GASP 2019–20 PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS

INLAND

Alexa Baldwin
Find Your Path (South Valley High School, Ukiah)
Twenty students will create individual masks to represent their own interests or career goals. The masks will be made of plaster bandages, cardboard, cloth, wire, and foam, and adorned with paint, feathers, felt, jewelry, etc. Students will also study the history and significance of mask-making in various cultures. The culmination of the project will be an exhibit of the masks, with a celebratory opening presentation, at Ukiah City Hall.

Nori Dolan
Critter Cribs (Frank Zeek School, Ukiah)
In this mixed-media project, 3rd graders will work with paper, paint, collage, stenciling, drawing, and ephemera to create unique collages on individual canvases, depicting wild animals in their natural environments and habitats. The images and content will correlate with their curriculum studies on these animals.

Nori Dolan
Mixed Media (Accelerated Achievement Academy, Ukiah)
In this project, 7th graders will have a hands-on chance to explore various means of visual-art self-expression on an individual canvas. The results could include paintings or any variety of mixed-media expression, guided by a professional artist, in which students are exposed to art techniques and approaches, and have fun at the same time.

Trudy McCreanor
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Come to Life through Dance! (performance at Mendocino College’s Center Theatre for students and teachers countywide)
This is Mendocino Ballet’s annual story ballet, performed for schoolchildren throughout the county and beyond. This year, dancers from Mendocino Ballet will present the story of Snow White, fully staged with sets, costumes, and makeup and featuring original choreography. This is the first exposure for many students to live classical ballet or to any dance performance. Teachers are provided with pre- and post-event information and activities to further enrich the students’ experience of the performance.

Elizabeth Raybee
Pomolita Middle School Mosaics (Pomolita Middle School, Ukiah)
Reading Remediation students will create a mosaic mural for an exterior school wall, using art and garden-oriented images that convey kindness, respect, and reverence toward the Earth and each other. Students will learn about the materials and processes used in creating a mosaic mural, and view photos of similar projects. They will develop themes in groups, then create individual tiles and grout them into the mural, which will add color and meaning to a plain wall facing a street which is a common student drop-off/pick-up corridor.

Lauren Sinnott
Mural That Tells Our Story (Ukiah High School)
This mural for Ukiah High School will incorporate stories from students, exploring how powerful and empowering storytelling can be. Other factors are also explored, such as symbolism, geometric patterns, and narrative elements. Individual or group panels can be created, and the process will include planning discussions about content and placement. Students will also have the opportunity to develop and describe their work through writing and in group games and discussions.

NORTH COUNTY

Viviana Field
When Art, Science, and Nature Collide (Round Valley Unified, Covelo)
This project covers several grade levels and offers three distinct and creative ways for students to more deeply appreciate and directly interact with nature, art, and science, to “keep the spark of curiosity and learning lit in students” and complement their curriculum studies: 1) Math in Nature; 2) Chemical Reactions and an Art Process; and 3) Endangered Species and Struggling Ocean (what is happening there and what students and their families can do to help).

Gary Martin
Cultural Explorations: Art History for Children (various North County schools)
This project, presented to many schools for many grade levels, teaches students the elements of art and the principles of design throughout a range of centuries and cultures, including a look at contemporary art—and also teaches them to enjoy art. Each month throughout the school year, a presentation is made on a different element of art, with a multicultural holiday exploration in December, to enhance students’ cultural education and awareness in a largely remote and underserved area of the county.

Laura Wiecek
Mendocino Bounty Mural (Willits High School)
In this project, students of Willits High School will design and paint panels expressing the theme of “Mendocino Bounty”. These panels will ultimately be mounted as an 8’ x 24’ mural on an exterior wall of the Willits Food Bank. Students will have the experience of working collaboratively and creatively to contribute a lasting project of public art as an enhancement to their community.

ANDERSON VALLEY

Colleen Schenck
Watch Panthers Soar (Anderson Valley Junior/Senior High Schools)
Special Education students will have the opportunity to enhance their creative, academic, and social skills through hands-on experience with a variety of media (printmaking, painting, drawing, collage, clay sculpture, and crafts) in projects adapted to their needs. The aim is to provide repeated, positive art experiences, coordinated with their curriculum topics being studied, to support and encourage student progress in all of these areas.

