It has been so exciting to work with everyone in our Art Studio here at Hudson!

I am an artist, arts educator, museum educator and a certified Early Childhood Montessorian, all of which I bring to each child’s experience in the Art Studio. My approach to teaching and learning focuses on materials exploration, prioritizing process over product, and combines the experiential focus of Reggio with elements of Montessori curriculum – all guided by your wonderful children!

Each child visits the Art Studio once a week, and each week I share a different material exploration or “provocation” inspired by the childrens’ interests and building on the previous week’s focus. I like to connect our studio work with the work of an artist who uses similar materials and processes, and I add images of that artist and their work to our easel in the studio during those classes for interested friends to look at and inquire about.

In the Art Studio, we followed our pencil and line exploration into watercolor pencils, tracing and drawing circles that overlap, nest and range in size from small to tall. Friends noticed while working that the color of the water changed when we cleaned our brushes, which sparked our next material exploration – water AND color! Last week, friends in their classroom groups visited the art studio to mix colors through water play. Using droppers, basters, trays and jars, friends explored color mixing with liquid watercolors; using these tools in particular helps to develop their fine motor skills in preparation for writing. Starting with one color, we experimented with adding clear water to one color to explore light and dark, slowly adding a new primary color, one at a time. Each time before adding a new color, we would make predictions as a group about what will happen when two (or more) colors mix together. Friends made beautiful palettes of all colors, values and hues. Next, to celebrate the spooky season of Halloween, we’ll be expanding our color exploration to include fluorescent colors in black light, using loose play materials for construction, neon drawing materials on black paper, and bright playdough – with googly eyes!