LIVONIA — Each year, fifth grade students at St. Edith Catholic School participate in the Living Artist Museum, a beloved tradition that brings art, research, and creativity together. Students work in pairs to research a famous artist using age-appropriate resources and supervised research. The student becomes the personified artwork.
After selecting an artist and a favorite piece of artwork, students recreate the artwork using large-scale materials and a variety of art supplies, including paint, pastels, markers, and three-dimensional elements in art class. Students complete the research in social studies class. Then, each student writes in English class and memorizes speeches to share key facts about their artist and artwork, building confidence in public speaking and presentation skills.
The Living Artist Museum is presented to the school community during Catholic Schools Week. Families, fellow students, and parishioners are invited to interact with the “living” artists and artworks, making this event a meaningful celebration of learning, creativity, and student achievement at St. Edith. The students then cap off the cross-curricular unit with a trip to the Detroit Institute of Arts.
This article was submitted by St. Edith Catholic School.
