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Arts Unite Us – Across Marin

Friday, May 17th, 2013

“Arts Unite Us” is a special initiative at Youth in Arts that brings students from Special Day classrooms and their General Ed peers to learn and create art together. ”Arts Unite Us” was first envisioned in 2008 by VSA Director Nydia Gonzalez, as a way to bridge gaps in understanding and interaction between students of different abilities and combat the isolation that many of them feel on their school campuses. Youth in Arts has been developing the idea ever since, creating pilot projects that provide amazing opportunities for young people to learn about each other and work together like never before!

This year, “Arts Unite Us” classes are in full gear at Tam High, Terra Linda High, Redwood High and San Ramon Elementary. Students from Special Day Classrooms are working together with their peers from General Education classrooms, learning art and performing together. The first culminating event from this year’s classes will be held at Tam High School, where students from Mr. Lovejoy’s Special Day Class and Ben Cleaveland’s Conservatory Theater Ensemble have been working with YIA Mentor Artist Melissa Briggs in Theater. They will be performing their original play “Camping Out in Nature with Friends and Family and Animals” on Friday, May 17th and Saturday, May 18th as part of the Spring One Act Festival.

Students at Terra Linda High have been learning Samba Reggae with Mentor Artists Stephanie Bastos and Nydia Gonzalez and will hold a celebratory presentation dance/party during lunch time on June 4th. At Redwood High School, students working with YIA Mentor Artist William Rossell will perform their original percussive composition, opening for the Advanced Performance Workshop Concert on May 29th at 7PM. At San Ramon Elementary, students from Gen Ed and SDC classrooms have been working together with YIA Mentor Artist Suraya Keating, working on their interpretation of a folktale, “The Laughing River”, focusing on Community and Inclusion.

Youth in Arts has raised the funds to provide these programs in our community from a mix of institutional and individual donors. We thank the Green Foundation, Marin Community Foundation, Kenneth A. Lester Family Foundation, Macy’s and Target for their generous support of this program, as well as our many individual community supporters. If you have any questions about this program, or would would like to support programs such as this one, please contact Nydia Gonzalez at ngonzalez@youthinarts.org

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Tags: Green Foundation, MCOE, Melissa Briggs, music, Nydia Gonzalez, Redwood High, San Ramon, special day class, tam high, Terra Linda High, theatre, VSA arts

VSA Mentor Artist: Marty Meade – Braun School

Tuesday, December 18th, 2012

Marty Meade wearing her fused glass jewelry

Ten Weeks with students at Braun Day Treatment, Sunny Hills Services -

October to December 2012

Braun Day Treatment provides therapeutic day treatment for youth ages 5-18 who struggle with severe mental health disorders which interfere with their educational progress. This year my assignment at Braun School was more important than ever, as the cutbacks made through out California was especially hard on this small school for special needs students.

At the end of the school year a panic went up as they realized that they would have to completely eliminate art, including expressive arts. In their case, they do not have the parent body to raise funds to fill in this gap. It was a relief to know that Youth in Arts was here to provide at 20 weeks of this extremely important part of their curriculum.

My projects once again met their needs. Working with various materials to express feelings, learn about perfection issues, taking a chance to do some different things. I particularly like the marbling on paper where they work wet, do not have control of the outcome and are amazed at the results. Sugar skulls are always fun, as the discover the value of food art.

The challenge for me this year are the children that I have had for almost four years, as I am aware that I have to come up with something new. Middle School attitudes are challenging in any case, but with these students, it is even more so…. I have to keep reminding myself that when a kid is acting out, it’s when they are hurting the most…often difficult when they have pushed every button of patience that I can come up with.

In the midst of this assignment my younger brother was dying of cancer. I made several trips to Ensenada to be with him, but managed to be back in time for the classes. It stunned me at the lack of empathy that many of the kids had when I shared with them that my brother had died, The following week I was given a beautiful card with their sentiments, that touched me deeply, giving me renewed strength to keep on working with these special needs children.

Thank you Youth in Arts for the support to these children.

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Tags: Braun High School, Marty Meade, Mary Meade, MCOE, special day class, Visual Arts

Four Classes, Five Teachers and a Huge Range of Abilities

Wednesday, July 18th, 2012

This was my fifth year teaching Music and Movement in Youth in Arts’ VSA program, and I was lucky enough to be assigned to four classes this year, Linda Breakstone/Stacey Hall, Rockne Beeman, Corrie Johnson and Jessica Leaper. We had a wonderful time singing, dancing and playing.
Click to continue »

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Tags: dance, Hannah Dworkin, music, special day class, Youth in Arts

Grant Grover’s Mural answers the question “What Kind of World Do You Want to Live In?”

