Palmer Trinity School

CAMPUS NEWS Teaching Young Artists By: The PTS Art Department Lisa Colandrea LISA COLANDREA As an art educator, it is my goal to motivate art students to become art innovators. Together, we create an art culture, sustained through independent thinking and an intrinsic drive to gain further knowledge. Students use their own experiences and insights to create art. My art studio requires the students to work collaboratively with one another to solve problems together. As a whole, they gain confidence and take risks developing ideas in the arts. Self-sufficient learning begins to develop their innovative capabilities in the arts. I provide my students with the structure that allows them to feel comfortable being creative and give them a chance to explore their voice and develop a sense of connection and identity. In my studio, I encourage inquiry-based learning; constantly pushing my students to think and use their voice as insights and aspirations for more art work. If a student has a passion or a reason to believe in, I know they can endure a lot. I want to develop passion and purpose for their creative pursuits to help them find success in life. I seek to learn from my students and establish a creative relationship based on a deep sense of respect for one another. Together, we create a learning environment that is hands on, collaborative, and interdisciplinary. ROBERT MOORHOUSE Art and music have always been my oxygen. They sustain me, stimulate my imagination, and give me great fulfillment and personal satisfaction. Studying art and art history at a very intense, demanding, and exciting art institute allowed me to sharpen my skills and deepen my commitment to a wide array of creative pursuits. I see myself as a link in a noble, lustrous chain of teachers and students—learning from, guiding, and challenging one another. In my one-on-one interactions with students at the potter's wheel or in the woodworking shop, we are co-creators; marveling over the endless field of creative possibilities that lie before us. When I sense the special spark of excitement or hear the proverbial "Aha!" from a student, I know that the magic has worked, and that the lifeaffirming spirit of creativity has been shared. That's what I live for. My high school teachers and college professors gave me countless precious gifts, and I now have the deep privilege of sharing them with our students. This, my daily work, is my greatest pleasure. Robert Moorhouse SANDI WOOD I've always believed that a person's job here on Earth is to figure out what they are good at and put it to use in the pursuit of helping others. In the Art Department at Palmer Trinity School, I truly feel as though I am able to do that. As an art teacher, there are few things more satisfying than when I hear a student exclaim "I can't believe I made this!" After helping students gradually build up skill—through a variety of techniques—until they are producing work at a stunningly sophisticated level, I love to see students surprise themselves with their beautiful output. Nowhere is this truer than in the A.P. Studio Sandi Wood Art course, where students who are seriously dedicated to artistic self-expression commit to a rigorous series of creative challenges. It is my honor and privilege to help guide my students through the world of self-expression and the creation of visual splendor. alive and encourage them to think outside of the box. In art, I work to create a space for students to be themselves, embrace their diverse backgrounds, social experiences, and interests, and most importantly, share with and teach one another. SEJAL VAYWALA I am passionate about teaching art to children because it not only gives me joy and satisfaction, but because it also helps create meaningful dialogue between all of us. I spent five years of my childhood in India. Upon my return, when language barriers limited the amount and depth of communication I had with peers and teachers, I found myself drawn to creating art. I was lucky to have an inspiring, encouraging art teacher who helped me to express my own ideas, and most importantly, share my personality. Art challenges us, stimulates our creativity, pushes us forward, and helps us discover each other's unique experiences, thoughts, practices and lives. Each day, as I stand in front of my students, I realize how lucky I am to be given the opportunity to share my passion for art with them. I have the opportunity to impact their lives in the same way my elementary school art teacher impacted me. As a teacher of mostly younger middle school students—an age where students can lose interest if they don't have a curriculum that helps spark their creativity—I understand that it is especially important to keep the students' imaginations Sejal Vaywala Tilly Strauss TILLY STRAUSS There is a German saying, "Angst Essen Seele auf," that translates to "fear eats the soul." As an artist, I know that everyone can make art—but the biggest obstacle to doing so is fear. The art teacher provides boundaries so that the element of fear can be removed. Boundaries can inspire our curiosity. Art is one of the few places in a student's structured day when they can safely experiment with taking risks, making odd choices, and develop thinking in original ways. In the art studio, experimentation is a means, and failure is courted while searching for the unique voice. Techniques, limiting parameters of an assignment, insights from research and our history, and more, are brought together in support of artistic exploration. Another saying, a Spanish proverb, is "a life lived in fear is a life half lived." Art can be taught, and it is not a talent you have to be born with. It is a place to round out the lives of our students, and a place for them to stretch to their fullest potential in the realm of decision-making and discovery. As an art teacher, I strive to make my assignments relevant to the students' lives. Each class is structured to exercise skills and establish a safe place for leaps of faith. I believe that in taking those leaps, the student sees who they are, who they might become, who they do not want to be, and in the process, they find their soul. W I N T E R 2 0 1 2 / 1 3 13

• Cover