Young Artists At Montclair School Featured In Pop-Up Museum

MONTCLAIR, NJ — Park Street Academy (PSA), a private pre-school and kindergarten in Montclair, recently hosted a special, pop-up museum exhibit dubbed the Senior Art Museum (SAM).

According to a school news release, the show featured more than 400 works created by 40 Senior South and Senior North students, which were based on a fully-immersive, year-long art curriculum designed by PSA Director and longtime educator Lisa Raphael.

PSA wrote about the show:

“SAM showcased the work of PSA students between 4-6 years old, inspired by a diverse set of artists from around the world. Throughout the year, the children explored street art through the eyes of Dieynaba Sidibe, Senegal’s first female graffiti artist, reveled in the bold colors and thick brushstrokes of Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night and investigated lines and composition through Mondrian. Raphael introduced abstract paintings through Kandinsky and cubism though Picasso – and drew on Georgia O’Keeffe’s poppies to teach on the birth of American modernism.”

“In addition to math and reading skills, art is a major building block in child development, and learning to create and appreciate visual beauty may be even more important to the development of the next generation of children,” Raphael said.

“Being exposed to the world of fine arts at a young age can open up an entirely new world, giving children the vocabulary to speak about his or her favorite artist, recognize a famous painting or ask to use a variety of media to create a masterpiece of his or her own.”

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