Fourth graders in my art and writing residency at a D.C. elementary school created collaborative abstract paintings using bright liquid watercolor and sprinkled salt on the paintings as part of their studies on paper decorating techniques. Afterwords, students looked at the textured paintings from a variety of angles and visualized images that were suggested by the colors and shapes. A theme was chosen by each group. Each student then wrote one sentence about what they saw, thought about or felt when looking at the artwork and tied it into the theme. A title was then chosen and all the sentences written together to form a group poem. At the end, each collective poem was read aloud and the artwork shared with the whole class.
.JPG)
