Mrs. Donewitz is an Art teacher in WMS, her role in art is to teach kids new and different ways of art and to be able to express themselves. It is a good elective for people to express themselves and how they see the perspective of the world. This also allows students to show their creativity.
Mrs. Donewitz stated for all the different grades there is a different project. She said, “Currently, the 7th grade art class is working on creating plaster masks. They apply plaster strips to a plastic mold and create characters of their choice. The 8th grade art classes are working on Paper Mache Figure Sculptures. They started from a wire armature, added newspaper, tape, and paper mache to create a human figure of their choice.”
Mrs. Donewitz explained how both of these art projects reflect our society, she said, “ Both projects reflect today’s society in the fact that students are able to choose characters and people that interest them. The projects reflect what is currently popular in different areas of our society, such as sports, music, tv and movies.”
She also stated that art can teach about the past and the future by “learning a great deal about what life was like from artwork during different time periods. Paintings and other artwork can depict fashion trends, home furnishings, and different activities that were popular during daily life. In terms of the future, art pushes us to try new things in different areas like technology.”
Mrs. Donewitz explained to us how technology today has an impact on art work. She said,“ The art world is greatly impacted by today’s technology, such as graphic arts, digital photography, 3D printing, etc… Specifically at the middle school level, we maintain learning the basics of art through drawing, painting, and sculpture.”
She stated that art is the main goal, “I think the main goal of teaching students Art is to show them that art goes far beyond just being able to draw or being artistically skilled. Art is not about perfection or being the best at something, it’s about creating meaningful work through creativity and effort. Students learn different ways to do things and also learn that they are all capable of creating beautiful art that they can be proud of.”
An 8th grader student at WMS, Cayarra Rahim, said her favorite project that she has done so far was probably the “All About Me” tessellation because it gave her an opportunity to “draw stuff that meant a lot” to her and reflects on her.
The main goal for art is to get you to draw and it also teaches and helps you draw what you want and it reveals who you are as a person. She said, for the sculpture project she chose a person that’s from an anime that is Misa Amane from Death-Note and she chose this person because that was the first anime that she watched and Misa was her favorite and chose this person because she can express this about her.
Art isn’t just about perfection or being the best at something, it’s about creating meaningful work through creativity and effort. Students learn different ways to do things and also learn that they are all capable of creating beautiful art that they can be proud of, “To show them that art goes far beyond just being able to draw or being artistically skilled,” Mrs. Donewitz stated.
