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Today's Parent
September 9, 2008

One Picasso, Two Picasso, Three Picasso, Four
How art school can mold and shape your child (Excerpt)

By Jane Bedard

Working on a creation from start to finish also fosters self-confidence, believes Liana Del Mastro Vicente, Director of the Avenue Road Art School, also in Toronto. “Making choices encourages self-esteem,” explains Del Mastro Vicente. “As children’s choices are incorporated into the project, they feel a sense of validation…and by adding their own uniqueness, they are discovering that they are unique.”

Avenue Road Art School offers an integrated approach to the arts, incorporating visual arts, drama, and music. Using themes such as ancient civilizations, children study Egypt, for example, by creating a sarcophagus with a mummy inside, using clay and recycled materials. Then they use theme-appropriate instruments to dance and move, freezing when the music stops, to create a statue of a pharoh, mummy, cat, or pyramid with their bodies. This incorporates the ideas of self and spacial awareness. Themes run between one to four classes, each lasting two and a half hours. The more involved the theme, the greater the sense of accomplishment.