Happy (Art) Teacher Appreciation Week!

My take on the "Keep Calm" meme, via keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! Of course every week should be Teacher Appreciation Week (and especially Art Teacher Appreciation Week), but why not pick one to celebrate and give everyone the warm-and-fuzzies? Following are some inspiring stories that may make you want to run and hug the closest art teacher.


Trading Security Guards for Art Teachers
Talk about art teacher appreciation! If this doesn't convince the world of the power of an art education, I'm not sure what will. MSN reports that a Roxbury, MA K-8 principal turned his school around through the power of art - or really, through the power of art teachers. When Andrew Bott took the position of principal at Orchard Gardens, the K-8 school was known as a "career-killer" after burning through 6 principals in seven years. But Bott injected life back into the school by thinking outside the box and reinvesting funds for security guards into art teacher salaries. Longer school hours and public recognition for exceptional art projects (or "shout-outs") have also helped re-invigorate the school. Principals, are you listening? (Thanks to Davis Publications staff for sharing this story!)


Teaching Art to the Down-And-Out
This next story is a little dark, but very inspiring. All art teachers have had more than their share of difficult students or classes (or so I presume, having once been a student myself!). William Murray spent over thirty years teaching art to one of the toughest crowds - prisoners. Murray was Minnesota's first full-time prison art teacher, teaching art to the incarcerated at Stillwater Correctional Facility in Bayport from 1974 until his recent retirement. Murray's stories from prison are not exactly replete with unbridled joy and redemption; the pictures he paints (both in his art and in his stories from prison) are rather grim. Despite this, I was touched by the humanity of Murray's work in the prisons. And there are sweet anecdotes too - one prisoner painted a Matisse-style portrait on cardboard. (On a related note, actor Tim Robbins recently spoke in support of prison arts programs at a hearing in Los Angeles. If you're interested, the NEA has more information on the arts in corrections.)

Art Teachers Are Doing It For Themselves
Finally, I recommend checking out this Kickstarter project from a New Jersey art teacher trying to reach the Arctic Circle for a unique expedition this fall. Laura Petrovich-Cheney has been accepted to a residency program in the Svalbard archipelago, between Norway and the North Pole. Her mission in attending this residency is to integrate her experience there into her elementary art teaching classes, where many of her students are disadvantaged. Petrovich-Cheney is obviously lucky to have this opportunity in the first place but the project demonstrates a devotion to her students and an interesting perspective on integrating environmental issues into the art classroom.  I hope she reaches her goal!

Oobleck Alert! The Brooklyn Museum of Science and Art Makes Its Way

Oobleck! This weird gooey stuff is the centerpiece of the Brooklyn Museum of Art and Science's first pop-up, coming this Saturday. Image by Flickr user Mrs. Dr. The Ivan.

A few months ago I posted a tidbit about a proposal for an art and science museum in North Brooklyn (my home!) - and it was very popular with you, my loyal readers! I'm happy to say that it looks like this exciting proposal is moving forward.


Meredith Hoffman of DNAinfo reports that a planning group has identified sources of funding and created a plan for a 100,000 square foot center, deemed the Brooklyn Museum of Science and Art. "It's not just a science or art museum," according to architect Darrick Borowski, "and it's not just crafty exhibits for kids explaining science. It's scientists and artists coming up with ideas and exploring issues together." Borowski also notes that the North Brooklyn neighborhood of Greenpoint, where the museum will be located, is a great location due to the number of families as well as artists and creative workers.

An exact place for the museum has not been identified yet, and it likely would not open until 2019 - but in the meantime planners will host pop-up events in the community. The first event is coming up this Saturday, May 11, in Brooklyn's McCarren Park. As part of the evironmental festival Go Green Greenpoint, a pool of oobleck - a material that is both solid and liquid, made of water and cornstarch - will be placed in McCarren's playground, so visitors can experience "walking on water." Oobleck papier mache activities will also be on-site for the art component.

For more updates on the Brooklyn Museum of Science and Art, check out their Facebook page! I'm looking forward to watching this project take shape right in my own neighborhood.

Hope Springs: Happy News for Arts Advocates

A docent discusses a work by Alma Thomas (behind) at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.
Photo courtesy of the Nasher Museum of Art Flickr. 

Happy nearly spring! Most of us "sprung forward" this weekend, meaning we'll be out of the winter doldrums soon (though I know my colleagues this blog's sponsor, Davis Publications, may not feel that way, having received almost two feet of snow a few days ago. Sorry guys.) In honor of the most hopeful time of year, here are several uplifting stories that will make arts advocates smile. 

• Last November the city of Portland, OR voted to implement an arts tax to support art education in their city. The tax has now gone into effect; it will collect a total of over $12 million a year that will go to art teacher salaries and nonprofits supporting arts education. The tax will cost Portlanders $35 per year - not much considering all the benefits of arts education. Bravo, Portland - this investment in your future will pay significant dividends for years go come. I hope other cities will follow suit!

