Feb 7, 2018 2 min read

(PIC – uscartmonsters) Members of the fourth-grade art club at Streams Elementary teamed up with the 3-D Studio Art students at Upper St. Clair High School. The fourth-graders worked in small groups and used their imaginations to develop their own monster with drawings and descriptions, and even giving it a name. High school students were then tasked with bringing the drawings to life with clay and mixed media materials. “At the elementary level, students have wonderful imaginations that are often lost as students move on to middle school and start to care about what others think and how they might be judged by classmates,” Erika Valentine, Upper St. Clair High School art teacher, said. “Bringing the elementary and high school art programs together for a project allowS the high school students to tap into that creative side and explore a part of them that they have forgotten about.” Valentine and her high school art students visited Steams Elementary on Jan. 26 to deliver the 3-D monsters to their fourth-grade “owners.” According to Angela Stevenson, Stream Elementary art teacher, “Our high school students benefit from the imaginations of our fourth-graders, and fourth-graders witness how their creativity can inspire others. They were beside themselves when they knew their artwork was ‘good enough’ for a high school student to take the time to create it in a 3D representation.” The fourth-grade team of Isabella Donnelly, Eden Elkoni and MaryEllen Kobeski attribute much of the inspiration for their monster design to trolls. Their monster was green, with pointy ears, one eye, only a little bit of hair and was clad in denim overalls. “We wanted something scary but a little bit cute at the same time so that’s where we got the overalls,” Isabella said. According to Isabella, Eden and MaryEllen, the high school artists did a great job creating the 3D model and they enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate with the older students. “We usually only get to work with other fourth-graders,” Eden said. “It was cool to actually work with other people outside the school, and kids that are older than us.”