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Holiday Art

© Colleen Madonna Williams

During the holidays, Discipline Based Art teachers can truly reach out to students in a multicultural manner. By examining masterpieces that deal with religion, marvelous discussions can take place in the classroom. Art history, aesthetics, criticism, and production can all revolve around works that focus on this festive time of year. Here are a few, simple ideas to help get you motivated to make this holiday season work in your class room to promote art works!

This is a perfect time to examine the folk art traditions that surround the Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Chanukah. Where does the school child's tradition of paper snowflakes come from? What moved Zalman Kleinman to paint, "Lighting the Chanukah Lights?" http://www.kesser.org/gallery/kleinman/k... How can you use fimo clay to create a Kwanzaa candleholder? http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft/_kwan.ht...

Obtain a videotaped or DVD copy of the Nutcracker Suite as performed by the New York or Russian Ballet. Use this as the basis for an in depth discussion on dance, ballet, and the performing arts, in general.

Read a few passages of Dickens, "A Christmas Carol," aloud to your class. Have them discuss the worth of literature as art. Have them create illustrations for this literary masterpiece, as you read parts or all of it to them. Then, obtain a suitable version of this book on videotape or DVD and watch it together. Discuss the differences between hearing Dickens' art and watching someone else's interpretation of it being enacted. Create your own piece of classroom holiday performance art. Allow students to perform this work for others.

Research the history of mistletoe and other holiday plants. http://nixxie.2-hi.com/happy/origins.html Allow your students to create holiday florals, after studying the origins of dried and fresh flower arranging.

Create found art Christmas trees or other holiday symbols, such as Advent wreathes, the seven Kwanzaa symbols (http://www.historychannel.com/cgi-bin/fr... symbols of the New Year that can be found around the world, Chanukah symbols, and the many different symbols for Santa Claus.( http://www.holidays.net/christmas/santa.... ) Let your students share these with one another, teaching one another about the holiday symbols of other cultures.

Explore the classical music of the holiday season and its origins. http://pmclassical.iicinternet.com/ Listen to Baroque and Classical music in celebration of the Christmas season. Have your students each choose a favorite holiday song or piece of music and research its roots and the history of its composer and/or lyricist.

As you can see, the holidays need not turn into a quick push to turn out a few crafty gift items. Give your students the gift of art, Discipline Based Art, this year. Strive to remind them that ART WORKS!

The copyright of the article Holiday Art in Art Education is owned by Colleen Madonna Williams. Permission to republish Holiday Art in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.