By Melanie Jacob
Journal Editor
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Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or so the saying goes. If so, a group of seven kids were definitely complimenting some artwork with their posing spoofs on Aug. 13.
"We were looking at paintings from classical art history and we were recreating them with ourselves and with costumes," said Annah Gullacher, an organizer for the community art classes.
With the help of Gullacher, the youths were shown a painting and then had to choose the appropriate outfits to look and pose like the characters. One of the pieces used was a classical baroque painting by Caravaggio entitled the Calling of St. Matthew.
"I think the kids had a blast because they were the stylists for the shoot so they picked out the costumes for each other," said Gullacher. "It was really funny actually. They were so into picking out how they would pose and making sure every detail was right. They got right into it."
Ensuring detail accuracy was no mean feat, either, with the limitations in their wardrobe choices and environment. It took some tricky handiwork by art student and assistant, Garrison Berger, to get the dim lighting accurate enough to imitate the classical look.
After carefully recreating the scene, Gullacher said they would change one or two things to modernize it. The purpose behind doing that was to comment on society, what people look at, and what their interests are. For example, in the recreation of Young Girls at the Piano by Auguste Renoir, the kids sat looking at a laptop instead.
Despite the difficulty, studying the details was an educational part of the program. By mimicking the paintings, the kids then learned about the art and how to work together.
"Basically the kids were learning about historical paintings and some of the important movements that happened in art and having fun with it," said Gullacher. "It was mostly so that they would have more of an understanding of some of the famous works from art history."
According to Gullacher, by doing the spoofs, the kids were learning about composition, how to put colour together, and how to set up an image so that colours were pleasing to the eye. They also learned about lines and how they should set up their arms to point in the same direction. With guidance from Gullacher, the kids went through the principles of art.
Unfortunately, this art spoof class was the last homegrown kids community art class for the summer.
