A Visual Explosion!

     Our visual arts lesson on Thursday was a feast for our eyes!  We were well taught about many artists and illustrators.  When we entered our classroom, we felt as if we had entered a museum of art.  It was amazing to see the collection of works and to listen and learn about each work.  I was amazed at the insight of many of the interpretations we learned about.  I was thrilled that we were given time to think about what the pieces meant to us personally.

     I am happy to have learned that schools have collections of the Utah artists on hand.  I will use this collection no matter what grade I teach.  This is an amazing collection and can teach and inspire youth in so many ways.  Students will see that they can be artists too when they learn about the local talent. 

     Having prepared our illustrator activity/lesson was good preparation for this class.  We were so moved by learning about the visual arts that we were already invested.  I was excited to hear about the different illustrators also because we had learned a great deal in preparation about our illustrator.  This sparked my interest and when the other presentations were made we wanted to learn about them all.  I also tried to visit as many tables would allow because I was intrigued with the presentations.  I wish I could have visited every single one.

      This was an amazing day and I am excited to use the visual arts in my lessons in school.  I feel that it can be plugged in to all subjects of lessons and will look to incorporate it often.  I also want to learn even more about illustrators of children's books.  A little personal note about the authors life will bring a personal element to the reading and hopefully help children connect with the books even more as I do this.