Young Michelangelos: Hands-on project about more than art for area sixth-graders

Seymour sixth-graders got a hands-on introduction to the life and work of Michelangelo recently.

After learning about the artist’s works, the students in Kathy Williams’ art class had the opportunity to see what it might have been like for Michelangelo to paint the famous hands of Adam and God on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

The students taped their papers to the bottom of a table and then painted while lying on the floor as if they were painting on the ceiling of the world-renowned chapel in Vatican City.

Williams said the students are experiencing “chapel” painting for the first time this year, but the lesson coincides with the direction her curriculum has been going.

She said she introduces students to a master artist while also introducing them to new techniques. By integrating learning into activities, students retain more of the experience and, in turn, better retain the information.

At the end of the week, students were prompted to write poems involving the theme of hands, allowing another opportunity for students to make a connection with the subject.

“They’re going to remember Michelangelo,” Williams said. “If that’s what it takes, then that’s what we’ll have to do.”

Williams said her students spent 40 minutes two days in a row experiencing something Michelangelo did for four years. She said a lot of kids didn’t realize how hard it would be to paint like he did. She said she heard a variety of remarks, such as “My head hurts,” “This is too hard” and “This is torture.”

This story appears in the print edition of The Tribune. Subscribers can read the entire story online by signing in here or in our e-Edition by clicking here.