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

Our project began with this driving question put to a team of wise and thought-provoking college students at Grant Grover School, part of College of Marin. Each student is coping with a challenge. Their responses included a world where everyone can give their gifts, where people walk the city in peace, where there’s more Nature, butterflies and horses, safety for people and animals and clean water. A place with no alcoholism or drug use, no name calling and fighting. A place where there are smiles and laughter, where people learn how to fix breakdowns and where Love = Life without Limits. From this conversation, 8th grade Novato Charter School student Gabriella Borges and I made a study. The students colored the studies and I put together their color ideas into a plan.

As part of our project, I incorporated ideas from the Institute of Noetic Sciences’ Worldview Literacy Curriculum. We explored how people look at life through different beliefs, like putting on sunglasses. As we watched the film called “Music by Prudence” about special needs students who create music in Zimbabwe, we heard Prudence say that some people see those with handicaps as burdens, but she knows they are stars. Prudence, whose documentary won an academy aware, has become an international star. I gave all the students sunglasses, which they put on, looking at themselves and each other through the lens of “burden.” I asked them what they thought “burden” meant: “A heavy load”, “something you always have to carry”, “something that doesn’t give back”.

Then everyone took their sunglasses off and we talked about how Prudence is a star and how each of them is a star. Each student made a star and a peace sign, as symbol of being at peace with who they are. This exercise was inspired by IONS’ Worldview Literacy Curriculum.

We gridded the study, gridded the board, drew the image and painted it.

After eight weeks of painting, we completed the 6.5′ x 4′ painting, which will be part of the Summer of Peace 2012, an initiative of the Shift Network.

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Tags: artists, Grant Grover, IONS, Laurie Marshall, Shift network, special day class, Summer of Peace, Visual Arts, VSA arts, Worldview Literacy Curriculum

VSA Percussion Workshops!!

Thursday, April 19th, 2012

My name is William Rossel and I am a mentor artist for Youth in Arts.

I have been using percussion as a learning tool with special needs populations from Kindergarten to High School. I have had amazing classes at Redwood High, Terra Linda High and at Venetia Valley Elementary and I am looking forward to new classes starting up very soon at MLK Jr. Academy.

I believe strongly in the therapeutic power of music. Music is a powerful learning tool for any population and helps develop a huge range of skills that aid in cognitive development such as pattern recognition, listening, concentration, memory and communication skills. I have seen all of my students make amazing progress in these and other areas and I am very proud of all of them.

In my classes we use many kinds of percussion instruments (frame drums, bongos, bass drums, tambourines, shakers, woodblocks, etc.) to make beautiful music. We usually start by playing a simple beat and we follow along as the beat speeds up and slows down and as it gets louder and softer.

We also incorporate numbers and counting into our playing to show how numbers and math are an integral part of music.

In addition to these tools, I dedicate a portion of each lesson to “Question and Answer” or “Call and Response” in which I play short rhythmic patterns which the class carefully listens to and then plays back to me. This tool is especially useful in developing listening, memory and concentration skills.

Also, as a method for developing individual communication skills, I give each student a chance to find their own voice by improvising any rhythm they like while the rest of the class maintains a simple groove. This empowers the students, giving them a sense of original creation.

Finally, because we want to have fun, we end our workshops with a free-form jam session which always leaves us with smiles!

I would like to give many thanks to Nydia Algazzali Gonzalez for her participation in the classes at Terra Linda High where we work together. In those classes we have incorporated movement and dance (which Nydia leads) into the music workshops and have put together a performance for parents. She is an inspiring teacher and I have been lucky to work with her.

I also want to thank all the teachers and and teacher’s aides that helped out immensely during our sessions. My work has been made much easier by everyone’s help and participation.

Lastly I’d like to thank Youth in Arts as an organization for giving me the opportunity to work with such great kids, teachers and schools and I look forward to future opportunities to continue this important work.

Thank you so much!

William

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Tags: music, special day class, VSA arts, William Rossel

Moving into the Third Dimension: Marindalers Begin Building

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

Our next project begins to explore the concept of FORM: how do we create art that comes off the page? Beginning in black and white, Marindalers learned about GLUE this week. How do we make things stick to our picture? How does glue feel compared to paint on our hands? (The answer was STICKY!)

Children are learning to make choices: Do I want a Big triangle or Small? Black or White?

In four weeks, children have learned some important rules for artists:

Use one material at a time (so that your neighbor can have a turn),
SHARE with your neighbor,
Keep your hands on your own work, and
TRY not to taste the art supplies!

