As some people know, my main "day job" is working as a Teaching Artist. It's a pretty fun yet powerful gig to be able to education and inspire youth through art-making. Here are some of the fantastic highlights from this year.
1 / In the fall, my students designed, cut stencils, and installed haiku along the sidewalks on Broad St. using spray chalk. We were promoting a more peaceful city alongside the Peace is a Haiku Song project with poet Sonia Sanchez.
2 / I invited pop-up book artist Colette Fu to teach a workshop to our students. She introduced the magic and wonder of pop-up to our class (and now, I'm addicted).
3 / High school students created accordion books that depict the ways they see art in their everyday lives. The books are absolutely fabulous.
4 / This is what happens when 10-year-olds are given a bunch of sidewalk chalk on a beautiful spring day and asked to create images that reflect their love for the earth. In case you are wondering, the arrows are pointing to all the other artwork on the sidewalk.
As the culmination to the end of a succesful art-fill year, I am excited to invite local Philadelphians to the Mural Arts Program Art Education annual exhibition, We Are All. This show, which highlights student work from over 16 sites around the city, opens this Friday (tomorrow!) at the Asian Arts Initiative in Chinatown. Stop by if you find yourself out for First Friday, and know that all artwork is for sale, with 100% of proceeds going to the artist.