• Are you familiar with the work of artist Alma Thomas? Her punchy, colorful abstract paintings are some of my favorites. Behind her painting and her successful career as an artist were 35 years as an art teacher in the Washington, DC public schools. From 1924-1960, Thomas taught at Shaw Junior High, and worked to incorporate African American History into her art classes. Today we know this as arts integration, but considering that she retired from teaching in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement her practice must have been radical at the time. (If you'd like to see Thomas' artwork, here's a painting from The Phillips Collection; one from The Studio Museum in Harlem, and one from the Philadelphia Museum of Art.)

• By the way, I'm not the only one who is a fan of Alma Thomas. In 2009 the Obamas selected two paintings by Alma Thomas to hang in the White House during there residence at our nation's most famous address. This New York Times piece from 2009 has more information on Thomas' trajectory from art teacher to famous artist, as well as images of other works the Obamas selected to hang in the White House.

• Finally, a friendly reminder that Arts Advocacy Day is coming! April 8-9 arts advocates will descend on DC to speak up for the arts in the halls of Congress. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma is giving the Nancy Hanks Lecture on April 8. Ma is a member of the Presidents' Committee on the Arts and Humanities, a public-private coalition that seeks to advance the arts nationally; he is participating in the Committee's Turnaround Arts initiative that uses the arts as a tool to transform schools in need.

What the Arts Can Do in the Wake of Tragedy

Memorial at Penn State University for the Sandy Hook Shootings. via pennstatealive on Flickr

We in the arts...have the great and good gift of dealing with beauty, with joy and hope...We do this in a world that is sometimes unimaginably ugly.   What can we now do?  Nothing more than to keep doing what we do; to continue to be part of what makes life good, what makes it worthwhile, what gives hope and joy and brings smiles to faces.

I highly recommend The Further Erosion of American Innocence from Barry's Blog  His beautiful and thoughtful post on what the arts can do in the wake of a tragedy like the shooting at Sandy Hook was moving and even comforting.

Art Advocado Arts Roundup: The Arts Go Gangnam Style

MoMA Staff go Gangnam Style in support of Chinese activist artist Ai Weiwei.
Via MoMA's Facebook page

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Before your tryptophan-induced food coma sets in here are a few arts and advocacy links, from kids' artistic interpretations of the news to art world Gangnam Style.

•  If you keep up with art world news you may know about the plight of artist Ai Weiwei, an outspoken critic of the Chinese government's track record on human rights. Ai recently produced a video parody of Gangnam Style, the song by Korean pop star Psy that is currently taking over the world. Chiense authorities promptly removed the video from the internet, and now English sculptor Anish Kapoor is calling on the art world to create their own Gangnam Style videos in support of Ai and free speech. Some US museums, such as MoMA, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and LACMA have made videos as part of the campaign. "It had to be done," said Kapoor. "Yes, it is desperately silly, but what is the paradigm of the artist? The artist does stupid things with serious intent." You know what my feelings are on humor in advocacy, so of course I love this idea!

• I recently found out about Kids Draw the News and thought you might interested in this fun project coordinated by the New York Times' City Room blog. Every so often City Room will put out a call for drawings of a specific current event. Past topics have included Hurricane Sandy, traffic school for cyclists, and my personal favorite, Mitik the baby walrus (who recently arrived in my home borough of Brooklyn). The feature is open to kids under 12 and you don't have to be from the New York area to submit. It's fascinating see how kids interpret each news story - it demonstrates how art develops critical thinking  and analytical skills. And many of the drawings are an absolute hoot.

• The Arts Council of Great New Haven has a new program called "Reintegrate" that will grant $10,000 each to seven teams of artists and scientists based in Connecticut. The goal of the program is innovation through the synthesis of art and science - one of my favorite topics! Read more about some of the fascinating proposals at the Yale Daily News.

• This coming April cellist Yo-Yo Ma will give the Nancy Hanks Lecture at Arts Advocacy Day in Washington, DC. The Hanks lecture is the keynote of Arts Advocacy Day; past speakers include Alec Baldwin, Wynton Marsalis, and Arthur Schlesinger. (Arts Advocacy Day is April 8-9, 2013 - save the date!)

Happy Turkey Day!

Post-Hurricane Sandy NYC Arts Update

The East Village, NYC flooded during Hurricane Sandy, shortly before the power went out in downtown Manhattan for several days. Photo by David Shankbone, via Flickr.

