Introducing Rhonda Morton in December!

In December, Rhonda Morton will be visiting the schools to introduce Chemung River School students to haiku poetry and to discuss seasonable changes. Students will refer to their journals full of notes taken during the autumn riverwalks with Tanglewood Nature Center educators and the poet, Sue Heavenrich. (See the post below).

Rhonda is new to CRSP, but she brings lots of experience as a writer, poet and improvizational performance artist to the program. She has taught children and adults of all ages. Check out the link to an educational children's television program - Move it! - on which she recently appeared!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP5K2cZfelA

http://rhondamorton.com/collegeresidencies.html

Rhonda Morton is a poet, performance artist, dancer and singer with a particular interest in improvisation in all those roles. In 2005, Rhonda formed Alligator Mouth Improv, a four-person ensemble that draws on theatre, movement, vocals, music and storytelling, all created in the moment, often from audience input and interaction. Rhonda is the author of two books of poetry -- Woman Seeking Water (FootHills Publishing, 1997) and Breathing In, Breathing Out (FootHills Publishing, 2001) -- as well as a book of short-short stories, She Opens the Suitcase (FootHills Publishing, 2009). She is a poet of the stage as well as the page, and has been the featured reader at venues throughout the Northeast since her first performance on the Centerway Bridge in Corning, NY, in 1992.

Rhonda is also a skilled workshop facilitator and has worked with groups of every type -- from pre-schoolers to trust bankers -- to open up the potential and harness the creativity in individuals and groups.

In addition, she is certified as a leader of InterPlay, an improvisation-based approach to personal and organizational effectiveness practiced around the world, and she conducts creative writing workshops for adults and teens. In 1997, she founded GirlSmarts®, a series of workshops and retreats that use the arts to help teenage girls understand who they are and what they want out of their lives. In 2005, Rhonda was awarded the Arts Partnership Award from The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes for "tirelessly supporting others in their artistic endeavors, for encouraging young poets and musicians, and mentoring young women with her passion for and commitment to the arts."

Teachers, mentors and major creative influencers include Chemung River School Project poet, Michael Czarnecki, Martin Keogh, Bonnie McCubbin, Phil Porter, Rhiannon, Owen Walker, Sarah Williams, and Cynthia Winton-Henry.

Native American Arts and Crafts at the Chemung Valley History Museum

Karen Gilpin assisted in presenting the Native American program at the Chemung Valley History Museum in November. She offered crafts instruction to 4th grade students. Boys made dream catchers whilst girls made dolls. Many parents were on hand to assist!

Meanwhile, Joan Neece introduced the children to the music and legends of the Native Americans who lived in this region.

Diven Students visit the Tanglewood Nature Center

Tanglewood Nature Center naturalist and educator, Ian McLaughlin, gives Diven Elementary School students a tour of the grounds at Tanglewood Nature Center. More pictures and a video to come later!

CRSP at the Wyncoop Creek!

Sue Smith Heavenrich with 4th grade students from Chemung Elementary School as they "listen intently for nature's sounds." To learn more about Sue and her program, see the October 6, 2008 post entitled

RIVERWALKS - SCIENCE AND LANGUAGE ARTS BY THE RIVER!

The students are eager to pay attention to the environment with all their senses. They will write about their experiences in their journals.



Their teacher, Jeanne Gridley, actively engages her students in the presentation.

Many parents are also present as they chaperone the class.

Jean Schultz poses with her daughter, Ashley who says the riverwalk is "really fun!"

J.D. displays a "baby banana slug" she found.

Lisa LaRock stands with her sons, Michael and Matt. Matt was happy to report that he was learning about "a whole bunch of creatures and creeks!"


Carrie Parker and Marcella B. spot something in the water

CRSP naturalist and artist, Sue Heavenrich, points out a water strider to Vinnie.

Mrs. Talada with her son, Dewain.

Jeanne Gridley, Mrs. Talada and Mrs. Schultz discuss the many merits of the riverwalks with the Chemung River School Project.

Riverfest!

