Page 19 - ChildArt_Magazine_Oct-Dec2015

From

To Promote Friendship, Be a Friend

with Love

by ART TEACHER Tracy Cheney and her students
A t the Berkeley Hall School in Los Angeles, I had

never heard of the Art Olympiad until I received
a call from the ICAF inviting the school to
participate. When I laughingly mentioned the phone
call to my students, they jumped on the opportunity
immediately. I mean, at that very moment they whipped
out sketch paper! They weren’t daunted by the large size
of the paintings they’d have to produce in three short
weeks for the Arts Olympiad. It was a marathon that
consumed every recess and lunch hour. Six students
powered through to a finished painting, with others
cheering them on just like a sports race. I sent the
paintings by overnight carrier to D.C. just in the nick of
time, and a group of us attended the WCF.
Once the school year began again, we made a movie
about our trip. The students then narrated their high-
lights of the trip. Here are some impressions in the stu-
dents’ own words: White House and flew right over our heads. We waved to
the President!”
Kaelan B. (5th grade): “The theme of the Olympiad was
appealing because it combined two of my interests – art and Ashtyn W. (6th grade): “Being surrounded by different
sports. My piece was called, “The Art of Baseball.” I chose to cultures at the festival made me excited for the week ahead.
do a piece about a baseball player who was the MVP of the While there we got to make friends from countries around
World Games. The World Games in my artwork represented the world like Uganda, Russia, Japan, Africa – and I even
“Hope vs Fear.” Hope won in the end. It was fun to interact got to meet someone from Australia. I bonded with others
with other kids from many parts of the world. I met a group over interests such as art, dance, and music. Each perfor-
of children from Japan who taught me how to write words, mance and workshop caught my attention. I never wanted
including my name, in Japanese characters. The piece to leave! On the last day of the festival, there was a big
looked like art. drum circle. We got to learn a dance while people played
the music. We didn’t care that the grass was wet from all the

Emily L. (6th grade): “One exciting moment at the WCF rain and my friend’s feet turned green. Even though it was
was when Marine One (the helicopter carrying the Presi- a tight space for people to dance in, and we got kicked and
dent of the United States) took off from the lawn of The stepped on a little, it was a very fun way to end our trip.” 3

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