Visual Arts Classes
Cartwheel Initiative is thrilled to be launching an ongoing class in partnership with The Ashram at Santiniketan Sishutirtha, a nonprofit organization with a mission to ensure the basic human rights of less fortunate children. This class will take place over the span of a year, with weekly classes that will focus on various subjects in visual arts, from drawing to eco-print making. The class will work with two age groups, students aged 5–10 years old & students who are 11-18 years old, focusing on their specific artistic needs and abilities. Both groups will focus on the overarchinging themes of Home & Identity.
Below is the general curriculum for the program. The images are photos from the classes and artworks from the students as the classes progress!
Month 1 & 2: Students will draw and paint their ideal homes, then bring their individual pieces together in a neighborhood! These months will focus on observation, simple shapes and objects, and the color palette. Below are some pictures from the first few sessions!
Month 3 & 4: Students will work on drawing perspective from still lifes. They will also work on landscape drawing, how to sketch real life subjects, composition and shading. As one of the projects, kids will draw any object (pencil, cup, glass, feather) that they have a special connection with.
Month 5 & 6: Students will draw animal forms, human figures, and portraits, developing a basic knowledge of anatomy while about learning pen and ink drawing. The students will draw a self portrait or portrait of a friend/teacher and make them into masks.
Month 7 & 8: These sessions will be an introduction to abstract expressions, focusing on fantasy creation with drawing and colour. Students will create a fantasy story with illustrations, and practice outdoor illustration through rapid sketch and foliage drawing, culminating in a project where kids will draw their favorite flower or bird.
Month 9 & 10: Students will interact with natural elements and transform them into art objects, developing a knowledge of natural colours and prints while working on monoprint techniques without tools. The session will culminate in a project that has students use eco-print with natural objects and colors.
Month 11 & 12: Students will hone into themes of culture, traditions, family roots, languages, foods, fashions, and traditional folk symbols (alpona, folk art motifs, patchitra) through collage making. The final project will be a group activity to create a large scroll painting or wall mural.
If you know of any schools or organizations that might be interested in implementing a similar program, please reach out to us here!