This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
Hello my name is Amy VanDeventer and I teach art to approximately 500 students at Westerly Hills Academy in West Charlotte North Carolina. Westerly Hills Academy is a title 1 school. There are 97% percent of our kids who qualify for free lunch and this may be the only meal they have in a day.
The lessons my students will be able to participate in with these supplies involve making 3D sculptures with clay then glazing them, painting landscapes and learning about self portraits, along with a variety of mixed media projects.
While creating a variety of different masterpieces my students will explore the elements and principles of art. We will talk about art history, hone in on specific pieces and try to make our own artwork that portrays certain time periods and cultures.
One lesson I would like to do with acrylic paint and construction paper is have the kids create their own aboriginal art. They crumple up construction paper, we tape the paper underneath the tables and they use qtips to make dotted symbols and animals. This is a great way to explore culture with the arts.
My Project
The materials I have chosen for my students, they most likely have never used. I want to show my students the different mediums of art and how essential it is to utilize their creativity through the arts. I want my students to take ownership and pride in their artwork and remember my art class for years to come. With these materials we can create a variety of different artwork and learn how expressive art can be and about the variety of emotions we can portray through artwork. We will do lessons on renaissance artwork, graffiti, abstract, surrealism, Impressionism and more.
I have a significant number of students who are homeless.
Some students at Westerly Hills academy suffer from severe emotional and behavioral problems. For these students and all of my students, I know art can be used as an outlet and the sooner they learn this the better their lives will be. Please, any contribution would mean the world to us.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. V and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.