A chance encounter with German expressionists by Stephanie Christianson in Munich during the summer of 1995 led directly to her German and art survey students painting abstract art of their own.
On the German trip, "we went to a museum in Munich which featured Kandisky and Franz Marc among others," said Christianson. "It kind of inspired me to find out more about them - so I did."
Christianson and Lavonne Burgard joined their second, third and fifth period classes together. Christianson did a slide presentation on the artists with slides which she got from the Goethe Institute in San Francisco, Calif. and Seattle, Wash. The kids then got to work painting in the style of the German expressionists who were protesting materialism and technology.
"We each started with a piece of paper and painted something abstract and passed it on," said junior Toby Simenson. "Then the next person painted something and passed it again and so on. We ended up with a final abstract painting with a theme."
The theme was "Big Sky Natural High", the same theme used during Red Ribbon Week. Christianson and Burgard decided to choose this theme because the artists were into bright colors.
"The goal for the kids was to try to understand abstract art even if they didn't like it," said Burgard. "It was good for the German and art kids to get together and see how history affects art."
"I learned a lot about expressionist art," said senior Cadie Mahlberg. "Having two teachers get together to teach a class gives you a better perspective of the class as a whole."
"Deutsch Kunsleir sind ansgezeichnet, (German artists are excellent!)" said junior Tyson Hall.