Capstone Project: Little Picassos

From September 30th to December 9th, Taylor McCabe and Camille Weinberg ran Little Picassos, an after school art program at Westover Hills Elementary. Each week, they read a book to their 15 Kindergarten through Second Graders and taught a corresponding arts and crafts project. One of the students’ favorite projects was reading Thanksgiving Day Thanks by Laura Malone Elliott and then making hand turkeys! Other projects included painting self portraits, designing shrinky dinks, shaping Model Magic animals, and painting wooden picture frames. They also enjoyed dance parties to “Old Town Road” and Kidz Bop. Camille and Taylor wanted to leave the students with a reminder of their experience in Little Picassos by donating a bench to the school. It was painted with “Little Picassos 2019,” the students’ handprints, and their names in Westover Hills’ colors. This bench was presented at a culminating Gallery Walk where parents were invited to see their child’s hard work that was displayed. At this event, each student was presented with a certificate of excellence and a goodie bag full of art supplies. The bags, screen printed with the Little Picassos logo, included a notebook, coloring book, crayons, markers, colored pencils, Model Magic, scratch art paper, watercolor set, and a notepad with the logo. After viewing their student’s artwork, families ate dinner and enjoyed a slice of the Little Picassos sheet cake. Little Picassos was a rewarding opportunity for students in a Richmond City School to explore their creative side, reach out of their comfort zone, and form relationships with highschool volunteers.