JOINT MULTINATIONAL READINESS CENTER, Germany – Second grade elementary school students filed past several water color paintings in the library; they sat down “criss-cross applesauce” and stared up to their art teacher and a special guest visitor.
Art teacher Alicia Perkins introduced Forchheim, Germany-based artist Rosemary Kessler, who talked to several grades of students about incorporating art into their everyday lives Feb. 16, 2023 at Hohenfels Elementary School.
“Something I love doing is art,” said Kessler to the students. “When I was your age, that was something that gave me the most joy.”
Perkins felt it important to give students an opportunity to learn about art.
“You’ve got to read, you’ve got to write, that is all important,” said Perkins. “If you study what art, music does … it builds self-esteem. It helps them learn better. It helps them process information. It makes them a more rounded individual.”
Kessler showed the students her sketchbook, which contained a drawing of a cemetery with colors – greens, browns, purples – filled in afterward during moments of calm. Except for the line work, she typically avoids painting with black. She also had sketches of her sister’s cat when she visited her sister in England.
“You don’t really need a huge art room,” she said. “You can just carry it around with you. You can do your creative stuff either sitting with your Family when you’re out anywhere or when they’re at home when they’re watching something boring on the television. You can be sitting and sketching.”
Perkins elaborated on Kessler’s work with a sketchbook.
“Remember how I said you could always take a sketchpad with you on vacation or outside on recess?” Perkins asked her students. “You can do your directed drawings in your sketchpad. This is just one way to use sketchpads.”
Kessler heads a chapter of a group called Urban Sketchers, who tour towns around the world drawing sketches of the town. Perkins met Kessler through the group and thus invited her to speak at the elementary school. Kessler, who is originally from England, moved to Germany in 1982.
Her career followed many different paths, but her passion was art, something she describes herself as being compelled to do, such as her abstract works.
“It’s sort of in you and it’s got to come out, and you work on it,” said Kessler.
The children passed around some of the material Kessler uses as an artist, such as her watercolor pallet, her paint brush set and more. The children asked Kessler a number of questions, such as how long it took Kessler to finish the pictures on display and what is the difference between drawing and sketching.
One student asked Kessler who inspired her to start drawing, and Kessler said her involvement in art began when she would draw with her mother.
After the visit, the children walked around the library to look at Kessler’s works all the while obeying the “museum rules” set by Perkins.
Ron Lathrop, the Hohenfels Elementary School principal, appreciated Kessler’s visit and hoped for more similar visits in the future.
“We have kids that are probably artists or are going to be artists,” said Lathrop. “To have somebody like this is really a rare opportunity. And fortunately we were able to get Rosemary to come to our school.”
Kessler sees the continued existence of art as imperative for the world.
“If there weren’t artists or musicians, what sort of place would this be?” she asked rhetorically. “There would be nobody to design your car for you – your curtains, your carpets, what you’re wearing, anything.”
Kessler also saw art as an imperative for the individual.
“This sort of stuff that you can do in your spare time,” she said of developing an art or a craft, “it just enriches your life.”
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