The Arnot Art Museum sponsored a Riverfest featuring the arts and crafts of regional artists. Students who had participated in the Chemung River School Project had work they created throughout the year on display at the Arnot Art Museum and the Chemung Valley History Museum for a wonderful culmination to an educational and exciting year both inside and outside the classroom. As always, the Chemung River was, and will continue to be, the pivot around which the program revolves and the inspiration for our teaching artists and naturalists. Preservation of the river and the waters of the world is part of the mission of CRSP.



We at the Arnot Art Museum remain as dedicated as ever to educating young people in all areas of the curriculum through the arts. Indeed, NY State standards in social studies, language arts, science, and the arts are satisfied through programs which have been carefully crafted through the input of museum educators, CRSP teaching artists and classroom teachers. CRSP has been nationally recognized by the NY State Council on the Arts, the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Endowment for the Arts. Our educators and presenters are HIGHLY educated and qualified to teach and are willing to work with your teachers to tailor the CRSP curriculum to meet the needs of regional schools. Many of our presenters, past and present, have received awards for their art and/or their teaching and we are fortunate and honored to have them working with us. Just this past year, one of our teaching artists - Damali Abrams - was granted a very prestigious fellowship with the A.I.R. Gallery in New York City. Annemarie Zwack and Diedra Krieger each continue to exhibit their work in national venues and receive awards for their work. Damali and Diedra will not be working with us this coming year, but we are happy to have Annemarie Zwack continue with us. Our writer, Sue Smith Heavenrich has been published in numerous venues and has had years of experience teaching children. Our museum educators at the Arnot Art Museum and the staff at Tanglewood Nature Center, Chemung Valley History Museum and the Cornell Cooperative Extension are, without exception, highly educated, experienced and passionate about their work. The cost of bringing these talented artists and educators into your classroom on an individual basis would be prohibitive, but is an excellent value through CRSP.

Below are examples of projects which were completed during Annemarie Zwack's January residency at Center Street School in Horseheads and Chemung Elementary School in Waverly, NY. Many teachers also included the haiku poetry created with Sue Smith Heavenrich during the winter session when she returned to the classroom to follow up their fall session during the riverwalks and to discuss, among other things, seasonal changes to the environment. Students also reflected on the journal writing they had done in the fall and practiced the art of paying attention with all their senses. Students' introduction to writing haiku poetry developed language arts skills as well as nurtured a love for literature and enhanced their appreciation for the natural environment. To read more about Sue's program, see the archive below dated and titled Monday, October 6, 2008 RIVERWALKS - SCIENCE AND LANGUAGE ARTS BY THE RIVER!

This mixed media drawing and fabric collage is called Jewels, like the accompanying haiku.

Jewels

Fishing swimming nicely

Big mountains with purple peaks

A bird flies around

Two more exemplary examples of fabric collages. Select student work was placed in frames and displayed in the front gallery at the Arnot Art Museum.

Chemung River School Spring Riverwalk!

The beautiful Chemung River as it appeared last spring.

In May, students returned to the Chemung River with the staff at Tanglewood as well as the writer, Sue Smith Heavenrich, to observe seasonal changes and their impact on the environment. Students had honed writing skills and learned what it means to be ‘adapted” to an area and/or certain environmental conditions. They gained an idea of what an introduced species is and the effect that such species can have on natives. Concepts of adaptability were addressed and students were asked to reflect on the implications of environmental change as it related to the life and health of organisms adapted to a given ecosystem.



Emily Hofelich-Jack, educator from Tanglewood, holds up a specimen captured from the waters of the Chemung River for all the students to examine before returning to its home.

To read more about the students' adventures during the Riverwalks, please look through the archives for the Thursday, October 9, 2008 TANGLEWOOD VISITS blog and the Monday, October 6, 2008 RIVERWALKS - SCIENCE AND LANGUAGE ARTS BY THE RIVER! entry.

