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Bennett Elementary School kindergarten students received a surprise Tuesday morning, as local high schoolers visited the school鈥檚 library with handmade art inspired by the elementary schoolers鈥� paintings.
In the fall, the Bennett students created paintings of monsters based on the famous book 鈥淲here the Wild Things Are鈥� by Maurice Sendak.
Unbeknownst to the young students, the paintings were shared with artists at three nearby high schools 鈥� Colgan, Gainesville and Patriot High School 鈥� for the older pupils to create works representing the kindergartners鈥� paintings. The finished products ranged from clay sculptures to colorful dolls.
Each high school student was paired with a kindergartner, and at Tuesday morning鈥檚 event, the high schoolers stood up and presented their creation to their younger counterpart, showing off how they interpreted the young artists鈥� paintings.
CJ Graham, a sophomore at Colgan High School, was paired with Elena Kelly, a kindergartner at the Manassas area school. Graham made a doll based on the drawing of Kelly鈥檚, which she said was a new experience for her.
鈥淭his was my first time ever making a big project using sewing, so it was a learning-as-I-go kind of experience,鈥� Graham told InsideNoVa.
She used yarn for the doll鈥檚 hair and 鈥渞etaught鈥� herself how to crochet to make the doll鈥檚 arms.
鈥淚 got to experiment with a bunch of new mediums like buttons and sequins, and it was just really transformative,鈥� Graham said.
While she said the project was a touch more challenging than she anticipated, it was 鈥渄efinitely鈥� her favorite summative assessment for the class.
鈥淚t was really fun, and I loved meeting Elena,鈥� Graham said.
Kelly said she was surprised 鈥� but a 鈥渉appy鈥� surprise 鈥� when she saw Graham鈥檚 creation. The experience made her want to continue experimenting with art, Kelly said, potentially with her newfound buddy in Graham.
Along with the other pairs, Graham and Kelly savored pizza slices al fresco after the art presentation.
Amy Holt, the elementary art teacher at Bennett, told InsideNoVa she was sent an online post about a similar project and thought it would be interesting to implement for her students.
After connecting with teachers from the three high schools, Holt got the ball rolling.
鈥淚 know a lot of the high school students. I鈥檝e talked to a few of them, and I saw them at the art show,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey were just so excited to give their art, so that part has been very meaningful.鈥�
