Young artists pay homage to Monet

Claude Monet traveled to London to paint the Thames River and toVenice to paint the Grand Canal. But for his water lilymasterpieces, he stayed close to home in the French countryside.

When inner-city teenagers from Roxbury, Brighton, and Dorchesterset out to learn to paint like Monet, they went to the intersectionof Washington and Seaver streets and Columbus Avenue in Roxbury.

Their masterpiece is finished -- a 30-foot-by-12-foot mural ofMonet's "Water Lilies II (1907)" -- which they painted last summer onan outside wall of the Egleston Square branch of Fleet Bank.The young people -- student members of Artists for Humanity --were hired by Fleet Bank to create a Monet-like mural on theirbuilding. Now that it is finished, the mural is another step inhelping the students prepare for artistic careers."I hear people walking by say it's great or excellent, and itmakes me feel great," said Jose Hernandez, 16, one of 20 youths whoworked on the project.Hernandez hopes to be a graphic artist someday. He takes classesin computer design as part of his courses at Brighton High School andsays he enjoys illustrating comics. But when it comes to learningabout serious art, his venue has been Artists for Humanity, a designcompany for teenagers aimed at helping inner-city youth develop theirartistic talents.To spark student interest in the "Monet in the 20th Century"exhibit running through Dec. 27 at the Museum of Fine Arts, FleetFinancial Group, corporate sponsor of the exhibit, has launched aneducational outreach program to help students and teachers make themost of the exhibit. Nearly 2,500 elementary, middle, and highschool students from all over New England will attend guided tours ofthe museum between now and late October, according to museumestimates.Student guidebooks targeted to grades 2 through 6 and grades 7through 12 are available through the Division of Education and PublicPrograms at the MFA. An additional booklet designed to be shared bychildren and adults is also available.The teaching guidebooks provide information on Monet's life,painting style, water lily murals, and the Monet exhibit itself.They also include classroom activities for before and after seeingthe exhibit to help teachers connect lessons in the show tocurricula. Lessons in art, pond life, science, and technology aresuggested.For more information about the MFA's programs for students andteachers, call the Division of Education at (617) 369-3300.For the inner-city youth who painted the Egleston Square FleetBank building, the hands-on learning had several benefits. SusanRogerson, founder and executive director of Artists for Humanity,said the students understood Monet's style and painting techniquesmore easily once they imitated it. Using the natural light of thecity square, the students painted at the same time everyday, Rogersonsaid.The young artists also visited the MFA to view an original Monet"while it was being restored for the exhibit," Rogerson said. Thestudents got behind the scenes and into a museum restoration lab totalk with professional artists about restoring a piece of art,including reconstructing color."The students wanted their color to be exact," Rogerson said."They wanted to do it to the best of their ability."Once the mural was complete, Rogerson said, MFA director MalcolmRogers "complimented our mural as one of the closest colorreproductions he had ever seen.""It was so great to work outside with other people who like art,"said 16-year-old John Cepeta, a student at Charlestown High School."It's a plus that it was a project that benefited the community."For those who see the mural in Egleston Square, remember thismessage from Cepeta:"Kids can do something. We can create and produce art. When yousee that mural, think of us and remember: Inner-city kids did that."On-line web courseIn the computerized '90s, new media skills are as essential forclassroom teachers as the Dewey Decimal System was to those whoinstructed in the '60s. If you teach and know you need to learn moreabout the virtual world of Web sites, e-mail, and search engines, anon-line course offered by WNET-TV, Channel 13, New York, may help.Beginning Oct. 12, a six-week on-line course -- Internet inAction: Web in the Classroom -- will be available to teachers ofkindergarten through 12th grade who want to develop skills to use theInternet as a teaching tool."What better way to teach teachers about the possibilities of theWeb than by offering them a course on the Internet," said Ruth AnnBurns, director of the Educational Resource Center at WNET."Internet in Action: Web in the Classroom gives teachers a practicalway to update their teaching-tool kits.""The course is designed to show teachers how to use new media toenhance their current curriculum," said Edward Gregory, WNETspokesman. "Teachers will learn to use the vast research andeducational resources of the Web so they can teach the students touse the Web not just for entertainment but for research."The course, which runs through Nov. 23, is offered both as aself-paced course for $100 or as an instructor-led course for $200.Two continuing-education credits are available from ColumbiaUniversity Teachers College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.Teachers may register for the course by visiting Thirteen/WNET's Website, wNetStation at http://www.wnet.org/courses. For information,call (212) 560-6868. Teaching Tools is a regular column designed todiscuss ideas and techniques used by teachers. Teachers interestedin submitting ideas for future columns should write to TeachingTools, Learning, Boston Sunday Globe, Boston, MA 02107. They mayalso be sent by e-mail to this address: mfrank(atsign)nws.globe.com.