CENTERVILLE—Students at Reading Elementary are getting a creative take on art through a program called “Meet the Masters.”  

“There’s a national curriculum to learn about artists,” said teacher Amy McClellan. “We do three lessons a year. They’re done by parent volunteers and each class gets their own lesson. Today’s project is on Monet. We’ve done Faith Ringgold, Paul Cezanne and Paul Clay.”

As part of the lesson, the children create art similar to that artist’s style. “We take some of the material provided and change it up to be more conducive to learning about the artist and the art project,” she said. “The year before we had an art show and set up their artwork in the gym. They loved it.”

“I like the creativity of it,” said fourth-grader Lucy Rose Cutler. “Monet looks really good. Art is not all about being realistic. I like Meet the Masters because it doesn’t always have to be perfect. You can do your own thing.”

“I like art because there are no limits,” said fourth-grader Logan Richardson. “You can just let your imagination flow. You’re allowed to do whatever, that’s my favorite part of it. If you’ve got an idea you can turn whatever you had into that.”