It’s back to school time and this is the first August in 13 years that I will not be teaching art at Veritas Christian School in Lawrence, Kansas! I have truly enjoyed my years of sharing my love for art with the Veritas 7th-12th graders. But recently, I sensed God leading me to a new teaching assignment! I will now be conducting art classes for local home school students from 1st through 12th grades! I will have three classes for the different age groups. I am very excited to get started with these new students. But today I wanted to share some of the art class group projects I did the last few years while teaching at Veritas. Every fall my students would create a group project which would be auctioned at our school’s Barn Party. These are three of my favorites:

I especially love the whimsical feel of this Leaf Project! We studied the artist, Gustav Klimt, and each student then designed a leaf using Klimt’s style.  I chose certain colors we would be using to create a cohesive group project. After drawing their leaf onto a square paper, they used markers to color their designs. We glued their leaves to a stained wood board and finished it with Mod Podge. As a bonus on this group project, I made photocopies of each students’ leaf design, and they glued their own printed piece onto an individual wood board and finished with Mod Podge, for them to keep.

Every year, Veritas chooses a Scripture to use as their theme verse throughout that school year. For 2016 the verse was 1 Corinthians 15:58 which reads: “Therefore my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” Each student created a design to illustrate this verse. They drew their designs on square mat board pieces and colored them with markers, using colors I had chosen. I created a design with different fonts for the Scripture. and placed it in the center of a black piece of mat board, with their square pieces surrounding the scripture. We then framed the completed piece with a black frame.

This piece is also done with the students’ square design pieces that were glued to mat board around the graphic scripture I created, and then framed. It illustrates our theme verse for last year, Romans 12:2 which reads: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” As in the previous year, I instructed the students to create a design that illustrated what “not conforming to the world, but being transformed” meant to them. It was interesting to see how they chose to portray this important truth. I believe that having to think through an art project, and show an abstract thought in only a graphic form is a great exercise, and allows that truth to be embedded more deeply into the heart. Reflecting on the truth of God’s Word, and applying it to my life is a discipline I find valuable for myself, and I believe it is important to teach young people  to seek growth in God’s truth in their every day lives!