Visual Arts

Art is such an important part of a child’s development, and at Colfax we are fortunate to have an amazing Visual Art program run by our wonderful art teacher, Mrs. Shelley Klace! Mrs. Klace has a degree in Art Education from The Ohio State University and has worked as an art teacher, a scenic painter for commercials and film, and a professional painter, selling paintings through a local gallery.  She has been teaching our Colfax kids for 12 years and loves introducing her students to new artists like Keith Haring. During her classes, students create a variety of fun projects while developing skills they will carry with them throughout their education such as working with geometric shapes, exploring spatial relations, and creating their own designs.

At Colfax, we even have our own kiln for firing clay projects! Grade levels create clay sculptures with the assistance of their teachers and trained specialists in visual arts. Students explore and experiment with the texture, shape and forms of clay. After creating geometric shapes with clay, Kindergarten students have made pinch pots. To deepen their understanding of fossils, second graders may create their own fossils or sculpt dinosaurs. In the past, third graders have made family Totem Poles to connect to the Storytelling unit in English Language Arts, and fifth grade students have explored clay forms by making whimsical teapots.

During our year of distance learning due to COVID-19, Ms. Klace recorded video art lessons for our classes so they could keep up with our Art curriculum from home. Watch along and join in!