Art Day
Students were treated to visits by a variety of artists who specialized in music, dance, visual arts, and even a bit of science with “the art of bee keeping” for Arts Day at Whitehall on Thursday, May 31. Thanks to our Whitehall PTO for providing funds for our Arts Day!
4th and 5th grades did some cartooning with Dave McDonald, the author of Hamster Sam: Odd-ventures in Space. He is a cartoonist specializing in graphic novels for middle grade students. Students drew with Mr. McDonald, following along as he demonstrated. Students can also view his how-to-draw videos on Youtube: Kids Make Comics with Dave McDonald. Find out more about him on his website: http://www.davemcdonald.com/ .
Scott Brady of Musical Innovations in Greenville did lessons with 4th and 5th graders about ukuleles. He brought along instruments so students were able to actually try playing themselves. More about Mr. Brady and Musical Innovations is at their website: https://www.musicalinnovations.biz/ .
Stained glass artist, Stephanie Patterson showed her work and told about the process of creating stained glass. Ms. Patterson is a local artist who also paints in addition to working with the Greenville Health System as a chaplain.
Betsey Matheny did a workshop about quilting. She creates art by turning a very practical craft—the making of a quilt—into an art form. Students came away from her presentation with fabric bookmarks.
Patricia Torbert let students try out some weaving. She had them work together as a group to construct a large weaving from pool noodles and rope. She gave a presentation about basket making and displayed a variety of types of baskets and basketry materials.
Two members of the Electric City Shag Club gave students lessons in shagging. Our own ESOL teacher, Marianne Norris, did a presentation on bee keeping.
Thanks again to our PTO for funding Arts Day and to Mr. Brady, Ms. Patterson, Ms. Matheny and the Electric City Shag Club members for volunteering their time.
