and art-making skills, while concurrently connecting to language arts and writing goals. Over two months, third and fourth grade students investigate real works of art using the Art Encounter discussion method, create their own original art using a variety of artistic media, and write about their artwork in personal art journals. Art Encounter’s teaching artists engage the students in an interactive dialogue that helps the children articulate their perceptions and understand different points of views, and lead hands-on activities that stimulate their imaginations and deepen their understanding of artistic concepts. Between sessions, students write about their artwork in forms that include poetry, descriptive and creative writing, helping them translate their visual perceptions into words. The project concludes with a field trip to the Art Institute of Chicago to see famous artworks that further demonstrate the concepts learned in the classroom.