Fifth and sixth grade art students at Wiscasset Middle School are learning how to “read” the messages hidden in a work of art.

They are reviewing how artists use line, shape, color, texture, size and space to craft unique ideas and create original drawings, paintings and photographs.

Students are also learning how to form personal opinions about works of art based on observed facts and the answer to the following question, “Exactly what is in this work of art that causes me to think, know, and feel the way I do when I look at it?”

Our first art class was a combination of looking, thinking, reacting and responding. We studied (careful looking and discussion with a partner) 38 different portrait paintings.

We talked about what we noticed in each painting and considered how, what, why, when, and where questions. We each filled out a survey of what if questions. For example, “If you could, which one of these ‘people’ would you choose to be best friends with?” and “Which one would you like to see act in a war movie or star in a love story?”

The bigger challenge has been to explain our choices. Why would I like to be best friends with the person in this portrait? If this question can be answered then we are “reading” the messages in this work of art! And that's what it's all about: art appreciation.