Art at Hillwood

Anna Seven

Anna Seven is the art teacher at Hillwood. She is a parent volunteer who comes every Friday. Her art projects are always very different and fun! This year, our major project was making alphabet books for the k-1st graders. Anna Seven herself is also an artist. Her style is Randomness Assumption and she paints in figurative abstract. Art with her is super fun!

Anna Seven's Still Life

Miss Lidia Cortina is the Spanish teacher at Hillwood, but except for that she is the art teacher after school. Her art, unlike Anna's, has more of a crafty style. The children in her class cut out pieces of paper and glue them to objects. Other times, she has a fashion design assignment. That is when the fun begins! Children bring in old and unwanted clothing and make new, beautiful clothing out of it! How awesome is that?

Here's an interview I got out of her:

Do you enjoy working with the children?

Working with children is always fun. They get easily inspired by very simple, everyday subjects. It's reassuring to see how grateful children are towards plain joys of life. 

What style of art do children enjoy the most?

Children would like any style of art. It only depends on how the certain style of art is represented to them. Children are open-minded and honest. They observe information. Their minds are fresh. They are curious and ready to learn.  

Do the younger children like to draw more than the older children? Or is it the other way around?

The inner freedom of an artist is the most important component of success. From that point of view, the youngest children are the best. But they definitely lack the necessary technical skills. Teenagers are better in skills, but their fear of failure is bigger and they are oversensitive to criticism. So, instead of improving their skills and work, teenagers often stop working only because they don't want to be judged. So, in my subjective opinion, the class of Ms. Tom [Kathy Tom. 2nd-4th grades] is the best. They have enough skills for self-expression and they are less concerned about public opinion. The children in the 2nd through 4th grades are the bravest artists at Hillwood!     

Written by: Rubina Mazurka