You see. You say. I paint. I see. I say. You paint.

This exhibition was the culmination of a school-wide conversation and exploration of language and art. Through the game of telephone (a game where messages are passed back and forth), students of Holmes Elementary School in Tonawanda, New York responded to paintings by artists featured in the Burchfield Penney Art Center’s exhibition Sensory Crossovers: Synesthesia in American Art, literature and primary sources selected by art teacher Diane Schaefer. They discussed language and its delights and limitations. The students’ works were displayed in pairings that demonstrated the way that language and art morph from one student to the next. This project investigated the following questions:

What do we see when we look at art?
How do children create meaning when they look at art?
What happens in the translation of visual to verbal response?
How is artistic creation similar to a game of telephone?
How do pictures illuminate and change the meaning of words?
How do words help us understand each other?

The students formed multi-grade groups called Discovery Teams. Kindergarteners partnered with 3^rd graders, 1^st graders with 4^th graders and 2^nd graders with 5^th graders. Each student was given a reproduction of a work of art and asked to write a description of the piece. The descriptions varied from lists to full sentences to entire stories. Students were encouraged to apply all of their senses and use their imaginations. Once the texts were completed, students passed them on to their partners. The students were challenged to interpret these words and create a visual expression. They chose to work in pencil, oil pastel and watercolor.

Like the Surrealists’ game of Exquisite Corpse, the works in progress were hidden until completion. The final unveiling of their creations revealed that art can be like a game of telephone. Sometimes you end up with something similar to the original or something entirely different. The surprise for the students was that they did not know that the other members in their Discovery Team were working from the same original painting!

A project of this scale was not possible without the colleagues and friends who make up the entire staff of Holmes Elementary School. We congratulate the students who were examples of respect and devotion to this project and also give a special thanks to Principal Lisa Cross and Program Supervisor Lilyen Mascellino for their support.