ART / Overview

At Falk we believe that experiences in making art and responding to art are about the creation of meaning.  Art experiences that are connected to children’s lives, interests, and stories allow children to come to a deeper understanding of themselves, others, and their world.  We invite children to explore in-depth the sensory and physical qualities of materials and to use this knowledge to create images of importance to them.  Art is a visual language that empowers children to make their thinking, feeling, and perceptions visible.  Through in-depth explorations of the sensory, physical, and expressive qualities of materials, children grow in their capacity to re-present significant experiences and to develop their aesthetic voice.  One goal is to keep children’s imaginations alive and deepen their capacity for wonder.  The art studio is a special place that encourages playing with ideas and images, discovering the possibilities of materials, dialoguing with friends, constructing meaning together, creating surprises, and experiencing the joy of making art.

Primary / ART

At the primary level, we listen closely to the children’s ideas and stories and co-construct a curriculum around their interests.  We explore their developing understanding of self; their world of play and make-believe; their world of family, friends, and pets; and their interest in the natural environment.   Children are invited to draw from direct observation, memory, and imagination.  They learn about artists and respond to their work through a wide variety of activities.  They also acquire a developing understanding of tools and processes, and use varied media.

Intermediate / ART

Intermediate children build upon their earlier understanding of materials to explore a sense of self, a sense of others, and a sense of place.  This is a time when their skills and understanding of media properties flourish.  They actively engage in “worldmaking”:  individually and with friends they create both real and imaginary worlds inhabited by real or imaginary people and animals.  Multicultural explorations are connected to social studies units.  Children explore their cultural heritages and contruct knowledge about the art objects and artifacts of divers cultures, past and present.

Middle / ART

Middle level students’ interests center around identity, friendships, popular culture, social issues, fantasy and humor, creating realistic and metaphorical images, and developing one’s own visual language.  At this level, we focus on contemporary artists and art and advanced art processes are explored.