Art Under the Banyan: Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten

Pre-kindergarteners and kindergarteners proudly shared their artwork with parents and friends during the first Art Under the Banyan showcase of the school year in the Kozel Family Amphitheater.

Pre-K students began the year by learning how to draw, paint, and make different kinds of lines out of paper. They used these skills to create beautiful windsocks that fluttered in the breeze as parents walked through the show. Through a unit on geometric shapes, classes designed their own robots, adding gears, buttons, and wires to their creations. During an exploration of the colors of the fall season, students created pumpkin patches. They learned how to add texture to their drawings and how two primary colors—red and yellow—combine to create the secondary color—orange, needed to paint their adorable pumpkins. Finally, to introduce the idea of working in three dimensions, students used air-dry clay to sculpt unique creations.

Kindergarteners learned about line and shape through mixed media collages. Students created owls and penguins, using contour lines for the animal's body and simple shapes to make the animal’s body parts. In an exploration of how lines show movement, classes drew shooting stars and captured the viewers’ imagination of moving through space. Students learned about marine life while learning how to draw ocean animals. They used all of the colors of the rainbow in fanciful, under-the-sea paintings. As a final project, students learned hand-building and texture techniques, using these skills to create ceramic owls and penguins.

During the exhibition, Dr. Vasilaki and her students played lovely music on their string instruments from the steps of the Dining Hall while parents admired their students’ artwork. It was a beautiful morning to enjoy the talented visual and performing artists on the Historic Siesta Key Campus.