The crayon columns lining Clanton Intermediate School’s foyer are not the only splashes of color people will see as they walk through the school this week.

Paintings and other artwork by Tammy Price’s students in the Talented and Gifted (nicknamed “TAG”) program at CIS will be displayed in an art show through May 16.

The show started Monday and is available for viewing during regular school hours.

Price’s students replicated paintings by famous painters Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet.

They also tried a new method of art called “Zentangle,” which Price described as a meditational type of art involving drawing shapes found in nature.

“It’s relatively new to this area,” Price said, adding that Zentangle was formed by a monk as a meditative outlet in the 1990s. “The kids have really taken to it. They feel a sense of accomplishment.”

Price received training in the Zentangle method at Falcon Art Supply in Montevallo and started teaching it this year.

Price said Zentangle has its own “language,” as each shape is given a unique name, and her students have enjoyed using the language while creating art with the Zentangle method.

“They love playing with words,” Price said.

Cadent, Mooka, Btl Joos, Betweed, Phicops, Awrop, Knightsbridge and Opus are among the names assigned to Zentangle shapes that Price taught her students about this year.

Sophie Porter, 8, said she liked creating Zentangles despite the challenges they presented.

“Sometimes, it can be hard, but you get the hang of it,” Porter said. “Once you do it, it’s not really messing up when you mess up because it just looks like a new Zentangle.”

For the Picasso unit of study, Price said students were given a choice regarding which period of Picasso’s art they recreated.

Price taught them about Picasso’s Cubistic, Blue and Rose periods, which each represented different emotional states the artist was experiencing when he created his paintings.

The Rose Period, marked by bright and cheerful colors in his paintings, represented a happy time in Picasso’s life during which he fell in love with a girl.

In contrast, Picasso’s Blue Period marked a time of sorrow because his best friend died.

As a result, the predominant color in his Blue-Period artwork is blue.

“The progression of the art tells a story,” Price said. “The students could choose whatever period they were drawn to.”

Morgan Wright, 9, said she enjoyed the Picasso unit because he used a variety of colors.

“I chose to paint the blue period because it sounded more interesting,” Wright said. “It just stood out from all the others.”

About 68 students in third–fifth grade produced artwork for the show.