Another February Art Advocacy Fab Five!

Long winter days need some special events built in to move them along.  These ideas lend themselves perfectly to classroom curriculum, build the concept of teamwork and planning, and can become great advocacy PR pieces for the local newspaper.  The old saying "You have to be a hero in your community first" is so true in art advocacy!

1
Does Valentine's Day excitement have you feeling blue rather than red?  Create a school-wide UNITY event based on the work of Jim Dine and his Hearts series in multiple media for K-5. Tie it in with PE, as many schools celebrate Heart Month with different event challenges.  Dovetail with classroom teachers talking about the need for good nutrition and organize a healthy snack day for all.  Need ideas?  Check out Pinterest under Jim Dine for exciting lessons. 

2
Hungry for more?  Older students (grades 6-12) can do the Empty Bowls project and join forces with community food banks in raising money.  Tie in a nutrition study with Family and Consumer Science classes and have local grocery stores donate dried soup ingredients to package up in Ziploc bags to be auctioned off with blows (if you cannot do the actual meal event).

3
Partner with a neighboring school district and set up a traveling art show - 5-6 pieces that move from school to school.  Great way to collaborate for the arts, and showcase not only YOUR students, but those in the area.

4
Using the food theme combined with a study of Andy Warhol, do a community service canned food soup drive.  Use Andy's 'Soup Can' series and theme of "You CAN make a difference", plus a sculptural installation of the donations (in a safe area, of course) and recognition for those who contribute, and help stock up the local food pantry at a time of the year when things may be scarce.  Involve your Art Club, Honor Society, Student Council, or K-Kids (Kiwanis organization for younger students).

5
Budget time, for many, is getting close.  Schedule a time slot at the next Board of Education meeting and share with them the interdisciplinary value of art, and how you are preparing students with 21st century skills.  Bring students along with examples of their work, and invite all of your parents who support the program!    

Arts in Education Week - Building Unity in the Community

Are you looking for a way to make the most of bringing unity to your school community and celebrating Arts in Education Week in a manner that all feel comfortable in?  Consider creating a Unity Mural to display in your school foyer, or out in the community!  This open-ended project allows for creative expression at any age, in any medium, and creates a flowing mural comprised of multiple sizes of paper circles.  Think of this as a springboard for a review of the elements and principles, or a focus on radial design, or perhaps mandalas, or even the works of Frank Stella.  Participation in this project brings people of all ages and from all walks of life together in a creative setting, where each person's work is valued and accepted. 

Open-ended creative opportunities encourage others to try something new, and build confidence and excitement in learning that carries over into the rest of the day for all ages.  Enhancing creativity empowers students, and leads to more divergent thinking and exploration. 

You could use this idea directly in your classroom, or open it up to all students and their parents if Back to School Night is close at hand.  Why not bring the idea to the next faculty meeting, for a quick hands-on demonstration, to show the value of the arts as creative therapy, and showcase the geometric design aspect. 

The artistic process of creating and conceiving new artistic ideas and works allows community members to consider ways to take creative risk.  Creative and innovative thinking are essential life skills tat CAN be developed.  

This lesson plan, Uniting our Community Full Circle with the Arts, was written by Heather McCutcheon (Herkimer Central School) as a participatory activity to engage the audience during the Herkimer County Youth Art Month Show held at Bassett Healthcare in Herkimer NY last spring. 

The Goals of this lesson were:
Students, Teachers, Parents, Siblings, and the Community will work together to create a United Collaborative Art piece.  Each individual will design a circle that will be added to the big piece. 

How to incorporate this lesson into your classroom:
Teachers will bring this Uniting our Community idea back into their classrooms in their own way.  Teachers can pick from the Unit options below or decide to create their own collaborative lesson. 

