Our world is rich with visual images.

Art is an integral and unique part of a child’s core education, providing tools to navigate and interpret current and historic images, and inspiring students in personal exploration through study, creation, and reflection.

Elementary art expands a child’s ability to perceive outwardly and inwardly through heuristic learning lessons based on personal experience, discovery and imagination.

While safely interacting with a variety of materials, such as paint, clay, scissors, pastels, and plaster, your child will learn about a wide range of techniques and art forms, including sculpture, printmaking, drawing and collage.

Students explore the meaning and aesthetics of contemporary images and historic works by famous artists through books, websites, interactive media and art creation, all the while building a vocabulary of concepts useful through all stages of life.

Art is a unique creative experience people use to understand, reflect, problem solve, share ideas and express themselves; for some children, it will be the most important one.

About Mr. Garling 

An art educator for over a decade with Dearborn Public Schools, Mr. Garling is proud to create learning experiences for the wonderful students of William Ford Elementary.

“Art is a unique human language essential in a child’s core education.  Our students have the opportunity to learn much more than art creation, aesthetics, history and criticism: they learn the positive effects art can have in themselves and in others.  My goal is to guide students in their exploration and expression of themselves through art, and in doing so, further my own learning.” – Mr. Garling

Mr. Garling earned a master’s degree in curriculum & instruction along with a bachelor’s of fine arts from Michigan State University.  He is an active artist and educator trained in Visual Thinking Strategies, a staff member of the Learning & Interpretation department of the Detroit Institute of Arts, sits on the College of Creative Studies art education advisory council, and was chosen to represent Dearborn Public Schools as a member of the Galileo Leadership Academy. Click here for more information about Mr. Garling