Speechy Sunday: Teaching Art Vocabulary

On Friday, my husband and I took Flanna and my niece to an art show in Atlanta.  Our friend Dana had some paintings in the show, and we had visited the gallery a few times before successfully, which made me brave enough to try it out during an event.  

At the show, I gave each of the girls a notepad and pen so that they could write down the names of their favorite artists of the night. (Flanna just drew a picture of the paintings she liked because she was too short to see the cards with the artists' names on them.)  I was amazed at how having a little task to do during the evening made them really study each painting and take an interest in the types of pieces there.  By the end of the night, they were using words like, "portrait, landscape, abstract, and still life" on their own.  And they wanted to talk about how the artists might have painted each painting--by using a paintbrush (could we see the strokes?) or by using a putty knife, or even fingers!  My niece got pretty good at picking out an oil painting versus acrylic.   It was a really fun way for them to learn.  And it was neat, too, to get a glimpse into their tastes.  

Here are some of our favorite paintings from the show.  

Flannery's favorite, by Dana Johns

my pick, by Sabre Esler

one Robi liked, by Scott Hill

Flanna listing her favorites (she circled the one with the tree as the best)

My niece listing her favorites

My niece with her pick of the night, by Betty Anglin Smith

Who's your favorite artist?  I'd really love to hear.