artists making a difference

Dr. Arthur Culbert is the head of the Central West End Community Farm and one of the kindest people I have met! He partners with the New City School 4th graders to plant, tend, and harvest the garden for local food banks. This is a really wonderful partnership and we are lucky to have him in our community. Read more about his work here.

We were approached by Arthur to create a mural on the existing barriers blocking the garden from the alley. These were an eyesore and Arthur wanted to change their purpose to allow passers-by to see what this garden is all about. The fourth grade artists spent many hours designing, planning, consulting, and collaborating before the actual painting even started! The garden mural is now finished and is a happy centerpiece of the community farm. Many times, people have stopped to comment how seeing the mural on their way to work and home, brightens their day!

art21 educators

I couldn't be more excited about my summer! I am heading to New York in July to be part of Art21 Educators! This is a year long professional development that starts off in New York with an intensive 10 day workshop.

From the Art21 website: Participants work with Art21 staff, visiting artists, and guest presenters to develop their familiarity with contemporary art and artists and learn strategies for planning and teaching with big questions and processes related to contemporary art and interdisciplinary pedagogy. Accepted educators explore ways to use Art21 films and educational materials in the classroom, consider new documentation strategies and practices, and participate in collaborative reflection in support of their continued participation in the program throughout the year.

Art teachers are encouraged to apply with a classroom teacher to ensure collaboration and I am so lucky to have Linda joining me. Linda teaches 6th grade and truly is the best of the best! Linda and I are featured on Art21's blog here. Check out our video applications!

Soooooo excited to be part of this! I'll keep you posted!

kindergarten architecture printmaking

I love introducing printmaking to the kindergarten artists. The printmaking process is such a magical one and the kinders get completely absorbed in experimenting, collaborating, and creating. I see kindergarten for 30 minutes each week. That is not a lot of time to introduce the lesson, admire a wiggly tooth, demonstrate the technique, have the class create, reflect, and clean up! But during this project, I really do enjoy standing back and watching moments of creativity and collaboration go off like a fireworks show.



We focus on famous local Saint Louis architecture for this project but Maggie had different ideas. She really wanted to do Big Ben:) She tried really hard all by herself to make the numbers backwards on her printing plate (because I had warned them that their names would appear backward if they wrote them on the top of the plate)- so clever! I've since added some famous world architecture references for our young globe trotters.



I show them how to print one time on the middle of the paper. It usually takes them one print before someone realizes they can put multiples on a page. And that student shares this idea with another student and so on. If I had told them to do this they would have missed the joy of discovery. These moments are like fireworks that start off with a squeal of delight and then spread around the room as discoveries are shared.



I love how this one fills up the entire paper.



And this one is the Chain of Rocks Bridge. It looks like the bridge and its reflection in the water.



Another discovery I wait for is for someone to ask if they can use more than one color. I watch even more fireworks of collaboration and experimentation go off!



A natural printmaker at heart! This artist really collaborated to collect some of his favorite prints from his friends all on one paper.



Great night and day scene.



This takes two art times to complete. The first art time is spent drawing on the printing plate and the second time is devoted to printing. Fireworks show included!



Even their leftover printing plates look great!