Keeping Art Alive

I have written several posts over the years about our school partnership with the Children's Museum of the Arts.

This fruitful collaboration has had a tremendous impact on broadening student perspective and providing opportunities for self-expression.  The dedicated artists in residence have taught the basics of color and line while introducing our children to artists such as Kara Walker, Joan Miro, David Hockney, Wassily Kandinsky, Alexander Calder, Gustav Klimt and so many others.

We have explored art through paint, clay, fabric and a plethora of reusable objects (nothing gets thrown away when you work with young children) to create paintings, models, containers and mobiles. Our in-class discussions about Greek Mythology, children's book authors, self-esteem, respect, individuality, cooperation and the environment have all been incorporated into the art lessons.

This partnership has been a magnificent addition to our curriculum and one that I am extremely proud to acknowledge.

However, recent budget cuts have brought about the end of this outstanding program. At least for now.

So, it is time for us to get creative. To put on our thinking caps and discover a solution to the budget issue so that our students can once again find themselves covered in paint.

We have not figured it out yet, but everyone involved is committed to finding a way to keep art alive.

The video below, which was created by the Children's Museum of the Arts, highlights some of the work we have done together.

We remain hopeful that it will continue.