My students are incredibly motivated by and excited about the idea of creating innovative and unique art projects! They have a perception that Art class is just crafts or what they call "boring still lifes," and I want to show them how much is out there in the world for them.
Many of my students rarely leave New York, and some have never left the city at all.
This has severely limited in them in the art they might see on a regular basis. Even though we are surrounded by some of the world's greatest museums and artists, the realities of their lives, neighborhood, and community often hold us back from being able to take part in everything NYC has to offer. That's why I want to bring it into the classroom for them.
My students are full of amazing ideas, they come to me almost daily with new suggestions for projects they want to try, or a new material they just heard of that they want to know if we can get. They make me laugh every day and I want to give some of that joy back to them through art.
My Project
We are extremely lucky to have an Art room equipped with many materials to allow students to explore and think critically through the study and practice of Art. However, there are some things that would make a HUGE difference in how rigorous our teaching could be.
Our school is so supportive of Art and wants our students to be able to excel and discover their creative passions.
The more materials they have access to, the further they are able to build on their amazing ideas and make them a reality.
We are launching our AP Art Program in the Fall of 2018, and these easels will allow those advanced students to paint like true professionals, as they would in a college Art program. This allows them to take Art more seriously, and create professional works of Art that will be used in their college portfolios. The canvases will be used to give students the opportunity to paint on a professional surface and get practice painting as they would in college. The 16 tablets will help us to do research on Art History and famous works of art so that students have references and context for the work they create. Currently they have to share the one classroom computer for this, so many students are missing out on this opportunity. With 16 tablets, they can work in pairs and share the tablets.
I am also hoping to be able to provide them with tablets so they can conduct research in class to support their art.
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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. R. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.