Communal Collage Making and Class Legacy

Working with kids never ceases to amaze me.  I am continually impressed by their creativity, their insights and their talent.
A while back I spent an artist residency at Claysburg Kimmel High School, working with a group of seniors on a mural that will be their legacy to the school after they graduate.
We had a ton of fun and despite the serious senior-itis they were all experiencing (it was their final project before graduation), we got a lot done.

We started our process by talking about their class and what message they wanted to leave behind as they moved on.
They talked about how they were all individuals, coming from different backgrounds before starting school together.  Being a small rural community, most of these kids have known each other for most of their lives, but school has been their rock keeping them together.  They are now ready to move on and off into different directions.

From this conversation we talked about the metaphor of the tree, and how the roots were their individual identities, the trunk was their time together in school and the branches were their future paths as they take what they have learrned and move on.
They loved this idea and we ran with it in the creation of our work.

They really wanted to incorporate all the members of their senior class in the symbolism, so they decided to include things like their class flower and articles from the newspaper. They also decided to include the names of the entire senior class in the grass around the roots of the tree.  They invited every member of the senior class to add to the tree top, and we created circles for them to fill in with oil pastels and watercolor paint. 

We explored the concept of mixed media and they did everything from designing the work to creating painted papers to finding newspaper images to drawing to painting to collaging.  They worked collaboratively and regularly engaged in critical conversations to make sure that the work was progressing the way they wanted it to.  they were able to self-evaluate and to change course when things went awry. 
I was so impressed with their dedication to the project and their ability to work together to make something amazing.
I loved working with this group and am so excited by their final piece.

Using Art to Build Community in St. Pete's

I spent last Sunday with the amzing community at Temple Beth-El in St. Petersburg, Florida.  I found the visit exhilarating, and not just because of the amazing weather--though that didn't hurt.  Together with the 85 students and their teachers in the religious school, we began work on a community mural based on the notion that we are all made in God's image.  We studied texts from the Torah, Talmud and Pirkei Avot. Each of these helped us to expand our notion of what it means to be made in God's image, and what that means in terms of our human obligations to our world and each other.  The kids and their teachers were really willing to think deeply and then created self portraits representing their notions of being made in God's Image.  I took their artwork home with me and I am now working on putting all of their ideas and work together into one large piece of art for their social hall.

 One thing I really appreciate about this congregation is the way in which they use art as a community building tool.  With the help of a generous donor they have an annual artist in residence program.This year they brought me in, but in other years they have used clay, created mosaics, and used fabric and fiber arts.  In each case the visiting artist helps the community work together to create something beautiful to line the walls of the congregation.  They use the communally generated work made during these programs to create a warm and vibrant building with art lining every wall from the entry way, to the social hall to the sanctuary, bringing their building to life in a way that makes everyone feel invested and included.  It is a wonderful example of how the arts can be used to engage communities and make meaning.