Smile, Davis Thayer!

Last Thursday, students at DT had the opportunity to meet with and learn from Bren Bataclan.  Mr. Bataclan is a local artist who creates whimsical characters with the intent of making people smile.   While he sells some of his work, since 2003 he has been creating other paintings and leaving them for people in cities across the country and all over the world.  Along with each free painting is a message.  These messages used to ask people to smile at one another.  Now, with the down turn of our economy, they encourage people to believe everything will be okay. This is a link to a story CBS news shared about him:  http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/22/eveningnews/main5104546.shtml?tag=cbsnewsTwoColUpperPromoArea

Mr. Bataclan worked with all of the students at Davis Thayer to teach them how to draw his characters.  His message is simple: a smile is universally understood and can spread joy and laughter.   At the end of his presentation he donated a piece of art to the school.  Later in the day each of our fifth grade classes had the opportunity to spend time with him and do some more creating.  Students drew on their own and even collaborated to create illustrations in groups. Mr. Bataclan encouraged students to not worry about being "right" about how they drew but to add their own elements to the drawing.  
We were very fortunate to have Mr. Bataclan here.  Students are continuing to draw his characters and spread smiles across the school!  We hope they continue to apply his message of spreading hope and happiness using a universally recognized symbol, a smile :-).