Beautiful Mistakes in the 1st Grade

After reading Corrine Luyken’s picture book about the creative process The Book of Mistakes, 1st grade teacher Beth Joebgen paired up her students with some grown-up artists to make simple inkblots into something beautiful.

To bring this project to life, Joebgen teamed up with her former assistant teacher Cheri Charlton and Charlton’s entire illustration class from Columbia College Chicago. During two visits, students from both schools worked together to create an inkblot using black paint, discuss what they saw in it and imagine how it might be turned into something entirely new. The art majors then took the Parker students’ inkblots back to their illustration class to design an original piece of artwork using the 1st graders’ ideas as inspiration, and the 1st graders designed their own illustration based on what they could “see” in their inkblot.

Students from both schools shared each other’s work in a culminating celebration full of creativity and smiles.

Click here for photos.