Children are learning to follow a series of steps to make their art:

Choose a shape,
Wiggle it in the glue,
Place it on the base, and
Pick a new shape.

We are seeing individual artistic expression in their pieces: some are limiting their pallet to one color, some have glued their pieces in a row (making a pattern), some have chosen to draw the same shape on every piece, and some have chosen to smoosh each piece with a painty hand!

“I learned that LETTERS are very attractive to many children! I had cut up foam core signs from an art exhibit, and not only were most students able to grasp the shapes, many made choices based on the letters they found on the shapes.”–Suzanne Joyal, Mentor Artist

It turns out that for many children, no art project is complete until the paint has been applied: to hands as well as artwork.

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Tags: essential question, paint, special day class, Suzanne Joyal, Visual Arts

Integration Inspiration: Performance!

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

We recently filled you in on the playmaking process over at Tamalpais High School. Students collaborated to write, direct, design, produce and perform their own play for the school’s Winter One Act Play Festival. The show’s run at the Caldwell Theatre was a huge success! Youth in Arts Mentor Artist Melissa Briggs led a joint effort between students from Mr. Lovejoy’s Marin County Office of Education (MCOE) Special Ed class and the school’s excellent Conservatory Theatre Ensemble (CTE). YIA Mentor Artist Donna Ozawa worked with a group of Mr. Lovejoy’s students to create all of the props and stagecraft used in the play. This replicable arts integration program was designed to bridge gaps between students of differing abilities.

We’re going to let the students toot their own horn here and tell you about their success!

Students acknowledge their cheering (standing!) audience

“I was so happy at the end. We crafted that play out of nothing. I’m just so proud of everything we’ve done. Not just the performance, the whole process. So many people have come up to me… the audience was shocked. I mean, we got a standing ovation!” - Glyn

Students rehearse the blocking for a lift at the end of the play

“I feel proud… I know what to do!” -Jake

Students perform the lift onstage in "Her Face to the Sky"

“It was really good [to be onstage.] The lift was hard. I felt kinda nervous, and proud. Proud of myself.” -Maribel

Performing together onstage at Tamalpais High School

“It’s not about just me. I have to pay attention and observe. I have to work together as a group.” – Monica

Waiting to greet family & friends in the Theatre lobby

“My whole family was so impressed with what we did. It was special because of the collaboration.” -Allison

Students celebrate with friends, family & teachers

“I have to say, I felt famous!” -Tevin

Among the reasons Tevin felt famous was an article in their local paper about their work. He also may have been responding to an enhanced profile on this sprawling campus. Over the weeks of rehearsal and performance more and more of their student peers, unrelated to the project, reached out to them. Stopping Tevin in the hall to ask when the show was, dropping by Mr. Lovejoy’s class on the way to lunch to say hi to Jake, or asking Maribel how rehearsal were going. And campus feedback following the performance only fueled further integration and dialogue. Monica’s response to congratulations from her peers on the performance was to remind them of their playmaking process:

“I always tell people,‘Thanks, we WROTE it!’ and they are just like: ‘HOW?!’ It’s such a hard thing to do but we wrote a great play!”

A board in the Theatre lobby depicts the playmaking process

Feedback from students, teachers, administrators, and department/ district heads was glowing. We hope to be able to expand this opportunity for collaboration in communities throughout the Bay Area. Theatre integrates our inherent creativity and need to connect with the continued development of communication and life skills. It bridges seemingly vast gaps in our abilities and income levels – helping students see the we in a world full of me. Plus, its “crazy fun”! Reactions, like Glyn’s below, to the rigorous curriculum, rehearsals and high artistic standards of this arts integration project epitomize our goal:

“It was so rewarding at the end. I was so happy and proud of everyone!”

So were we.

Youth in Arts is dedicated to serving youth of all abilities with high quality arts programming. We created the Arts Unite Us program with seed funds from the Special Hope Foundation, and this project at Tam High has been supported by grants from the Green Foundation and the San Francisco Foundation. We are grateful for their generous support. For more information on how you can support this type of programming, visit our support page, or visit our store at 917 C St. in downtown San Rafael.

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Tags: artists, arts integration, Collaboration, community, inspiration, Melissa Briggs, Mill Valley, special day class, Visual Arts, Youth in Arts

Prop Building and Stagecraft @ Tam High

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

An earlier post describes the theater production of the original one-act play lead by YIA Mentor Artist Melissa Briggs in collaboration with students from Mr. Michael Lovejoy’s Marin County Office of Education (MCOE) Special Ed class.

