WALL TOWNSHIP — Though early on a Tuesday morning, children packed the Wall Youth Center and Community Services building for an impressionist-style art class led by former preschool teacher and art connoisseur Debra Stasiak.
“I studied English, art and education at Rutgers, so I incorporated a lot of art into my curriculum,” Stasiak said. “One of the parents–I taught their child–told me ‘You really need to do this.’”
Stasiak, owner of Aspiring Artists LLC, has been teaching young minds of the Wall Township elementary schools since 2002, this time honoring French artist Claude Monet with a step-by-step instruction of his work “The Sea at Pourville.”
Nearly 20 children were split into groups of four for teambuilding and interaction. They were provided by Stasiak all the colors required for their versions of the famous Monet work; white, brown, different shades of blue, black and aquamarine.
Stasiak said of the students learning impressionism: “It builds their self-esteem and makes them feel good about themselves…and when you’re a creative person, it can go to everything. It can go to math, all academics.”
Monet was considered by Stasiak as “the father of impressionism.” His work revolutionized French painting in the latter half of the nineteenth century and focused mainly on nature; he frequently portrayed the landscapes and leisure scenes of Paris and its surroundings, as well as the Normandy coast.
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