Art in the Schools: Monster Friends and Dragons

I have so loved working with the children in the schools, doing art and using art in an integrated curriculum! While I wasn't accepted on the Washington State Arts Commission teaching artist roster, I was accepted on the Vashon Artists in the Schools Roster. I guess it's good to start locally.

 The year before last, I worked with first and second graders on creating their own monster friends inspired by photos I took in Thailand of mythical creatures adorning palaces, temples, and parks. The banner we made with the silk squares was auctioned off to raise money for the school.

Last year I did a project with third graders around the Hundred Family Coat, from a Chinese folk tale about a boy and a golden pheonix who rescue the sun. We made a Coat of Many Strengths; each child identified a strength of theirs and created a design for it. We used fabric markers to put the designs on silk squares, which were then sewn onto a coat. Just like the coat made with little scraps of cloth donated by the people of the village to the boy in the story, our coat respresented how all the children's strengths combined to make the class room communty.



This year, I have been talking with some teachers I know and have worked with about doing something around Dragons, as a paid artist in residence through Vashon Artists in the Schools. I am excited!