A fun filled day of art at the Richland Schools with CANA's Koa Beam!
Recently the CANA Foundation and Richland Schools sponsored a day of comic book style art for students at the Richland High School and Elementary School lead by CANA's very own Lead Graphic Artist, Koa Beam.
The Richland High Schools' art teacher Mrs. Martha Ringler was the driving force behind putting the event together. This event arose out of the participation that Mrs. Ringler had had taking part in a previous 'Let's Draw Spider-Man!' one day workshop that Koa had done last year at the Community Arts Center of Cambria County. That event was a fun success and she thought a similar workshop shop for her high school students would be a great opportunity for the students to learn a little about how comic book artwork is created. Mrs. Ringler's Art Club was also kind enough to provide materials for high school students to use for the day and keep. The CANA foundation was kind enough to help support Koa with time to teach the workshops for the day and spread the joy of art and creation to the Richland students.
The drawing workshop idea also caught the interest of the Richland Elementary School's Art teacher Mrs. Krista Hershberger. So, the day was expanded to include doing a fun draw along at the elementary school as well.
Both workshops were a success and a ton of fun. Roughly 50 students got to take part in the event day between the high school and elementary school. At the high school the students first learned about some of the basic tools a comic book artist uses along with a little history behind comic book art and artists. At which point a short poll was taken to see what character they would be drawing for the day. And the surprise winner was... Groot from the Guardians of the Galaxy! So over the next 4 hours Koa lead and instructed the students in the, penciling, composition, layout, inking and coloring of a typical comic splash page.
At the elementary school things were scaled back and made a lot simpler for the younger students as they were given the opportunity to use whatever pens, crayons, pastels, or markers they wanted to do the draw-along with Koa. Once again a quick poll was taken of the students to see who the kids would like to draw. And they chose The Child (or Baby Yoda as he is better known) off of the Mandolorian on Disney+. Koa then tried to break down baby Yoda into simple shapes for the kids to follow and color in. All in all the artwork that both the high school students and the elementary students created can only be described as awesome.
Beyond being a day of fun, filled with art and education, the event managed to also raise $200 to be donated to the Community Arts Center of Cambria County. CANA Advisors through it's CANA Foundation is happy to have been a part of this fun day.
Again, a big thank you to the CANA Foundation and the Richland Schools Art Programs, teachers and students. You guys rock!
'Nuff Said. :)
Koa Beam is the Lead Graphic Artist for CANA Advisors. If you wish to get in touch with him you can email kbeam@canallc.com