Art Docent Program
Can you Draw? Are you Creative? Are you an Artist?
Even if you answered NO to all of the questions above – you can be an ART DOCENT in your child’s classroom!
The MMCA Art Docent program is a visual arts program designed to allow children more opportunities to explore their talents through educational art lessons and creative art projects. It is funded by the MMCA PTA and run by volunteers (usually parents) called Art Docents, who present an art lesson and encourage students to express their creativity through art projects using various types of mediums.
Why Become an ART DOCENT?
Spend time with your child in their classroom and earn volunteer hours
Easy to use hands-on lessons and instructions; no experience necessary
All supplies and training provided
Ongoing guidance via our art docent coordinator
Only requires one lesson each month – flexible scheduling through your classroom teachers
Have fun creating art!
ART is IMPORTANT to LEARNING
Encourages Inventiveness: When kids are encouraged to express themselves and take risks in creating art, they develop a sense of innovation that will be important in their adult lives.
Visual Learning: Drawing, painting, and sculpting help develop visual-spatial skills. Children need to know more about the world than just what they can learn through text and numbers. Art teaches students how to interpret, criticize, and use visual information, and how to make choices based on it.
Confidence: Art can give kids a chance to step outside their comfort zone. As they improve and see their own progress, their self-confidence will continue to grow.
Decision Making: According to a report by Americans for the Arts, art education strengthens problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. The experience of making decisions and choices in the course of creating art carries over into other parts of life
For more information on becoming an art docent, contact our Art Docent coordinator Dana Loschiavo @firstname.lastname@example.org.
ALL INITIAL TRAINING AND ONGOING SUPPORT PROVIDED
Resources for ART DOCENTS
Art docents are responsible for coordinating/scheduling lessons with classroom teachers.
Check the Master Schedule of Art Lessons to see when supplies are being used by other classrooms. Please update the Art Docent Coordinator with any changes or additions.
Since we only have one set of certain supplies, make sure the supplies you need are available before your lesson, and returned to the supply closet after use.
It is HIGHLY recommended to try the lesson yourself before you present it to the students.
Student Artwork is stored throughout the year for display at Open House in the spring or for Art Shows. Ask your classroom teacher where they can store the art for the year. Paper bag portfolios are ideal to store/distribute the projects. You can have the students make it themselves, or ask the teachers for a parent helper to make them. Find instructions here.
Art docent materials are located in the cabinets labeled “Art Docent” in the classroom located next to the preschool. You may need to borrow a key from the office to access the room.
Large scale reproductions of artwork are available to bring to your lesson as an example of the artist or style you are presenting. They are located in the same room as the supplies on the wall opposite the bathroom in large portfolios. An index of the artwork is on a clipboard. Return to the correct place after use.
PAINTING - When distributing liquid tempera paint - less is more, and please make sure the brushes are clean after use.
Email the Art Docent Coordinator if any supplies are low, missing or in poor condition.
Early Childhood Classroom Management - if you whiz through this quickly, there are some good tips, and a great intro into proper use and cleaning of a paint brush - very important to establish this early on, don’t assume the kids already know.
VIDEOS to SHARE with STUDENTS
These videos are a super fun way to introduce the basic elements of art for your lessons. You can ask your classroom teacher to play them on the whiteboard screen.
INTRO TO ART DOCENT - an intro to the program for the kids that quickly touches on supplies, listening, how to get through mistakes, and do your best. Recommended for grades 2 and up. Also includes a cute video clip of the book “The Dot” by Peter Reynolds - that gives young artists a boost of confidence by making their mark.
LINE - basics horizontal, vertical, diagonal, thick, thin, wavy, curvy, fancy free
SHAPES - basic 2D shapes (best for K-1)
COLOR - primary and secondary colors
ADVANCED COLOR - moves beyond the basics to include tertiary, analogous,and complementary
VALUE - includes the addition of black, white and gray to make shades, tints and tones
TEXTURE - shows how to use line, value and repetition to create texture
FORM - this is a little more in-depth, best for 4-8th grades
SPACE - best for 4-8th grades
LESSON PRESENTATIONS 2019-20:
Coral & Aqua
Lollipop Flowers - intro to artist Friedenreich Hundertwasser (and pronunciation)
St. Basil’s Cathedral - images of the inspiration for this project
Andy Warhol’s Soup Cans - intro to the artist
New Mexico Landscapes - intro to basics - background, foreground, middle ground through the art of Georgia O’Keeffe
Close-Up Citrus - talks about food and art through the ages (the link is a pdf, not a true slide-show)
Mosaic Hearts - no presentation for this lesson
Klimt’s Tree of Life - presentation coming soon
Bridget Riley Blaze - introduction to optical art (the link is a pdf, not a true slide-show)
Alexander Calder Standing Mobile - intro to artist and kinetic movement