I hope any readers on the East Coast made it through Hurricane Sandy safely. Despite my location in New York City I was largely unaffected. Other New Yorkers were not so lucky,  especially in Staten Island, the Rockaways in Queens, South Brooklyn, and Lower Manhattan. Many galleries in West Chelsea, including the non-profit Printed Matter (which focuses on artist's publications) were very hard hit and are still cleaning up now, over two weeks after the storm. Artists with studios in coastal or low-lying areas also suffered damage. Beyond the arts community, thousands in the city and throughout the region are still without power and some don't know when it is coming back. Though my own day-to-day has returned to normal the picture is much more grim for many.

But despite this devastation I am happy to report that the arts community is pitching in to help those in need. The Delaware Art Museum and the Newark Museum both offered free admission in the days immediately following the storm. Newark set up free wifi and charging stations for visitors without power. And Klaus Biesenbach, director of MoMA PS1 (a fabulous contemporary art institution in a former public school building in Queens, sort of a "little sister" to MoMA) has been a tireless advocate for the Rockaways, mobilizing his staff and others to volunteer in cleaning up the flooded that is still without power. I recommend you follow his Twitter feed if you are interested in keeping up with what is going on out there and, if you are in the tri-state area, how you can help.

If you are interested in further information on how Hurricane Sandy has impacted the arts in the tri-state area, I encourage you to follow Hyperallergic.com's coverage, which has been tireless and comprehensive. It includes updates from museums, galleries, art spaces, and individual artists from during the storm as well as the aftermath and how individuals and organizations are helping cleanup and relief efforts. **UPDATE: This ARTnews piece also has great information including how Klaus Biesenbach has helped out in the Rockaways and information on a Queens Museum of Art fundraiser.

If you want to help the arts community, I suggest donating to Printed Matter, Smack Mellon, or the South Street Seaport Museum, which are all non-profit organizations that were hard hit by the storm. And if you want to help beyond the arts community, I suggest a purchase from Occupy Sandy's "wedding" registry, a wish list of needed items for relief efforts throughout the city. (No matter what your thoughts are on the Occupy movement, Occupy Sandy has been doing incredible on the ground work to help New Yorkers affected by the storm - like getting nurses into high-rises without power to make sure elderly and incapacitated residents receive medical treatment.)

A final thought - more than ever, the aftermath and cleanup from Sandy has driven home for me the importance of creativity and problem solving skills. In the past I have talked about those skills in the workplace, but what about for disaster relief? Some of the most effective relief efforts here in New York have come not from the usual suspects but from creative upstarts like Occupy Sandy and the New York City Food Truck Association, who, in a stroke of genius, have been serving food to hungry and powerless areas of the city. Times like this are not just when we need art's power to soothe but also creativity's power to help rebuild.

This is Your Brain on Art: Art & Science Collaborations

Neon Brain X-Rays by Gyumin Hwang, 6th grade, College Station, TX. via Flickr

In the past I've written about the synthesis of science and art and how the two seemingly separate fields can inform each other, with incredible results. Whether we're adding an A for Art to the STEM subjects (that makes STEAM!) or looking at the artwork of Tauba Auerbach or Mel Chin, science and the arts make wonderful allies. Read on to learn about two collaborations capitalizing on this sometimes-symbiotic relationship between science and art. Both projects have some very exciting potential for arts advocacy, and for the world beyond, too.


Museum Receives Funding to Study Arts & Early Brain Development
Baltimore's Walters Art Museum was awarded a substantial planning grant to create museum programs that will research art's impact on cognitive development in preschool students. The Walters is partnering with the Brain Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University on the program, which will be called "Start with Art." The project received $50,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (a federal agency that supports, you guessed it, museums and libraries). IMLS awarded these funds through a grant program that utilizes museums and libraries to address school readiness. (A full list of grantees is at the IMLS website - worth noting that the Walters was the only visual art program.) I'm excited to see the research that comes out of this program, as it could be a boon to arts advocates, as well as the lucky kids who participate. More info on this program is at the Walters' website.


An Art & Science Museum Grows in Brooklyn?
Brooklyn, NY is home to thousands of artists, writers, and intellectuals (as well as me!). Now, a group in the neighborhood of Greenpoint is now hoping to capitalize on this wealth of talent to create a museum dedicated to science and art. The Brooklyn Science and Arts Museum's proposal describes a symbiotic approach to learning art and science. "The approach is for people to learn more about science with the application of art and to learn more about art through the application of science," says Susan Anderson, the board president of Town Square, the Brooklyn nonprofit proposing the Science and Arts Museum. As of now the museum is only a proposal but Anderson says she is eager to fundraise and find space for the museum. Read more on the proposal here.


Programming Note
The bad news: my day job (which I love) has made it challenging for me to post here as much as I want (which I hate). The good news: to remedy this problem I'll be posting shorter pieces that I think will be interesting, useful, or just fun for arts ed advocates and art teachers. I'm looking forward to spending more time here again and I hope you like the new format!