Creating A Lifetime of Art Appreciation

The seven-year-old girl sat tapping her feet in anticipation of her check-up at the dentist's office.  As she waited her eyes scanned the pictures on the wall, until she focused on one print in particular.  "Look Mom, a Matisse," she exclaimed.

As her Mom looked up at the brightly colored print, her eyes traveled down to the artist's signature.   Amazed she stated. "Wow, you are correct!  How did you know that?  "I learned about Matisse from Meet the Masters", the youngster said.                            

This story puts a smile on Bonnie Steele's face.  As founder and owner of the art program, Meet the Masters, her main objective is to turn children   onto  a life-time of art appreciation.  This type of story has become more common   as Meet the Masters has grown to include 120 public and private schools for  the 1997-8 school year.   That is approximately 60,000 students who will be exposed to the "world of art" through the San Clemente-based program.

Talking about her program, Steele states, "I want the students to get excited about art, to form opinions with likes and dislikes, to  use   critical    thinking skills, and most of all, to have fun doing it!  I  want  the  kids  to  drag    their 
parents to the museums and for art to become an integral part of their lives."

Meet the Masters is a program based on a four-year format that introduces eight artists each year.  Artists are both men and women from the 16th century to the present.  Each unit of the curriculum has three parts to the structured, discipline-based instruction.  First, an assembly is given introducing an artist with slides, audio-voice tapes, music, student dress-up, group interaction games and participation-based critiques.  Secondly, an art packet is done in class which reinforces art elements and terms introduced at the assembly.  Finally, a one hour hands-on art activity in the style of the master artist, exploring different media and techniques, is completed.  Each art activity is geared towards individuality, creativity and success.  The fact that art history is introduced in a fun way right along with the art activity, leads to good retention of historical names, styles, world history and geography.  The introduction of many different media, techniques and styles builds students' confidence in their own artwork, and gives them skills for the future.

Young students are capable of much more than we have realized in the past, and develop abilities much earlier with this type of exposure.  Previous elementary art instruction was often limited to arts and crafts, while Meet the Masters is a more complete exposure to the art world.  The success of this program proves what administrators, teachers, parents and students agree, Meet the Masters adds quality art enrichment to the core curriculum provided by our schools.

Bonnie Steele began Meet the Masters 16 years ago as a volunteer project for her daughter, Lisa's, sixth grade class at Del Lago School in Mission Viejo.  Art education was suffering cut-backs, and Steele's intense interest in art, along with her background as a credentialed teacher and exhibited artist, sparked the idea for Meet the Masters.  While teaching her program Steele discovered that sixth grade was sometimes too late to reach children.  By the age of 12 some students had already decided they either had talent or didn't.  She began to see the need to begin the program at an earlier age.

The program's popularity spread quickly, and today Meet the Masters employees 31 teachers.  It has expanded to include instruction for Kindergarten through eighth grades.  The program runs smoothly with the help of more than 2,000 volunteers, who also feel art is important, donate their time and learn right along with the students.   The schools using Meet the Masters are located mostly throughout Southern California, from San Diego to Lake Arrowhead, but schools in Nevada, Utah, Illinois, and Virginia are also using the curriculum.

Recent improvements have included adding new fourth-year artist Frida Kahlo, Paul Klee, Rosa Bonheur, and Faith Ringgold.  Family Nights are becoming popular and Art-a-la-Carte features a single artist.  Also we have recently  developed   a quality Kindergarten program.  Art projects are constantly being improved for success at all levels.  Future goals for Meet the Masters include reformatting the program to meet time and budget constraints faced by our schools.  Private programs are a positive, future alternative for providing enrichment to the core curriculum.

By Barbara Turnbull