PS8 Students made headdresses after viewing the Aztec show
Photo by Ryan Montgomery
PS 8 parent Suzanne Tokarsky sat down with Jenny Bevill, the Guggenheim's resident artist for PS 8, to find out more about how the program works. She also interviewed students to find out what they think.
Q. What is your background and what brought you to the Guggenheim program?
I have a BFA in Illustration from Parsons School of Design, an MA in Art Education from Teachers College and I've taught art in the NYC public schools for the past 12 years. From 1996-2001 I taught at PS 8 through an Annenberg grant from the Center for Arts Education. I actually taught our current fifth-graders when they were in kindergarten!
Q. How does the program support the social studies curriculum?
We are focusing on immigration, and more specifically journeys and cultural identity. The fourth- and fifth-graders are doing two 10-week projects. The first was a 3-D project in which each student designed his or her own headdress. We used memories, cultural artifacts, special people, feelings, wishes, and aspirations to get our ideas.
The second project will be different for the two grades. The fourth-graders will create large-scale non-traditional group maps, which will incorporate drawing, collage and painting to show different kinds of journeys we take during our lives, both literal and figurative. The fifth-graders will create painted and collaged suitcases, which will contain items they would bring with them on an imaginary journey out of Brooklyn to someplace real or imaginary.
Q. What are the benefits of the program?
It's now commonly accepted that students have different styles of learning. The LTA program is good at opening doors for kids who learn visually and kinesthetically. We offer hands-on engagement, which is beneficial for kids who have trouble staying focused while sitting still and listening. Our most active students are most engaged with paint or papier-m?ch?, which are very messy media and require a lot of concentration to master. I can't count the number of times teachers have said to me that students who never spoke up in class before become motormouths when discussing art. I think art benefits all kids but especially reaches kids who are not always able to shine through other modes of teaching and learning.
Q. How do you work with kids (and teachers) who are convinced they're not good at art?
I start small and let their successes sneak up on them. We do a lot of work in bits and pieces and we play drawing games where it's hard for them to tell if they're good or not. We do group and partner work so that the piece isn't just about one person's success or failure. Abstract work is a favorite of mine because it's harder for the kids to say what's good and what isn't. And we share and reflect constantly. I stop them and hold up examples of good work maybe four or five times a class and I try to be sure the kids who are struggling get this positive reinforcement.
Q. What is the greatest challenge you have teaching art?
There are lots of challenges in terms of money, space and time. I struggle most with helping kids learn how to get ideas that are not influenced or overshadowed by animated movies and TV shows. Learning how to get an idea, deciding if it's worth exploring; developing it, then evaluating it and sharing the idea with others is the essence of art. If you can't get Sponge Bob or Cinderella out of your mind there's no room for your own ideas to emerge. It's a challenge to explain to kids why I don't want them to draw their beloved characters. They get very insulted.
Q. As an art teacher, what brings you the most joy?
My greatest moments are when kids tell me they need something; another piece of paper, more blue paint, a bigger brush, help making the materials do what they want, a suggestion to help them get unstuck, a reproduction of a piece of art we've looked at together, a chance to share their work. When they express that need I know I've opened up something inside them and that they've begun to suspect that art can satisfy that need.
Here?s what the students have to say?
After viewing the Aztec show at the Guggenheim Museum, students designed their own headdresses to help them celebrate, remember, or wish for something. The students are studying culture and immigration, and many students were able to make headdresses celebrating their own heritage. Fourth-grader Lena Weinstein, a recent immigrant from Russia, created a headdress of a Siberian tiger. "It is my favorite animal because it's powerful, smart, and strong." Asked what she found most challenging about making the headdress, Lena was quick to explain that finding the right material to make the ears was hard although she eventually settled on an old pair of socks. Fifth-grader Jonathan Kwok said of his dragon headdress, "My headdress is for celebrating where I'm from. My parents came from China on a plane." Shanas Gaskins said that a picture he saw of a parade in Trinidad influenced his headdress. "They have these festivals with crazy hats and they worship the sun gods. My headdress has all these different colors from the parade."
For other students, the headdresses were for remembering. Kiana Rios made a headdress to remember her mother. "She was always very happy and graceful so I decided to make a peacock headdress to remember her." Corey Gray's headdress helps him to remember a dragon toy he lost. "I put wire mesh on the mouth like a mustache and I made the eyes like flames. I cut out cardboard to make it look like the flames from a dragon and then I mixed red and orange to make fire."
For Cyrus Fleming, the headdress represents qualities he wishes for. "The reason I'm making this squid headdress is because people are always telling me I'm short. It's supposed to be a squid so I can get taller by being a squid."
Sixteen of the headdresses created by PS 8 4th and 5th graders were chosen to be included in "A Year With Children," an annual exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum. The exhibition showcases artwork created by New York City public schoolchildren in the museum's Learning Through Art program. These headdresses were chosen based on originality of ideas, mastery of techniques and overall student achievement in art this year. The remaining headdresses, as well as other LTA projects, are on display in the PS 8 Gallery, the 3rd floor hallway, and in the library.
In addition, fifth-grader Jazmyn Nathaniel was selected to be a Student Explainer. She attended a training session with museum staff and was in attendance at the opening of the exhibition to speak to the public about the project as a whole and her headdress in particular.
Students whose work went to the museum:
from Ms. Meredith?s class: Precious Issac, Jonathon Kwok, Jazmyn Nathaniel, Kimberley Velasquez, Nijala Ealey; from Ms. Flash?s class: Cyrus Fleming, Robert Minor, Corina Santos, Rahnette Robinson; from Mr. Tenhor?s class: Corey Bell, Mariam Gallier, Kyle Gordon, Corey Gray, Michael Simmonds, Shanas Gaskin, Samire Qosaj.
Posted on: June 21, 2005
