A Monet Garden Installation: A Momentary Gift of Art.

Each year, my elementary school has an art show. Traditionally, the show was presented on the 36 bulletin boards located throughout the building. The artworks from each grade level were hung in their respective hallways. This seemed to make sense, logistically. Parents could easily find the work that their child had created and offer their "oohs and ahs."

Nevertheless, something was amiss. Each picture was hung on the wall as a representation of one student, and so the show became a representation of a series of these individual efforts. However, art is not created in a vacuum. It is a reflection and synthesis of the culture from which it emerges. In this instance, the culture that needed to be represented is that of our school. How could our energetic community of learners be represented as a collective unit in our art show?

The answer came from children's literature, after reading Linnea in Monet's Garden, by Christina Bjork and illustrated by Lena Anderson (R & S Books, 1987). This is the fictional story of a young girl who travels to France with her friend, Mr. Bloom, for a visit to see the work of Claude Monet. She learns about this famous Impressionist painter by visiting the Monet Garden Museum in Giverny.

I was inspired to use the book and accompanying video, as the basis for art lessons adapted to each grade level. A chance conversation with another teacher in my building planted the seed in my brain for a three-dimensional display for all of this artwork. Then I thought, hold on a minute, how about a full-scale display of Monet's garden in an installation format? Our large, 38-foot-by-50-foot group instruction room could be transformed into a three-dimensional art experience!

The creative energy of over 700 art students would provide the means to transform this space into their collective impression of Monet's garden. The style in which they would create the art would reflect Monet's connection to the world of art, and an installation would provide the perfect format to reflect our synergetic school community spirit in our art show.

PLANNING AND LESSON GOALS I wanted to achieve five goals through the creation of the Monet garden installation. The first three goals were for the students to understand Monet's place in art history, to learn to use the Impressionist painting technique, and to understand the installation concept. The last two goals were to include the use of technology and non-Western art history in the installation.

The first two goals were to teach the students the relevance, in terms of art history and technique, of Monet as the "Father of Impressionism." Through the use of the previously mentioned book, its accompanying video and multiple reproductions of his work, I provided the students with a visual overview of Monet's place in art history, as well as his painting style.

We discussed the fact that Monet's images were produced using short brushstrokes, and that his paintings were not initially accepted by the critics because they were so unlike contemporary works painted with an almost photographic realism. The movie offered a clear example of Monet's short brushstrokes of color, which provided a superb concrete basis for this discussion.

The third goal was to introduce the concept of the installation format. While I did not present information on specific artists who work in this format, I did describe the idea. I explained that an installation is created when an artist transforms a space into an art experience. I told them that our large group instruction room would become the transformed space, and then we discussed specifically how we would change this room so that it would reflect our interpretation of Monet's garden. I also added that it is unique for over 700 artists to work together on one installation!

The fourth goal was to include non-Western art as it relates to Monet. I introduced the Japanese woodcut print technique, and told them how he admired and collected them. Part of the installation depicts his dining room, complete with Japanese-inspired prints on the walls.

I met the technology goal through enlisting the help of our technology instructor. She taught lessons in the lab in which students conducted Web searches in "Yahooligans" for information about the artist. This information was later used to create a Monet trivia poster.

Additionally, I made all of the signs explaining the various parts of the installation through scanned or imported images, along with text, created in Microsoft Word and Corel Draw. I also put together a Power Point Presentation (at home) to introduce the artist to all of my classes, but had difficulty running it on my computer at school. I am still working on that one.

DETAILS AND PARTICULARS Each grade level completed lessons in which they either created artwork in a group format, or presented individual pieces that were collectively displayed. This group work reflected a unified community spirit. In the lower grades (kindergarten through second), the students made individual clay sculptures of bugs, birds, frogs and water lilies, which were grouped for presentation. I felt it was important for these younger children to have special keepsakes to bring home after the art show.

The upper grades (third through fifth) worked in groups of three or more to make three-dimensional plant sculptures, floor murals and wall murals. The fourth-grade students also worked individually to create Japanese-inspired flower relief prints that were displayed in a group format.

Additionally, fifth-grade students created garden-appropriate sculptures such as a papier-mache garden trellis, a folded cardboard footbridge, and a papier-mache sculpture of Monet, sitting on a painted bench.

THE PROCESS An ocean of color was needed to transform the stark white room into the impression of a garden. For the background, fifth-grade students created five large-scale murals in tempera paint on kraft paper, each measuring 15 feet wide and 8 feet high. Fourth-graders created 20 floor murals, depicting the lily pond, in tempera paint on kraft paper, measuring 3 feet wide and 8 feet long. Each of these grade levels used only white and the primary colors (magenta for red, turquoise for blue, and yellow) to produce all of the colors needed to create their impression of a Claude Monet painting.

As the night of the art show drew near, anticipation was evident throughout the building by way of the curiosity and questions from students and staff. Through the generosity of my principal, and the incredible support from everyone in the building, the installation took shape. It took another staff member and myself an entire day-plus to assemble the work of the students and transform an institutional space into Monet's garden. While we set up the show, curious faces kept appearing at the window, followed by a thumbs-up or a silent-mouthed, "Wow!" The installation was documented through multiple rolls of film, a photo album with explanation, and an informal video.

On the night of the art show, parents took pictures and voiced praise as their children pointed and said, "I made that!" After the show, a parent sent me a note telling me how the feeling in the room reminded her of a trip she had taken to France many years ago. She said when she entered the room on the night of the show she felt as though she had been "transported." The installation grew to be a happy place, created by children--a momentary gift for all who would experience the garden.