By Leigha Hougland and Kaitlyn Cuevas
For the Salisbury Post
ENOCHVILLE ó Walking through the halls of Enochville Elementary School last Tuesday evening was similar to viewing every proud parent’s refrigerator door. It was hard not to feel joy viewing the colorful artwork plastered on the walls of the school.This year, the school welcomed art teacher Teresa Strohl, who decided to begin her job with a large, exciting project. She assigned a different style of art to each grade to study and then produce their own art using that style.
The fifth-grade students were taught the basics of architecture. Fifth-grader Baylie Mann used what she learned to describe the architecture of different structures in Disney World, such as the Tower of Terror, which is an example of an architectural style known as Pueblo Deco.
Student Taylor Shue used point perspective to create and design a town.
Point perspective is a technique used to draw proportional cityscape. By placing a dot in the center of the paper, the artist will then use this point as a reference to create a three-dimensional structure.
Along with the architecture displays, the halls of Enochville Elementary were covered with paintings, drawings, sculptures and collages.
Strohl assigned the fourth grade to study pop art, and they used Andy Warhol, the late New York City artist who laid the foundation for the pop art movement, as the inspiration. Bright colors, repetitive images and historic icons were main components.
Third-graders studied Impressionists, such as Monet and Van Gogh, as they filled their paintings with color. With this project, students were allowed to create freely within the realm of what they learned.
The second grade experimented with the abstract world of surrealism. Strohl chose this style of art because she felt the use of imagination and the discovery of a world beyond the physical realm would be exciting for this age group.
In keeping with the surrealist style, the second-graders constructed abstract self-portraits ó some featuring large heads, football-shaped eyes and oversized lips.
With the support of the entire school’s faculty, Strohl incorporated art education into every classroom’s curriculum.
“This was a great experience,” said Lorrie Shue, the mother of a fifth-grader. “I’ve never seen art like this.”
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Kaitlyn Cuevas and Leigha Hougland are interns in the Salisbury Post newsroom. They are seniors at Salisbury High School. Contact them at 704-797-4270.