About Ms. Dena

Dena Marie Maloy is the founder of Matisse, Monet & Me™ art classes, parties and events. Ms. Dena was a designer in New York City and San Francisco for many years. During a volunteer stay in Costa Rica, she was an elementary art and English teacher. Recently, after moving back home to the Chicago area, she taught design at Columbia College, Harper College and The International Academy of Design and Technology. Currently, she teaches art to children at the primary (3-6 years old), elementary and Erd-Kinder (Jr. High) level specializing in Montessori schools and their philosophy.

 

Sample Session Dear “Matisse, Monet & Me” Art Student Parents, Thank you for participating in the first two fall sessions of “Matisse, Monet and Me” at your school. We had a lot of fun creating beautiful art with your children. Hopefully they enjoyed it just as much as you are enjoying their artwork! Here is a recap of what we did over the first two fall sessions : Session I 1) Pre-historic Art - We learned what an Archeologists is and how they dig in the dirt to learn about our past. We studied many pictures of fossils and bones being discovered by archeologists.- We experimented with oil pastels and tempera to create our own picture of a dinosaur (Look for a circle for the body and head and long lines to represent the neck!) and made our own fossil of a bug! 2) Paleolithic Cave Art - People have finally arrived on earth and we know about them by the drawings they left behind in their first homes. The people of the Paleolithic Age were mostly nomads. To survive they had to travel everywhere, and follow the migration of animals; as the animals were there primary food source. Whenever they decided to stay, they lived mostly in caves, tree trunks, and those types of shelter. We studied many “cave art” drawings from around the world and talked about the stories their pictures told. Then we created art in their style by making Pictoglyphs (We painted a picture on a flat rock to represent our own “Cave wall”), Petroglyphs or Geoglyphs (We created our own rock texture with sand & carved a picture into it!) Some classes also made a picture on pretend tree bark ! Session II 1) Neolithic Art - People have learned how to make a fire and how to create a pot from the clay in the earth! We know they appreciated beautiful things because we have found their pots and they are beautifully decorated! They used lines and shapes to make patterns on their pots! We used lines and shapes to create patterns and made our own “pinch pot” from some clay as they did! 2) Egyptian Art - We traveled through Egypt on a camel to some beautiful triangular shaped buildings called pyramids. We learned some fun ways to use a ruler and built our pyramids with clay on our paper, drew our camels in oil pastel and painted it all in with tempera! When we finished we added the sand to the desert to complete our Egyptian masterpiece! 3) Egyptian Art - We continued in Egypt this week because there is just so much beautiful artwork there! We studied many of the beautiful things found inside of the pyramids and then created our own “Egyptian Scarab” artifact! (We painted it to represent the gold and “lapis lazuli” stones the Egyptians were so fond of! We also did a portrait study of an Egyptian Pharaoh Mask with paint & clay on our papers. 4) Ancient Greece - Greece is known for it's architecture and sculpture. We studied many Greek buildings including the Parthenon and the different types of columns the Greeks used over the year. We then built our own “Ionic” columns with the aid of a ruler and some clay. We created our own landscape for the column and painted it in! We also studied Greek sculptures, talked about astrology and the more modern, Kombolói (Greek worry beads) ! The Greeks have used these for years use to help with stress and anxiety. We created our own set to take home! Please note: Your children may not draw objects as you recognize them, but they are learning to use their eyes and develop their hand coordination. They are usually impressed with their own work and very proud to tell you what they drew! Sometimes in class they might go off on their own and experiment with a new media while the rest of the class is following an example. That is OK! It's very exciting when you learn how colors are created, how a new texture feels or an oil pastel smears with your hands. I always stress that there is no wrong way to create art and only positive comments are welcome in class. Sometimes it's the process, not the product that counts!