Learning about famous splatter-painter Jackson Pollock is really no fun if you can’t throw some paint around yourself. The kindergarten students at BrightPath Active Learning in Westerville, OH, were able to do just that this fall, thanks to a relaxed learning environment, a great outdoor space, and teachers who recognize there is more to art class than slideshows and line drawings.

Pollock was “artist of the month” at BrightPath Active Learning, a kindergarten enrichment program for Westerville kindergartners who are enrolled in a traditional school for half-day kindergarten and want an enrichment program for the second half of the day.

Coral Owdom, Director of Education at BrightPath, taught in a traditional grade school before taking her position at BrightPath Active Learning. She said the freedom to splatter paint or to spend more than 30 minutes on art at one time is a luxury most schools can’t afford.

“We could never do that in a school setting,” Owdom said. “They would be covered from head to toe in paint, and a teacher could not clean that up alone.”

At Bright Path, Owdom works together with specialists, such as the center’s Naturalist, Colleen Sharkey, and the school’s Art Specialist, Michelle Bonnette. This creates a teacher-student ratio that is very low, and also allows the staff to handle such special situations as having several 5- and 6-year-olds students throwing paint.