Mitford School will be hosting an Artist in Residence program beginning May 10.
Gail Bartel, a Calgary-based artist, will be hosting a six-day art workshop for the school’s Grade 5 students. The workshops take place during regular school hours.
“We found her art online, and then realized she lived in Calgary,” said Moira Harlton, the teacher who organized the program.
Bartel creates art projects across a variety of mediums and then provides a tutorial for them on her website. The projects are geared toward elementary students and Bartel encourages teachers to incorporate the projects within their art curriculum.
“She came in the Fall and did an owl in the trees project with the Grade 5 students. They enjoyed working with her, so we decided to have her back,” Harlton explained.
The school found a way to not only add the workshops into the art curriculum but to also incorporate other school subjects as well.
“Students will have the opportunity to work with a variety of art mediums, and learn techniques with each along the way. We have also integrated the art with our social studies curriculum focusing on the geographic regions of Canada,” Harlton said.
The students have already started creating “an inukshuk out of clay, a totem pole with cardboard and wood, and a moose in the woods painting on canvas” according to Harlton. They will also make a small teepee, cave art painting, and a polar bear.
To learn more about Bartel’s art projects, visit thatartistwoman.org.
