Of painters and puppets

BYRAM — Lenape Valley High School students in Mrs. Sherry Carnegie’s Art for the School and Beyond service art course recently conducted a puppet show on famous artists for first graders at the Byram Lakes Elementary School in Byram, NJ and Valley Road Elementary School in Stanhope, NJ. Prior to conducting the puppet show, the high school art students researched famous artists, created puppets that looked like Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, Andy Warhol, Claude Monet, Piet Mondrian, and Henri Rousseau, and made stages influenced by the styles of these well-known artists as part of their service art class. After viewing the show, the elementary school students were engaged in a crayon coloring activity related to the famous artist styles covered. The puppet show is a collaborative project developed by high school art teacher Mrs. Carnegie and Byram Lakes Elementary art teacher Mrs. Elena McTaggart and Valley Road School art teacher Mr. Roberto Mendez. Mrs. Carnegie stated that she and the other art teachers love this collaborative project because all the students involved benefit in some way from participating in it. The elementary school students benefit by gaining knowledge about famous artists from art history, while the high school students benefit through teaching the younger boys and girls about these artists. Mrs. Carnegie went on to say that it is due to her students’ tremendous efforts, her professional relationship with Mrs. McTaggart and Mr. Mendez, as well as the support of the administration at all the schools, that makes it such a successful activity for all involved.” The puppet show is an event that Mrs. Carnegie, Mrs. McTaggart and Mr. Mendez look forward to conducting together again in the future.