May 2, 2016 1:34 pm Creating Young Artists and Philanthropists at Putnam Indian Field School
The weather was spectacular on Saturday, April 30th and so was the Putnam Indian Field School Annual Art Show. Eager children tugged at parents’ hands, pulling them into the school to view their creations, which were the culmination of almost a year of work in their classrooms and art studios. The gym was transformed into a museum of colorful exhibits.
In the autumn, PIFS students harvested their own organic vegetable gardens. The Pre K children visited local artist Kyle Healy’s exhibit featuring oil paintings of fruits and vegetables at the YWCA, and then, back at school, had painted their own. The creations were displayed in the top windows of the gym, backlit by the abundant streaming sunlight, which made them glow with life.
Nursery classes had worked on a giant framed collage of discarded plastic toys in rings of colors. Parents loved it, and also the consistent PIFS practice of using recyclable materials to create new masterpieces.
The children’s love of nature and the outdoors was evident: they had spent a year observing and learning about the lives, habits and habitats of local birds and animals, writing stories about them, drawing them and finally creating sculptures.
One class created colorful puppets, which were staged in the front hall as an audience watching – what else? – A puppet show!
All the children, from the Toddler classes to the Pre Ks had done their absolute best to create beautiful and interesting displays of work for their parents to enjoy. Their underlying motive was to support an organization they support and hold dear: Heifer International. The children understand that Heifer donates pregnant animals to people in underdeveloped countries, who, with the milk or eggs or by-products of these animals, improve not only their health and nutrition, but also are able to progress economically by the sale of the extra food, and pass on the gift to another family when the animal gives birth. In class, the children learned how a family might benefit from the addition of a goat, a sheep, a cow, a beehive, chickens, etc. Even more than gaining knowledge, the children gain a sense of empathy for the people who have so little. They couldn’t wait to create art to raise funds to help the families around the world. Their parents, who had had the opportunity to view the show at a preview cocktail party the previous evening, were happy to donate to the cause which had captivated the hearts of their children.
Phone – 203 – 661 – 4629
101 Indian Field Road, Greenwich, CT 06830