Annemarie Zwack, Scholastics and Cornell Cooperative Extension

Annmarie Zwack presented a program to students at Center Street Elementary School in Horseheads as well as Chemung Elementary School in Waverly - one that was so successful, she will be back for the 2009/10 school year. In her teaching, as well as her personal artwork, her talent, as well as her passion for stewardship of the earth, its waters, and environment, are evident.

In the photograph below, students are holding and waving a piece of fabric which represents a river. Students were asked to recall their experiences during the riverwalks and trips to the Arnot Art Museum. Students draw on their knowledge of the Hudson River School of Art, as well as the newly introduced contemporary arts to which Ms. Zwack introduces them. Students used fabric and colored pencils to create mixed media collages with the subject of the river and ecology. To see some of these works, go to the archive entitled "Riverfest," at http://chemungriverschool.blogspot.com/2009/07/riverfest.html

Annmarie showed the students many slides including work by contemporary artists, as well as her own. She is a gifted artist who has exhibited her work nationally, and is also a published children's book illustrator. The slide below includes a page from her own children's book, "Color Me Earth."



Below is the cover to her children's book.

To read more about Annemarie, visit her web-site at http://www.zwackart.com/

We are so happy to Annemarie on board!

In February, students returned to the Arnot Art Museum for a tour of the Scholastics Art Show and the Chemung Valley History Museum for tours of two of their main exhibitions. The Scholastics Art Show has a long history at the Arnot Art Museum and students learned how many well-known artists got their start through this competition – some right here in Elmira. Because the artwork on display is created by people just a few years older than the students themselves, children are amazed and inspired. Comparisons are made between scholastics art and the art they remembered from the picture gallery or by the Hudson River School artists they saw in November. By this time, students are beginning to acquire some fluency in the language used in the analysis and interpretation of visual art. This tour includes hands-on activities created by museum educators. In the photograph below, museum educator, Wendy Taylor introduces students to the permanent collection in the Picture Gallery at the Arnot Art Museum. In the photograph above, Amy Karastury and her students engage in activities revolving around the Scholastics exhibition.

At the Chemung Valley History Museum, students immersed themselves in a stimulating environment to learn about life in the past. They complete “exhibit encounter” packets as they moved through museum exhibits focusing on two local celebrities, Mark Twain and Floyd Woodhull.


Cornell Cooperative Extension

In April representatives from the Cornell Cooperative Extension visited the classroom introducing students to the dirty job of keeping water clean. Students were introduced to the water cycle and asked to ponder why water is so important. Emphasis was on conservation and students become more conscientious about the water we all consume and pollute daily. Hands-on activities followed a school-yard hike.

Janna Keser, visiting artist for the Chemung River School Project

Janna Keser is a teacher, docent and volunteer at the Arnot Art Museum and has been so for many years. In the photograph above, she can be seen assisting a student at Beecher School last year where students who participated in CRSP collaborated on mixed media murals with a river theme. The children drew upon their journals and their memories of their experiences during the riverwalks and Tanglewood visits to populate the murals with aquatic and terrestrial creatures of the Chemung River region.

Janna is very well qualified to engage in the many services she provides for the Arnot Art Museum. In addition to being an artist herself, she has a Master of Science in Education from Elmira College with 50 additional graduate credits in Studio Art/Education. She also has her Permanent New York State Certification in Art Education for K-12. She also has a Bachelor of Arts in Art from Dunbarton College inWashington, D.C. She has taught Art in grades Pre-K - 12 in private schools in Maryland and Elmira, NY, as well as private lessons. Currently she serves as Supervisor of Student Teachers for Elmira College from 2000 - 2007

Janna has spent many hours as a volunteer in the Elmira region for the Science and Discovery Center, The Rockwell Museum of Western Art and, of course, the Arnot Art Museum. For every hour she spends in the classroom, she spends twice the amount in preparation for each class.

Janna is shown above in the East Gallery introducing students to the Hudson River of Art.

We at the Arnot don't know what we would do without Janna's dedication as made evident by the many long hours of research and preparation she puts into tours and programs for children!

THANK YOU JANNA KESER!

