THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 24, 1995 TAG: 9503230144
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JANELLE LA BOUVE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 187 lines
``DOODLE-LE-DO, DO ART. Do art!''
Kathleen Hendrix strummed her guitar, tapped the toe of her black suede boot and sang, as one of her classes filed into the mobile unit art room at Great Bridge Primary School.
The simple melody is her own composition.
``. . . Come on in and have a seat,'' she crooned as the children took their seats. ``You're looking mighty sweet.
``You can make it red. You can make it blue. It's yours. Do what you want to do.''
``The children know the art song,'' Hendrix said. ``They think it's some kind of little international ditty. I hear them singing it going up and down the halls. They even sang it at a PTA meeting.''
In 10 school days, she'll sing ``Do Art'' to her 30 classes at Great Bridge Primary School and another 22 at B.M. Williams Primary School.
Every primary and middle school child in Chesapeake Public Schools receives one formal art class every two weeks, according to Tom Felton, supervisor of art and foreign language. Hendrix and other art teachers typically teach 25 different classes each week.
``We would love to have art at least once a week,'' Felton said. ``However, we are extremely fortunate to have art every other week.'' He pointed out that some other school divisions in the state provide no formal art instruction.
``The citizens of Chesapeake have been extremely supportive of the art program,'' he said. ``We receive no state money. It is funded 100 percent by the citizens of Chesapeake. The funds come out of the local budget. As our school system has grown, we have increased our art teachers proportionately.''
In an effort to stifle chatter, Hendrix assigns seating around the long, low classroom tables - boy, girl, boy, girl. Still, some prompting is necessary to separate rambunctious boys.
As a reward for good behavior, she writes a student's name on a bright, yellow star and hangs it around his neck with a yarn necklace.
``I'm always trying to improve classroom management. One of these days - maybe the last day I teach - I may get it right,'' she said. ``I never get mad though. I stay near to praise them and give positive re-enforcement.''
Recently Hendrix and some talented students at B.M. Williams School participated in a project of the school's Parent-Teacher Association.
Seven first- and second-graders designed an art book that included examples of their work. The night of the PTA meeting, the students made presentations to visiting parents on ``How to Draw.''
One recent class involved making silhouettes. The children loved it.
She began with a slide show presentation of figures in silhouette. Then she stepped in front of the project and turned her head to one side. She traced a line from her hairline down over her nose, her mouth, chin and neck.
``That's my profile,'' she said. ``A silhouette is like a shadow: You see just one side.''
Soon, the students were eagerly at work with crayons and chalk.
``If I have a lesson that really works, I'll do it again,'' Hendrix explained.
``That's wonderful. That's great,'' she told the students, as she observed their work. ``Don't be concerned about the smudges. We'll fix it.
``We have to blend the background with our fingertips,'' she said. ``First, you push up your sleeves. Then you wrap tissue paper around your fingers, then brush gently.
``You've done fabulous work,'' Hendrix said as the students left the room.
Hendrix drew an oval on the chalk board at the start of another class.
``The secret to drawing is shapes,'' she said. ``To draw a person in profile, you can start with an oval for the head.''
Then she drew a triangular nose, another triangle for an eye, a rectangular neck/shoulder area and a backward letter C for an ear.
``Don't talk,'' she said when the students became especially noisy. ``This is serious business.''
Some children got right to work. Others erased their hastily scribbled ovals. One little girl sucked her thumb.
``You've got your nose too pointed,'' she said, smiling. ``Look at my nose. It's more round.''
During one class a second-grader's eyes filled with tears.
``I can't do it,'' she sniffled, flipping her paper over to reveal her first attempt on the reverse side.
After Hendrix provided personal assistance, the child's drawing began to take shape.
``I'm always striving to be the art teacher I want to be,'' Hendrix said. ``I really get rejuvenated in the spring because there are so many exciting things going on at the schools that I want to be a part of.''
Last week, Hendrix's second-grade classes designed their own tissue-paper flower gardens. She attached a sheet of blue paper to the bulletin board, then explained that flower gardens must have soil, seeds, sun and insects.
Hastily, she sketched the sun, grass and one lone stem.
