With the closure of school grounds during the COVID-19 pandemic, many teachers have had to develop creative solutions to overcome social distancing and keep kids engaged in e-learning. Christin Congdon, an art teacher at Minnewashta Elementary, took a unique approach to educating students about art history - let them be part of the masterpiece.

"Artists and art teachers can't help but notice all of the museums needing a little help keeping their "patrons" visiting in our digital world," says Mrs. Congdon, "so I thought our students could help out by visiting and recreating their favorite works of art."

As part of the assignment, students were asked submit a photo of their project and join a GoogleMeets session to talk about why they chose a particular work of art, how they recreated it and how they might have originally been created.

Mrs. Congdon acknowledged that students have different supplies available to them at home, so she kept the process of recreating artwork entirely up to the student's imagination and creativity. "You will find some students included themselves, while others used household items, or nature to create their works of art," says Mrs. Congdon.

Here are a few examples of her students' work:

Mason Heimermann - Johannes Vermeer's The Astronomer

Shep Cornell - Salvador Dali's Moustache

Francesca Emola - Katsushika Hokusai's The Great Wave

Madison Rogers - Charles Napier Hemy's Trees

Aiden Dittbrenner - Vincent Van Gogh's The Starry Night

Cedra Peso - William-Adolphe Bouguereau's L'innocence