This year as an art teacher I found Easter so gratifying. It was so exciting to introduce the real meaning of Easter through art!
Yes, it is about spring and all the excitement of that. But it's more than wearing a new spring wardrobe. Yes, there are the Easter bunnies and eggs...strange combo if you ask me...but it's certainly more than that.
At St. Aidan's Christian School we have students from around the world, and we feel it is important for them to be informed as to the customs and reality of Canadian life. In every class from grade one to eight I presented a two pronged art project summarizing and highlighting the real story of Easter. The cross and the Resurrection. I wanted to make sure the students of all ages would be able to create pictures of quality that they had made and that they could proudly hang in their rooms or homes. Not only that but that they would reflect the work of each students personal touch and handiwork.
I gave them card stock, brushes and acrylic paint. We discussed the meaning of symbols especially the cross. We discussed feeling and emotions what colors represent these emotions. We discussed the feelings they might have about the events of Easter and then let them cover the 8.5 X 11 card-stock with the colors they felt. Wow! We did the same with the resurrection scene. Again, dramatic colors.
We outlined everything with sharpies, glued on the cross figure they had cut out and covered it all with a clear varnish, which made the colors and brush strokes glisten and pop. The kids were wide eye'd with the results!
It is my way of wishing every student and every reader of this blog a very wonderful Easter Season. God bless you all as we celebrate the beautiful gift of life God brought into human history.
'Christ is risen,' but 'I shall rise.' "
Phillips Brooks