Kids build art bench
Posted June 24, 2008
Students at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School have learned just how involved art can be. To contribute to a special bench at the school, students were instructed to take some raw clay, roll it out, let it dry a bit, decorate it and lather the pieces with under glaze. Then, they had to fire it, put a clear coat of glaze on it, cook it a second time – when that’s all done – glue the tile to the bench.
“We told them to do their best because this will be around a long time,” local potter Jane Barden said.
And who said it was easy?
Barden, 61, of St. Clair Township is one of two local artists helping to teach kids about diversity through a program with Studio 1219 called “Art to the Classroom.”
The project, funded by a grant from the Acheson Foundation, showed kids how different minority groups are represented in art, said the project’s coordinator, Maureen Scallen.
“The diversity grant covered women, Spanish-Americans or Latinos and African-Americans,” Scallen said.
Barden worked with about 50 fourth and fifth graders at Woodrow Wilson.
“We talked about how fortunate we are to live in a country that is made up of so many different types of people,” she said. After talking with the kids, they got down to doing art.
“They just expressed themselves is so many different ways,” Barden said.
At Cleveland Elementary School, photographer Kim Fredricks worked with kids in an after school program.
“As part of the education, they had to take a photograph of a woman who was important to them,” Fredricks, 33, of Marysville said.
She sent the kids home with disposable cameras to take photos of their mom, grandmother, sister, or whoever else each child felt was important.
The program was meant to help kids understand the importance of diversity, but the women involved said the kids took home more than one lesson.
“I really think the kids learned a lot and gained a lot of experience working with the artists,” Scallen said.
“I didn’t know what to expect when I got there but it was astounding,” Fredricks said. “If I inspired any of these kids to make this a profession or a hobby, I did my job.”
Originally printed in the Port Huron Times Herald on June 10, 2008 by Nicholas Deshais