Follow up activity for Gardner Road students

Students at Gardner Road Elementary School were given follow-up sheets for their experience with visiting artists, Diedra Krieger and Damali Abrams. Below are the answers (in red font), along with a review of the program. Keep in mind that in art, the "answers" can be questioned! Indeed, we hope our programs encourage and help develop critical thinking and divergent thinking skills. We always encourage questions that can be backed up with sound reasoning.

Thomas Cole, Autumn in the Catskills 1827, oil on panel

solitary artist, activist art, two-dimensional media, landscape, Hudson River School of Art

Students in the Chemung River School Project were treated to an intensive introduction to the work of the Hudson River School artists in November by artist/teacher, Janna Keser at the Arnot Art Museum (see blog post below entitled November tours at the Arnot Art Museum). The museum has considerable holdings of representational art from various countries and eras in history including a significant collection of Hudson River School art. During this session, students learned that the Hudson River School artists who painted nearly 200 years ago, were ACTIVISTS as well as painters. Their paintings depicted nature in such as way that people began to feel the land was worthy of protection; thus, the work they did was instrumental in establishing our first national parks! Artists frequently hope their art works to make the world a better place. The November tour at the Arnot introduced students to art that was just part of a long continuum of activist art that has existed from the moment human-beings have held implements for drawing in their hands. Diedra and Damali continue the tradition of art and activism, but, as Gardner students have seen, the forms their art takes considerably departs from their Hudson River School predecessors. Through the follow-up exercise, it is hoped that students consider both the similarities and differences.

Diedra Krieger, Plastic Fantastic, installation, 2008

collaboration, activist art, installation, performance art, digital media, contemporary art

While the Hudson River School artists were solitary painters and their art may still fit the popular conception of what an artist does – paint landscapes or portraits or still-lifes alone in their studios or in the field (and many contemporary artists do), the work of many other contemporary artists does not in any way resemble the work of their predecessors. Artists today not only paint on canvas, but utilize a wide variety of materials to create sculptures, installations, video and performance art among many other forms. Many also work collaboratively, as do our visiting artists, Diedra and Damali. As with the Hudson River School artists, however, many of today's artists still intend for their art to make the world a better place. Diedra Krieger's geodesic dome as inspired by the inventor of the dome, Buckminster Fuller,* was made using over 4,000 post-consumer water bottles. (It was, in her words, a "nomadic, immersive environment." Diedra wanted it to be "a site unlike any room or space one may frequent....It is the site of an integrated program of events, including the making of the environment, music events, a video shoot, interviews, education, activism, social gatherings, and performance. The overwhelming use of materials function not just as an aesthetic but as a strategy to raise awareness and criticality about the everyday and the basic right to water." As Diedra and Damali stressed to Gardner Road students, their artwork is both collaborative and activist at the same time.

Diedra Krieger with camera at Gardner Road Elementary School

collaboration, activism, digital media, performance art, contemporary art

Diedra's dome is the site of video-shoots as well as the site where the videos can be viewed. Of course, the Hudson River School artists did not have access to the sophisticated technology used to create digital art, but if you frequent galleries and museums today - especially in large cities, a good share of the art work you see is digital or in the form of installation. At Gardner Road, students were able to witness part of Diedra's process as well as that of Damali Abrams. They watched performances via video by the artists, and then collaboratively improvised their own performances and created their own videos. They also made posters which contained messages about conservation and served as "commercials" for their videos - just as the artists have done. For this experience, the process was much more important than the product.

For the Birds Too - an interactive installation of multiple "flying" bird sculptures at the Rathbone Gallery, The Sage Collegs, Albany, NY, October 8 - November 10, 1998.

collaboration, digital media, performance art, contemporary art

This is an example of work that can be found in the galleries of today. http://www.janeingramallen.com/Janeweb-birdstatement/Sage/sage.htm

solitary artist, activist art, collaboration, close-up, performance artist, contemporary art

Damali Abrams is a multi-disciplinary artist who sometimes works alone and sometimes works with others. She is a performance artist, but, like Diedra, she also creates installations and does two-dimensional artwork. Among other interests, Damali is concerned with health and nutrition, self-esteem of children, literacy and increasing awareness of issues pertaining to race, gender and class. Gardner Road students were inspired by her video-art and learned about healthy habits as they did so!

