LOVE IS...ART

Charles Schulz, who is most well known for his Peanuts cartoon, used simple characters and everyday happenings in life to help readers look at life a little more light-hearted. Although he is no longer with us, his legacy lives on through Peanuts. There is a Peanuts calendar that I am gifted each year that starts each month with “Love is…” and it is always followed by a kind gesture that we can demonstrate to one another because: Love is...a choice and an action. I am constantly impressed with the kindness the students at St. James demonstrate to one another as well as me! When my classroom gets quiet...like really quiet, I always stop everyone and say “do you hear that?!?” and they look at me confused until I excitedly tell them it’s the sound of art being made! And then of course I go on and on about how much I looooove it and how it makes my heart full when my classroom becomes so engaged in art making that you don’t hear a peep. Because on a daily basis for me, love is...art. My goal is to be an example of love and kindness in my efforts to teach art and I will have days that I struggle and days that I succeed.

But, when I hear that beautiful silence of students actively engaged in their creative process, I know I’m doing something right and it fills my heart with all the love and its feelings. In celebration of such great love and Valentine’s Day, the artists Jim Dine, Romero Britto and Chris Uphues, were introduced to students and used for our inspiration in truly beautiful work.