Taught by the masters

Students learn about great artists during year-long program.Eager to take in a presentation on the Postimpressionist painter Edgar Degas, some 55 second-graders at Top of the World Elementary School sat on the auditorium floor in front of pictures of horses and ballerinas.

Degas is one of six artists the students will study this year as part of the PTA-sponsored Art Masters Program.

The program is designed to offer a visual art complement to lessons in history, social studies and language arts, PTA organizer Kathleen Fay said.

Presenting on Degas, actress Poli Rizco, who has spent 15 years as an art educator, combines storytelling with art history.

Degas had varied techniques as well as personality quirks, Rizco said.

“If you ever posed for [Degas], he would close his notebook and throw it on the floor,” Rizco said. “He liked natural poses.”

Rizco read from a book a description of when Degas was invited to dinner by a wealthy art dealer. Instead of being polite about the invitation, Degas made several odd demands, including having a special dish without butter and no flowers on the table.

“Edgar had to like you before he would sell to you,” Rizco said.

As slides were shown containing samples of the artist’s works, the students learned what made Degas special.

Toward the end of the half-hour assembly, Rizco asked the students, “How would you know a painting is by Edgar Degas?”

The responses came immediately.

“No one is posing.”

“It’s asymmetrical.”

“He makes empty space.”

“There are woman in his pictures.”

“It’s his passion and he likes it that way.”

According to Fay, the Art Masters Program has had a profound effect on the students.

“They take ownership of the artists. Downtown, kids will point to a familiar work in a gallery and say, ‘Oh, I know him!’”

“This community has a strong awareness of art,” said Rizco, who travels to schools throughout Orange County.

For a hands-on experience, the students also participate in workshops run by art teacher Sally Garrett.

For the subject of Degas, Garrett has her students take small prints of the artist and turn them upside down before enlarging them with pastels.

“Turning them upside down helps to focus on right-brain drawing; it uses creativity more,” Garrett said.

The finished projects are then put up for entry into the school’s calendar.

Other artists featured in the Art Masters Program include Charles Sheeler, Joan Miro, Georges Seurat, Andrew Wyeth and Piet Mondrian.20060113isy8ilnc(LA)Jack Winter, 10, works on a drawing of a horse.20060113isy8i6ncPHOTOS BY KENT TREPTOW / COASTLINE PILOT(LA)Art teacher Sally Garrett helps Zoe Freidenrich, 11, with her drawing as Rosemary Trinidad, 10, looks on at Top of the World Elementary School on Thursday. The students were studying the work of French Impressionist Edgar Degas.