Esther Nisenthal Krinitz, Swimming in the River, needlework and fabric collage

solitary artist, activist art, textile, two-dimensional media, landscape, contemporary art

In November, students of CRSP were also privileged to view a few works from a temporary exhibition of art by Holocaust Survivor, Esther Nisenthal Krinitz called "Fabric of Survival."

Esther Nisenthal Krinitz, along with her sister Mania, were the only members of their family, and among the few Jews in their Polish village, to survive the Holocaust....In 1977, at the age of 50, Esther Nisenthal Krinitz began creating works of fabric art to depict her stories of survival. Over a 20-year period she created a collection of 36 needlework and fabric collage pictures which are now on public exhibition. http://www.artandremembrance.org/

Krinitz' work is two-dimensional, but stands out in stark contrast to other works in the permanent collection at the museum. Krinitz' work was not created using paint on canvas, but her needle and thread. "Swimming in the River" depicts a happy time in Krinitz' young life - before the Nazi invasion. Next week, Center Street students will be studying with another artist who makes textile art (among other things) - Annemarie Zwack.

Oyler Wu, Collaborative installation “Live Wire”

Collaboration, installation, contemporary art

This is another example of art that might be found in a contemporary art gallery or museum today. http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/4565/live-wire-by-oyler-wu-collaborative.html

activist art, collaboration, close-up, digital media, performance art, contemporary art

Gardner Road Students watch their performances on video during class for the first time.



War against War by Kathe Kollwitz

solitary artist, activist art, two-dimensional media,

As with "For the Birds, Too," and "Live Wire," Kollwitz' art is not work we looked at, but is a good example of activist art by a woman who is not a contemporary artist. She created her drawings and prints about 90 years ago. She was the only woman who painted at the same time as a group of artists we now call the German Expressionists. Her art was a way to express her grief, her anger, and her frustrations during World War I.

The Survivors was used for a peace congress in 1922 in The Hague, Holland. The text on the right says: Do not teach the children to glorify the war and war hero's. Teach them to despise war. http://www.greatwar.nl/kollwitz/kollwitzkaart.html

Alice Walker Speaks the Truth, Annemarie Zwack, quilt

solitary artist, activist art, textile, two-dimensional media, contemporary art

Annemarie Zwack is one of our teaching artists who is visiting the schools for the Chemung River School project. She will be working with students at Center Street Elementary School in Horseheads starting Monday, January 26th. Like Esther Nisenthal Krinitz, Annemarie works with textiles. However, Krinitz did embroidery and needlework to create tapestry-like works, while Annemarie makes quilts. In addition to textile art, Ms. Zwack also paints, draws and works with a variety of mixed-media. To learn more about her, see her post on this blog called Annemarie Zwack joins Diedra Krieger and Damali Abrams in January

wide-angle

Miss Shutter, teacher extraordinaire, surrounded by her students during Diedra and Damali's program last week.

Miss Shutter close-up!

Thank you, Miss Shutter - and to all the teachers and staff at Gardner Road - Principal, Mrs. Lisa Kelly, 4th grade teachers, Mrs. Setzer, Mrs. Shutter and Mrs. Bates - for helping Diedra and Damali to create a memorable and enriching experience for the 4th grade students at Gardner Road!

*About the dymaxion map invented by Buckminster Fuller

Buckminster Fuller was the inventor of the geodesic dome and the dymaxion map. Students at Gardner Road were introduced to both during Diedra and Damali's program. They were given copies of two dimensional dymaxion maps and learned how to assemble them into globes. Fuller found existing flat maps to grossly distort the size and proportions of land and water masses. He found a way to stay true to proportions in replicating a spherical map (the globe) on a flat, two-dimensional surface. To learn more about Fuller and his ingenious ideas and inventions, go to

http://inventors.about.com/od/dstartinventions/a/domes.htm