``Don't sneeze,'' she warned the students as she passed out stacks of flimsy tissue paper.
Hendrix added a single dot of glue to the tip of the stem of her picture.
``Take a square of tissue paper and crunch it on the end of a crayon,'' she said demonstrating. ``Then press the tissue against the dot of glue.''
``Voila! A flower,'' she said. The students responded with a chorus of ``Wow!''
Forty minutes later, the tables in the art room were covered with tissue flower gardens.
Eli Stacy's blossoms were two-toned.
``I love flowers,'' he said. ``We have some flowers in our yard that have two colors.''
``Art gives our primary children an opportunity to express themselves in a most creative way,'' said Patricia Powers, principal at B.M. Williams School.
``The art program allows children to use higher-level thinking skills,'' Powers said. ``So we feel like we challenge them in so many more ways than simple pencil-and-paper tasks.
``Kathleen drew the logo we plan to use on our school calendar next year. Any time we ask her to provide an illustration or do a showcase for us, her work is phenomenal.''
Hendrix introduces art history in her classes and provides art books containing the works of famous artists. Recently students at both schools have been making what Hendrix calls ``real art.''
First- and second-grade versions of famous paintings can be seen in the corridors at both schools. There is a rendition of ``Mona Lisa,'' figure collages in the style of Henri Matisse, pictures of parents and children reminiscent of Mary Cassatt and a still life like one by Cezanne.
``She changes the art work here in the office at Great Bridge Primary monthly,'' said school nurse Kathy Arbogast. ``It gives the children an opportunity to have their work recognized. We had a daddy in here making a picture of his daughter under her framed art.''
Art chosen for display in school offices will be included in a student art show at Chesapeake Square mall later in the year.
``I usually do one-shot lessons that we can finish in one 40-minute class,'' Hendrix said. ``If students had art twice a week, then they could do an ongoing project. We can't do anything very elaborate.
``I'm a spontaneous person and can work off the top of my head,'' said Hendrix, who has taught art eight years and in the classroom another 10. ``If a teacher asks me to come and do Arctic animals, I can do that. I can do ideas.
``I can teach objectives in a number of ways,'' she said. ``The medium may change, but the creative process is a still a great part of it.
``While I'm driving, I'm thinking about the next art project,'' she said. ``Art should be part of everyone's life. Don't deny the creative side. It's part of caring for yourself and caring for your soul.''
Confidence about one's artistic ability is often a fleeting thing, she said.
``Almost everybody says, `I'm not good at art,'' she said. ``First- and second-graders don't even think that way. But by the time they're third-graders, people start saying, `I'm not good at art.'
``That's because one person said something negative or failed to say something positive about their art,'' she said. ``The rest of their lives they'll figure that art is not for them. Everyone should realize that getting good feedback is so important.''
Taking private art classes as a child made her feel special, Hendrix said.
``I tell my students they're so smart, and they can learn,'' she said. ``Children feel successful when they can draw something. I do the brainwork by breaking down an art project into simple shapes and tell them how to do it.''
The bulletin boards in Hendrix's art rooms reflect other artistic concepts including rhyme.
One of her posted messages reads, in part:
``When I grow up, what will I be?
``Maybe an artist?
``Wait and see.
``The kind of artist who paints and draws.
``Maybe I'll paint how a building looks
``Or pictures in a book.
``Whatever I decide to be,
``I'll be special because I'm me.''
``I always knew what I would do with my life. There was never a doubt, never a second thought,'' said Hendrix.
She'll continue to encourage her students to enjoy the world around them. ``You've got to believe in yourself,'' she tells them. ``You've got to believe you can do it.
``Do Art.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
[Color Photo]
DOING ART
Kathleen Hendrix
Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Kathleen Hendrix watches as one of her students draws on the
chalkboard during a presentation for parents.
While Kathleen Hendrix strums a guitar, students sing and dance
during a presentation for parents at B.M. Williams Primary School.
Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
First- and second-grade versions of famous paintings can be seen in
the corridors at schools where Hendrix teaches.
While Kathleen Hendrix strums a guitar, students sing and dance
during a presentation for parents at B.M. Williams Primary School.
by CNB