GILROY
– It’s hardly unusual for an 11-year-old to listen to music from
punk rockers like
”
Good Charlotte.
”
But it’s not everyday that youngsters willingly intersperse
their favorite punk selections with songs from jazz, opera, or
classic rock artists.
GILROY – It’s hardly unusual for an 11-year-old to listen to music from punk rockers like “Good Charlotte.”
But it’s not everyday that youngsters willingly intersperse their favorite punk selections with songs from jazz, opera, or classic rock artists.
A group of about 20 third- through sixth-graders drew inspiration from a wide variety of music genres last week, using beats and melodies to create abstract art.
The students were “painting a song” as part of a school district after-school academy for Gifted And Talented Education (GATE) students.
“I can’t explain it, you just kind of feel the music,” said Megan Maldonado, a sixth grader at Ascencion Solorsano Middle School.
Maldonado sketched flowing lines and incongruent shapes on her canvas while listening to “Boys and girls,” by Good Charlotte.
The projects were works in progress that developed with each new song.
“It changes what patterns you use,” Maldonado said, as she painted over her sketches to tunes from Limp Bizkit. “Like, when it’s soft you want to use little squiggly lines, or when it’s hard you use big squiggles.”
Rick Charvet, a history and art teacher at Mt. Madonna High School, taught the GATE academy, titled “The Artist Within,” to expose elementary students from throughout the district to all types of art.
“It’s developing the artist within, it doesn’t necessarily mean they have to draw perfectly or anything,” Charvet said. “It’s providing the kids with opportunities to do different art projects.”
Wednesday’s art project was the final in an eight-week series. Charvet extended the six-week class because the interest among his students was so high, he said.
The “song painting” was based on the abstract art of Wassily Kandinsky, a Russian artist who lived from 1866-1944.
“This is great for these kids because they get hung up on making their paintings realistic,” Charvet said.
Brianna Martin, in fourth grade at Antionio Del Buono, said she just sort of listened to the music and choose the colors with the music.
“Like, if it sounds happy, I use bright colors, or if it’s sad I use dark colors,” she said.
Her favorite project completed in the after-school academy was an activity called “Standing still,” she said, because it was the first time she had used chalk. In a darkened classroom, Charvet illuminated only a flower pot containing flowers and fruit. The effect created unique shapes and shadows that Martin had never seen before.
“You drew what you saw from your angle,” Martin said. “We got to use the chalk and it gave it a special design look.”
