Her Picasso-like still life of food in bright yellow and deep reds and greens displays more than freshman Anna Olson’s mastering of color and the Cubism art period.
It also represents her mastery of the Spanish needed to describe its subject matter.
As part of an unusual final exam for an unusual class, Olson and 39 other freshmen at St. Charles High School on Tuesday created a one-day museum to display their art projects from “La Frontera,” the school’s integrated Spanish and art class.
The double period class combined beginning Spanish with beginning art instruction in the principles of color, drawing and three-dimensional design. “La Frontera” means the border and was chosen because the class crosses the traditional borders of teaching. It is taught together by teachers of Spanish and art.
“I love it,” said Olson, “because it mixes it up. I know that I’m learning a lot more Spanish than other Spanish One students. It’s just amazing. And with art. . . . I’ve probably learned more.”
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In all of their projects, students first learned the Spanish vocabulary. For example, for their still lifes they first learned the words for foods and restaurants. They then created a still life of the foods they would serve in their own cafe using the principles of designing with color and the Cubism art period.
In other examples, students learned the vocabulary for face and body parts, then used it with contour drawing lessons to create facial portraits. And they learned numbers and money, then used three-dimensional design to create their own currency.
While the students were working and completing each project, they also had to use the Spanish vocabulary.
After completing each project they made an oral presentation to the rest of the class.
So for the food still life, the students described the food and their cafe in Spanish and the other students were responsible for listening and answering questions about the presentations in Spanish.
“We felt kids learn best by making interconnections, applying their immediate knowledge into something,” said art teacher Debbie Kling. “It is another way of meeting the needs of all our different types of learners. . . . If kids can learn to make the interconnections, that’s what going to make learning easier for them.”