Why I Love Our Art Department

We are finishing up our first semester in our art department. Soon, we will have our first art gala, where our students get to display their work. We are working hard to make it a special day that celebrates their accomplishments. We have a caterer coming with finger foods and we are planning an art activity for the whole family to participate in.

 I’ve been taking some time to reflect on this new department at Soar! And I’ve come to the conclusion that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! It’s so different than some of our other departments. Dance and tumbling are very fast pace and active. Music is very individualized to the student. Each of those are great, but art offers its’ own special part.

 If you go into a Creativity class, you will see students' imaginations running wild. Instead of always being told to do it exactly one way, they are encouraged to make it their own. They’ve made horses out of pool noodles and rode them throughout Soar while wearing a bandana. Watching these “cowboys” and “cowgirls” ride free made the whole lobby laugh. It was a blast! Creativity students also explored the colors of the rainbow and talked about God’s promises. I appreciate this class so much simply because there was no perfect way to make their own creations.

 The atmosphere in our older drawing and painting classes at Soar was very unique. Do I dare say it was on the therapeutic end? In a society that rushes from one thing to another, students would explore a technique and often take weeks to finish their creation. Many times, the classes would be silent as they took their time making their projects just as they envisioned. Other weeks, like-minded students and teachers would chat about their days or even sing Disney songs as they worked away. I’m SUPER IMPRESSED by what they created. I’ve seen them grid out portraits and draw profiles of people. I’ve watched painting classes mix their own paints to get the right shade they were looking for. They explored warm and cool colors in their projects. We even had one of our own students win the library contest to design the new library card. The students have grown from week to week.

 Miss Jessee and Miss Marley have done more than just teach art techniques. They have formed a culture where it is great to love the Lord and the students express themselves through art.

 We believe in this department so much that we have created two more sections of Creativity 2 and Drawing 1 on Thursdays to meet our ever-growing student base. We welcome new families to tour our facility and even observe a few minutes of a class. It is a beautiful thing to watch how God is taking each of these departments and making each something very special!