Teresa Matthews, art educator at Elmwood-Murdock High School, knows from her 16 years of teaching that students love three-dimensional projects.
She teaches pottery, wire sculpture, papier-mâché, mask-making with copper tubing, and other 3-D art lessons.
For a recent series of lessons, Matthews' students created brightly colored animal sculptures in the style of Oaxaca, Mexico. "Several years ago, I ran across this kind of art," said Matthews, who owns a few pieces of the Oaxacan craft.
"This project was brought to my attention at a national art teachers convention," she said.
Actual Oaxacan pieces are carved from wood and painted in brightly colored acrylic paint with patterns and dots added in other colors. To keep costs down, her students used papier-mâché instead of wood, but they used acrylic paint, patterning and dots. Students first sketcheed their animal.
Matthews said the lessons hit several goals, including multicultural education, art history and the teaching of a traditional craft.
The students' Oaxacan-style sculptures are on display through Feb. 24 at Educational Service Unit No. 3, 6949 S. 110th St.
Although Matthews is a veteran teacher, this is her first year at Elmwood-Murdock, in Murdock, Neb.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1165, sue.truax@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
