Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 22, 1966)
Merchants Join Kids in Greetings HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES. Thundery . Dcmbr 22. 1966 -4 1 vmvmmwiMiwimvMVM0'amvM Art Students' Drawings Give Their Version Of Christmas; Teacher Explains Background V by terry uncecum Ait Toachor, Hoppnvr Schools As yon read nr glance through IIiIh ( lill.slm.it edition, yuu will notice thai a nrw expression of Christmas Is evident. Manv of this vNir'i greetings were drawn by I ltipnrt school children grade "in1 through twelve. Mv 'ily regret In Unit tin! each and every one of their lilcluri'N could In- used, In-, cause they are nil delightful. Be fore anyone can rt'iilly n)ov these pictures, children's art and creative growth first must in' more clearly uhiIitsIimmI. There ore definite ordered stages In a person's growth unit mnlurliv pattern, ami likewise there are definite unliTi'il stag cs In a person' creative growth. Just as a baby crawls before walking, anil walks before run Mint;, so must each person pass through seven different stages In creative awareness. These stages ur the following: Scrlb hit (two to four ycurs), I'resche matte I four to seven years), St hematic (seven to nine years I, dawning realism (nine to elev en years), I'scudo Naturullstle i eleven to thirteen years), anil Crisis of Ailolesivnre i thirteen to seventeen years). I realize (hut the stages 1 have men lioneil ahove may not hold much meaning nt the moment, hut I will explain them hrleflv .is I ileal Willi eai'h ngc group. First. I woulil like to explain how they drew these Christmas pictures. My art students start id preparing these pictures for uur enlovment around the fust f November. We talked about Christinas and tried to name us many thine as we could about Die first Christmas and our eel i hr.itlon of It today. From the list that each croup made, each student then chose and drew right different aspects of the holiday. Kiich person chose one of his drawings to send to the lleppner Ga.etteTlnies. which in turn would he shown to the local merchants for their selec tion as a Christmas greeting. Fnch student spent a groat liiil of time drawing ana re drawing his picture so he could execute It on the final pner without making a single mis take before the flnnl drawings were turned over to the news paper. This Is true not' only of the high school students but al so of the first graders. The majority of the first and second graders have started to enter the creative stage of Sche matic drawing. They are now forming definite concepts of man and his environment. In pure .schematic the child doesn't express Intentional experiences only the Christmas tree, star, Santa Claus, Baby Jesus. But by exaggerating Important parts of his picture and omitting other parts, the students' experiences are expressed. The third graders are entering into the stiige of Dawning Re alism which the fourth and f if tit graders occupy. It Is now that the students become aware of detail and emphasis of it. Santa Claus now has buttons on his jacket and boots to wear. It Is also at this time that the delightful X-rav vision exists. A house Is drawn but everything inside the house Christmas, tree, Santa Claus, and fireplace Is also shown, and Santa is not only shown with his sack oi toys on nis nncK dui aiso what he is carrying Inside that sack. Haloes of angels, Mary, Joseph, and the Christ Child art? shown with connecting stems to the people's heads. Could this he their concept or are they products of our society? The sixth graders are well in to the I'scudo-Naturallstlc stage of creative growth. It Is now that they are developing intel ligence in their pictorial execu tions, yet remain unconscious for dramatization and action. It is now that their sense of hu mor becomes evident In connec tion with their environment. They begin to show Santa Claus riding in super sleighs helicop ter, Jets and flying saucers, Santa getting stuck In chimneys or burning his toes because someone left the fireplace burn ing, and Santa's reindeer alight ing on a roof with the sled dangling over the edge and toys falling to the ground. The stage of Crisis of Adoles cence is occupied by all high school age students. They po ssess two types of awareness visual and haptlc. Their visual awareness Is concerned mainly with their creative execution while their haptlc awareness deuls with their self-expression and emotional approach to sub jected experience. It Is during this time that the students seek symbols of expression and emo tion without true abstract (In between awareness). An exam ple of this type of approach is a student's drawing of a dove carrying the Christmas star In its beak with the wording, "Peace on Earth." I hope the above sketchy out line of creative growth will help you enjoy and understand each and every drawn Christmas greeting which appears in these pages. DRAWN BY MARCIA JONES. HIGH SCHOOL CARL SPAULDING PDBUC ACCOUNTANT DRAWN BY MARSHA SOWELL. HIGH SCHOOL MORROW COUNTY ABSTRACT fir TITLE COMPANY c H I s n n Tte ft(r$ DRAWN BY SUE CHALLY, HIGH SCHOOL FORD'S TIRE SERVICE mmraro T 1 V A A &RRY if 'r '"" Columbia Basin "C Wo( ! LA klt serving morrow, Yrneeier DRAWN BT MIKE HEPPNER TV, Inc. pgr tra DRAWN BY KELLY Electric Co I "VII? r ana umiam vounnes ALSUP. HIGH SCHOOL "IT- Os KRIEGER. 3rd GRADE - oi J7