Unit Options/Ideas for K-12:

• Study geometric shapes and use an arrangement of them in any medium to design your circle.  Shapes can overlap, intersect, etc. (PK-Grade 3)
• Focus on a color scheme - open to any kind of media.  Different grade levels can design their circles with different colors, to assemble in a rainbow layout. 
• Incorporate a quick read of The Dot by Peter Reynolds (and International Dot Day!) with your lesson.
•  Crate a list of famous artworks to use for some VTS (Visual Thinking Strategy) to get kids thinking about how artists demonstrate unity wihin a community, how art is something that brings all mankind together - working in a limited format (the circle).  
• Learn about and design mandalas - they can be symbolic.  Discuss radiating design, symmetry, repetition, concentric circles, etc. 
• Discuss who is part of your community.  Discuss how can we hold our community together when there are so many things dividing us.  Can art make us all look at where we live differently?  Can it improve our quality of life? (for example, painting walls, decorating public spaces or other things that were eyesores?)
• How can I make a difference (pay it forward).  What is beautiful about our community?

For more information (steps, unit ideas, and National Visual Arts Standards), click on the following lesson link: https://docs.google.com/a/herkimercsd.org/document/d/1NI3ch8jxphIMpjH3FooMZLPD65mL2ucxLewWhoGAU8U/edit?usp=sharing


National Visual Arts Standards – Creating: Conceiving and Developing new artistic ideas and work.  Enduring Understanding CR 1


The article in this blog post was written by Donnalyn Shuster and Heather McCutcheon, who have been previous contributors to The Artful Advocate. 

The Roadrunner Art Walk

The article for today's post was written by Thom Knab, whose bio appears at the bottom of this post. 
 

Advocating for your program can require creativity on your part. Let me share what I called the Roadrunner Art Walk.  The event received its name from my school’s mascot, the roadrunner.  I created an art show, showcasing my students’ art work along the main street of my district.  I contacted businesses regarding allowing me to display the works, facing out to the street, from their storefront windows.  Families and community members could walk along the street enjoying the student work displayed. The steps I used to organize this event follow. 

 First, I composed a letter inviting businesses to take part.  I actually walked up and down Main Street to hand deliver them to make that personal connection and get any immediate feedback.  I found that I received a variety of responses… some businesses absolutely loved the idea, some agreed with less excitement, others decided late, and some did not respond to my invitation at all.  It all worked out well as many businesses agreed to participate.  I even communicated with the local newspaper which was so enthusiastic that the editor sent a photographer to take pictures of students hanging their work and published an article advertising the event.  He was also very helpful in spreading the word to other businesses through the town’s Chamber of Commerce.  Next, I had to organize the show. 

• I took photos of store fronts to determine size and number of pieces each could accommodate.  
• I framed the art works to honor each student’s work and to make the best possible impression. 
• I created a spreadsheet of businesses and the work to be displayed at each along with business hours so I knew when I could hang pieces.
• The biggest challenge, or so I thought, was going to be to hang all the art work.  It actually progressed rather quickly and several businesses required or offered to hang the work themselves.  Those 3M clips work quite well for hanging, where necessary, as they come off cleanly after the exhibit.  Many store fronts have existing hooks and nails to hang their own displays or in some instances I just set the art work on the window sill when that worked best.  Again, I just had to be creative. 

I planned and communicated an end date (about two weeks later) to come back and pick-up the art works.  The Roadrunner Art Walk was quite the success.  Families and especially students were excited and proud.  Many made an event of locating their child’s art work and then finding lunch somewhere in town afterwards. The community was able to view the type of quality art work students had been creating and in turn what my art program was facilitating the creation of.  The newspaper’s coverage reached a far greater number in the community and helped educate them on the art program.  I wish you all the best if you should try this for your school and community.  Start out small, and if it is successful, it can grow.

Thom

Today's guest post author is Thom Knab, who has been teaching at Dodge Elementary School in the Williamsville Central School District here in NY State for 27 years. His name may seem familiar to some of you, because Thom has been serving as NAEA Elementary Division Director from 2015-2017.  He also served as NYSATA Host State Committee Chair for the 2017 NYC NAEA Convention, and was NYSATA President from 2013-2015, and was Vice President from 2012-2013. Thank you,  Thom, for giving us a wonderful idea that could be easily adapted for many communities.