Head O’ Meadow Presents Annual Art Show

By Nancy K. Crevier

A colorful art gallery blossomed on the walls encircling the centrally located media center at Head O’ Meadow School, Monday, May 21, as art teacher Donna Perugini presented the annual art show for family and friends of the young artists that spring from her classroom.

In her 11th year of teaching at the Boggs Hill Road elementary school, Ms Perugini said that she is continually amazed and excited by the talent the children exhibit, and the growth she witnesses from year to year.

The annual art show is a collection of art done by the students in grades kindergarten through fourth grade, throughout the school year.

“Each grade level has at least one project represented, and every child has at least one piece in the show,” said Ms Perugini, strolling the perimeter of the room, while young artists dashed here and there, eagerly showing off their works to family members, and occasionally stopping to hug their teacher.

Many of the exhibits were artwork based on the styles of various famous artists, including Paul Klee’s “Calico Cat,” Pablo Picasso’s “Guitars,” sculptures he crafted between 1912 and 1912 from cardboard, paper, string, and wire, and Vincent van Gogh’s “Starry Night.”

“We do a lot of art history with the kids,” Ms Perugini said, “at least one to two lessons a year. We try then to work using a style or technique an artist has used after learning about him or her.”

The rest of the classes focus on basic skills, creative thinking, and even some writing.

“My goal is to get [the children] to have a passion and a love for all kinds of art, and to have multiple experiences in all kinds of art,” she said.

One of the examples was the “Starry Night” exhibit. “We used paper plates and made our own canvases,” Ms Perugini explained. The paper plates were covered in a cotton material and painted over with an acrylic medium. The children then drew pictures on them, inspired by van Gogh’s famous painting, “and then painted their idea of a starry night,” she said. The fanciful interpretations were posted on the wall surrounding a floor to ceiling permanent tile piece of “Starry Night” collaborated upon four years ago by staff, students, and the Danbury Art Spot.

First grade student Braden Hazard and brother, Trey, fourth grade, were proud to point out their handiworks to their mother, and paused often to admire the works of their peers as they circumnavigated the “gallery.”

Fourth grader Sarah Flynn shyly pointed out her improvisation to her mother, Kelley, as they passed by the array of discs made from circles of paper washed with watercolor, then “doodled” on using stencils, rules, and other freeform shapes.

Across the room from the Flynns, the Arend family, Cheryl and Shawn and son Smith, second grade, and Elle, kindergarten, admired Smith’s brightly painted ceramic sun shining down from among those crafted by his classmates.

Percussive pods made by third grade students attracted a large crowd. The Native American-inspired pods are variously shaped handheld instruments made of clay, filled with small clay pellets. Holes are pierced in the clay to allow the sound to resonate. An assortment of pods was made available for handling, so that viewers could hear, as well as see, the results. The art project was one of many popular with the students, said Ms Perugini.

“The kids love a lot of the projects. I think they get a lot out of the ones we do after studying the artist. The Picasso guitar was a lot of fun for them,” she said.

Kaitlyn Tripodi, a fourth grade student, agreed with Ms Perugini that the guitar project was a favorite. “I liked using the cardboard and the wire to make them,” she said, pointing out her piece to her parents and other visitors.

Gila monsters made of precisely cut paper and torn bits of textured paper, glue bugs — bugs and butterflies outlined in glue and then colored in for a stained-glass effect — wintry house scenes, impressions in blue, abstracts, collages, and pottery rounded out the exhibition and gave visitors and artists much to be proud of as the Head O’ Meadow Annual Art Show wound down for the evening.

The art will remain on display through June 4, and is viewable by school visitors during regular school hours.

For more photos of the HOM Annual Art Show see the slide show at newtownbee.com.