Visual Arts

Visual Arts Teacher
Linda Brothers, our visual arts teacher hired by the parent group, provides instruction for teachers that do not participate in the Arts Program or Music Center workshops. This ensures that all students in the school receive instruction from an art specialist in visual art. She uses the overall theme of “Great Artists” to teach students brush stroke techniques, textures, perspective, mood, color, line, hue and style.

Clay
Colfax is fortunate to have its own kiln for firing clay projects. Every grade level creates clay sculptures with the assistance of their teachers and trained specialists in visual arts. Students explore and experiment with the texture, shape and forms of clay. After creating geometric shapes with clay, Kindergarten students have made pinch pots. To deepen their understanding of fossils, second graders may create their own fossils or sculpt dinosaurs. In the past, third graders have made family Totem Poles to connect to the Storytelling unit in English Language Arts, and fifth grade students have explored clay forms by making whimsical teapots.

Valley Wide Student Art Show

Each year, the Arts in Education Council hosts an art show featuring artwork created by elementary students throughout the San Fernando Valley. Our teacher, Paige Gage, has coordinated Colfax’s participation in the Valley Student Art Show for the past four years. This school-wide competition begins with each teacher choosing and submitting three pieces of artwork produced by their students. The Colfax Art Committee, which includes parents, the visual arts teacher, the theatre teacher, classroom teachers and community members, then selects the finalists whose artwork is displayed at the Valley Wide Student Art show in the Spring.