Shaler Academy & Bergen Boulevard School

Dear Parents/Guardians:

Welcome to Mrs. Athanas's Art studio/classroom,

I look forward to a rewarding year as we explore various techniques, artists, media, art history and subjects in Art.Students will focus on basic skills in Art: Elements/Principals of design, drawing, painting, and mixed media. Art is taught  progressively, starting with the basic skills of drawing. Each skill is meant to build upon the previous skill.

Art is a dynamic and unifying activity, with great potential for the education of our children. The process of drawing, painting, or constructing is a complex one in which the child brings together diverse elements of his experience to make a new and meaningful whole. In the process of selecting, interpreting, and reforming these elements, he/she has given us more than a picture or a sculpture; he has given us a part of himself: how he thinks, how he feels, and how he sees.

I see my role as a facilitator for children, to create the opportunity for them to express their emotions, thoughts and perceptions about their world through their own, original artwork. Through art, and language, I offer them tools that empower them to communicate- with each other and with their own internal rhythms and environment.

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