Ed TV focuses on art

drawpix052: Ed TV focuses on art

Production Manager John Lenko moves in to get a close up of teacher Brent Eviston and his students during the taping of "Arts Workshop."

Sometimes it is easier to bring art to students than it is to bring students to art. The Bakersfield Museum of Art and the Kern County Superintendent of Schools (KCSOS) are collaborating on a project that will bring art to students in the classroom through one of their favorite mediums -- television. Its working title is "Arts Workshop," and it could be in Kern County classrooms by Feb.

As Dec. was winding down, KCSOS Communications staff were decking their studio with production lights. Into the studio came Bakersfield Museum of Art teacher Brent Eviston. Waiting for him and cameras to roll were three young students patiently sitting at a large work table. Armed with pencils and acrylic pastels, they didn't have long to wait. Once the camera's red light came on, Eviston whirled into action, showing them how to draw an animal by first drawing a circle.

"Most people think to draw a circle you use just your hand, but, see, it actually takes a sweeping movement with my elbow and shoulders," Eviston told the children, as he demonstrated on a large easel-mounted drawing pad. "Now you try it and don't worry if it doesn't look perfect. As far as I know, Raphael was the only one in history who could make a perfect circle, free hand."

And, thus, the in-studio students, Christopher Villarreal, Gabriel Hernandez and Aliyah Coleman, began their first strokes as budding artists and learned a little history at the same time. Once the production is finished, four half hour shows will be available to teach hundreds of children in classrooms throughout Kern County. Eviston's lessons will be simple, clear and almost effortless demonstrations of basic drawing, color theory, drawing basic shapes and drawing faces.

"Brent is one of the best we could have to teach this series," said Laurie Maclin, the program's producer and KCSOS coordinator of instructional media. "We didn't have to re-shoot a single segment. He knows in short steps how to describe the process. Brent boils it down to basics, making it easily understandable for children. Every step leads to the next. The great thing about his style is that he demonstrates and then lets the children try, giving them a chance to completely understand the concept and put it into practice."

Utilizing three student-operated, studio cameras, plus the extreme close-up work of KCSOS production manager John Lenko, using a hand held camera, the entire production wrapped up shooting in just two, two-hour days. KCSOS TV producer Kevin Willey, who directed the production, is in the process of finishing the editing, adding titles and laying down a music track to complete the project.

When it is ready, Arts Workshop will be broadcast over the county's educational network, KETN, on Bright House and Cox Cable network channels, making it accessible to cable equipped classrooms within the county. Later, the videos will be available in the KCSOS media library for individual check out by teachers.

Teachers who would like more information about the media library can check the Web site by clicking on http://learning.kern.org and then click on the Media Services icon.


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