NORTH COAST

Hunter Gagnon
Poetry: Expression and Mythopoesis (Redwood Elementary School, Fort Bragg)
Starting 1st- and 2nd-graders on a literary path early, this project will explore poetry in myths, epics, social critique, and other historical uses, following themes from math, natural history, social studies, etc. Students will learn poetic tools such as alliteration, hyperbole, meter, and simile; they will write and read their own poems, and then they will turn favorite poems into a visual-art broadside, collage, or portfolio that they can present to the class.

Jasper Henderson
Wordplay and the Wider World (Dana Gray Elementary School, Fort Bragg)
This residency in reading, appreciating, writing, and revising poems will reach hundreds of students. They will learn the basic structures and tools of poetry, and then use these tools and knowledge to write and evaluate their own poetry, exploring, with a focus on topics explored in the core curriculum, the intersection of their own imaginations with the world around them.

Mendocino Dance Project
Creative Movement/Dance (Mendocino K-8 School)
This performing-arts program for young students focuses on dance and creative movement. The children begin with playful, creative games to get comfortable with movement, and learn basic tools of choreography. They then learn how to express ideas and emotions through time and space using dance, in this physically and mentally healthy outlet for exploring their sensations, expressing themselves, and creating beauty and meaning through this art form.

Eva von Bahr
Symphony of the Redwoods Children’s Concert (Dana Gray and/or Redwood Elementary Schools, Fort Bragg)
For nearly two decades, the Symphony of the Redwoods has presented professional children’s concerts for students of North Coast elementary schools. This year’s performance will be Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf; pre- and post-event activity packets for teachers enrich the experience by explaining how the story, themes, and characters are represented through various instruments and techniques. The intent is to plant a seed for future music appreciation and comfort with classical arts, providing an enriching new dimension to life generally.

Ferenc Tobak and Lilla Serlegi
Living the Tradition: Music and musical instrument demonstration through the ethnic music of Hungarians and Croatians and other nations of the Carpathian Basin (Dana Gray Elementary School and Mendocino K-8 School)
Tobak and Serlegi will demonstrate and teach about music history and instruments including the hurdy-gurdy, mouth harp, bagpipes, flutes, plus stringed and percussion instruments and songs, from the world of Carpathian-Basin folk music. Children will learn for instance how different flute length produces different tones; they will hear a brief history and demonstration of each instrument’s sound through traditional folk tunes, and broaden their cultural exposure and music knowledge and appreciation. They will also get hands-on experience with some of the instruments, as well as singing and clapping along with songs.

SOUTH COAST

Blake More
Art for All Grades: A multi-discipline approach to poetry and art (Manchester Union Elementary School)
This STEM-based project combines writing, word-processing, audio recording, the spoken word, and visual illustration, to allow students to create and present original poems in unique ways. All students will be given a series of writing lessons to develop original poems. The youngest will make simple book bags to fill with word art; grades 3–5 will incorporate their poems into original recycled art journals; and older students will develop a favorite piece into an original video poem.

ReFashion Fashion: Sustainable style through upcycling (Pacific Community Charter High School)
This multidisciplinary approach to fashion and sustainability incorporates visual art, craft, collage, writing, and performance. Students will learn hand- and machine-sewing techniques, fabric painting, clothing collage, embroidery, alteration, and restyling techniques, combined with journaling, fashion history, a unit on body image, food and fashion, and a photo shoot. They will then have the opportunity to participate in an Upcycled Fashion Show at the Point Arena Fringe Festival.
Painting with Words and Pixels: A multimedia approach to poetry (Arena Elementary School)
This multidisciplinary STEM-based project will incorporate writing, word processing, audio recording, spoken word, and visual illustration with math, computer science, visual art, and the spoken word through the creation of original video poems. Students will have a series of writing lessons and learn to write poems; then they will choose one to develop into a short video. These videos will be presented to other students, and some will be highlighted on the Arena Theater big screen during pre-movie reels.