— from Geri Turnoy, A-OK Coordinator —
Art for Orcas Kids (A-OK) is starting the school year off with new talent in our classrooms, and even more exciting opportunities for our students.
Three new teaching artists have joined returning A-OK instructors Brook Meinhardt, Colleen Stewart, and Robyn Gordon. We welcome Alexis Bouchard, Ariana Terrence, and Esther Clark. Each of these talented artists brings a variety of experience and knowledge to the classroom. Brook is a nationally known illustrator who has local commissions all around town. Artist Robyn Gordon also works at Kaleidoscope. Colleen Stewart is the garden keeper with “Farm to Classroom.” Alexis studies Ikebana (Japanese Flower Arranging) and is travelling to Japan with her Ikebana class in October. In addition to art, Ariana is a farmer who provides vegetables for sale at Buck Bay Shellfish. And Esther is a licensed captain and has taught sailing.
Within many of the weekly hands-on art classes in grades K-5, A-OK will provide Art Literacy instruction. These units allow for overview of a specific artist or art topic. Students will be introduced to the vocabulary, elements, and principles of design while viewing, discussing, and analyzing slides. They will also create a project that reflects their learning throughout the unit. This year, the Art Literacy units will focus on Georgia O’Keeffe, Pop Art, the art of NW Coastal Indians, Diego Rivera, and quilting.
A-OK is also in the Middle School. Here students will choose from a variety of A-OK Art Exploratories. Classes are as varied as the interests of the students: candle-making, ceramics, mixed media, and drawing — just to mention a few.
Finally, we are happy to announce that with an A-OK grant, artist Brook Meinhardt just finished the first of three Washington State Arts Commission (ARTSWA) Teaching Artist Training (TAT) Labs. The TAT Labs support teaching artists’ capacity to partner effectively with K-12 schools and teachers. A key focus of the program is on developing strong learning plans, with clearly articulated arts learning goals, assessment criteria, and formative assessment techniques. The knowledge Brook will acquire over the next seven months will be shared with all of our teaching artists.
A-OK is proud of the work we are doing in our schools to bring art to children. We cannot do what we do without the support of our community – particularly OICF and OIEF. (A-OK is a program under OIEF.) Thank you for supporting art instruction in our public schools. We have only just begun our work for this school year, but we know great, creative things will be happening in classrooms across the campus. For more information, or to donate to A-OK, go to OIEF.org.
Full disclosure- I’m a lawyer who prefers the company of Artists.
Over 30 years ago, I married an Artist who had recognized this calling under the age of 10. That’s a kind of life clarity we all envy.
Whether you’re into the right brain / left brain theory or not, Art as a core area of humanities is crucial to the formation of ideas and out of the box thinking.
It’s sloppy, neat, delightful, provoking, disturbing, corrobrating, confrontational, and it can touch archetypical chords and reaffirm unspeakable knowns deep within.
There are many ways we humans express ourselves in search of meaning—Music, Poetry, Binary Numbers in Code and then “Visual Art,” to list some.
Where we encounter a limit in one, we have the other to communicate what a “0 and 1” or a word may not convey.
If you want to better ensure that our “humanity” remains within us to balance and steady us as we forge ahead in these and future turbulent times, you’ll find some extra money to put to productive, dynamic use and support A-OK however much you can at the Orcas Island Education Fund.
I’m always pontificating about “quality education.” This is an example of where our household walks some of my talk.
Please make any difference you can.
Art is so important in our schools. And were it not for AOK — there would be no art programming K-8. There are students who connect to school through art in a way they would not otherwise. So on behalf of OIEF/AOK — thank you Chris!! Thank you to all who support this great program.
What I love about A-OK is that the kids get to experience different artists and have varied art experiences with different artists as they move through the grades. I don’t support the idea of kids having one art teacher only; kids become so much more well rounded with variety. I hope this remains a part of the A-Ok program.
I aim to be volunteering somewhere in a classroom at some point this year. Making art and facilitating art with kids feeds my soul; we learn so much more from them than they do from us! Art is one area where learning through process and having to improvise ways out of a “problem” helps people gain more problem-solving skills that apply to many other areas in life – as we are all creative beings in our various aspects.