Mentor Artist Donna Keiko Ozawa joined the production in December to work with the students on stage props and sets. Here are some photos of the process.

Some of the students’ characters required props they could carry on stage. These were fabricated from simple materials: cardboard, wood, craft foam, metal hinges, and stickers. Students learned how to drill, and colored the wood with permanent markers.

Mentor Artist Donna Keiko Ozawa assists Tevin with marking holes for the hinge on the cellphone prop.

Tevin loves woodworking.

Maribel enjoys working with tools.

Jake learns to drill holes for a hinge.

Various cellphones, PDAs and camera props for the show that students made.

Students also used rubber stamps on foam core to create a miniature cityscape to represent San Francisco on one side of our large prop of the Golden Gate Bridge.

This process also took into account students’ physical and cognitive abilities to create an aesthetic that worked well with theme of the show. (Spoiler: There is an earthquake involved…)

The cityscape assembled and will be seen off the Bridge (a larger prop not pictured here).

Maggie working on the fascade of a building in the cityscape prop.

Buildings students stamped for the cityscape.

The cityscape prop is light and portable for quick placement on stage.

Can you imagine this cargo ship off the Bay in the distance? (Foamcore, paint, cardboard, hot glue).

Show time is January 12 and 17. Please join us on Thursday January 12th or 19th at 7PM, Tam High’s Caldwell Theatre, 700 Miller Avenue (near the back parking lot) Mill Valley, CA. Box office opens at 6:30PM and advance tickets are available online as well.

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Tags: Collaboration, Donna Keiko Ozawa, performances, special day class, theatre, VSA arts

How do we “See” visual arts?

Friday, June 24th, 2011

Mentor Artist Suzanne Joyal worked with children in Jay’s and Laura’s pre-k classes at Marindale this Spring. Following are her perspectives on the many ways the students experienced the visual arts:

Clara: "Can I make a rubber stamp "squeak" and also bang it like a drum?"

Clara loved to do all kinds of art: drawing painting, stamping, gluing, and squeezing clay. But her greatest joy was discovering the many different ways her materials could make noise! Each time I visited I would bring foil, or bubble wrap, or “crunchy” paper so that Clara could experience paint and color and sound in her art-making process.

Christopher contributing to the Class Project

Christopher was tentative with new experiences, but with a gentle touch and lots of encouragement, he was able to hold a paintbrush and draw with special soft crayons. With his new glasses on, he was able to see his plain white canvas come to life.

Marquise squeezing and rolling clay

Marquise has limited sight and could only see light and shadow from one corner of one eye, and loved working with Model Magic. When it was placed in front of him on a black board, he was able to find it no matter where it was placed, and loved to squeeze and pull and roll the soft, pliable clay. He also loved the “crunchy” shiny wrapper that the clay came in.

Paula drawing circles in yellow

The energy level was alive and exciting in Jay’s classroom, and I was able to work with the students in pairs. We learned to take one pastel at a time, to share with our friends, to wait for our turn, to be careful and respectful of our art materials, and to use these valuable skills to explore art-making in myriad ways.

Lindsey choosing one color at a time

Again, the students were open to any new experience, and were able to paint on mat board, foil, and plastic, to draw circles and lines with crayons, pastels, and even window-painting crayons. We explored textures with collages full of shiny bits, sand paper, soft fur, and much more.

Mixed Media: Model Magic on board with markers, paint, and glue

With Model Magic, we squeezed and pulled and rolled, and even poked it with markers to turn it new colors. The students taught me a whole new use for Model Magic when they squashed it onto their mat boards (it stuck there), and then proceeded to draw and paint and glue right on top of it. It was a truly multi-media process with beautiful results.

The classroom teacher, Laura Becker, had this to say about their time with Suzanne:

We are so excited to have Suzanne with us. We have students who are at times difficult to read, but Suzanne has gotten to know each child individually and has brought material that will excite and motivate each one of my students. I am so grateful that she has taken the time to know each one. Her projects allow each of them to express themselves and their abilities. It has been a real joy. She is very gifted.

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Tags: collage, materials, reaching all learners, special day class, students, Suzanne Joyal, Visual Arts

Wade Thomas Students Work with Paint, Paper & Clay

Friday, March 25th, 2011

Mentor artist Angela Baker worked with Corrie Johnson’s K-2 special needs class at Wade Thomas Elementary for 10 weeks. During the course of the residency students enjoyed working in a wide range of mediums: drawing, painting, printmaking, collage & clay. Occasionally, Angela and Ms. Johnson collaborated so that the art connected with subjects that were being studied in the classroom such as animals and environments.