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
Our school is a tuition-free, public charter school in downtown Charleston. The majority of our scholars qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Most of our scholars are focused on their STEM classes, but show great aptitude for visual arts if they are inspired. My middle schoolers express interest in learning to draw "better," or more realistically. Since inexperienced artists are shy to draw people from observation and afraid to mess up, they are more likely to participate if they have tools to help them "calculate" proportions successfully.
My Project
Imagine a world in which middle schoolers could stand completely still for 30 minutes at a time. This is a world in which my scholars could pose for each other for figure drawings. Since we don't live in that world, my scholars need tools to help us draw figures from observation.
Drawing from observation is an important skill to learn for artists.
Drawing from a photo is easier, but drawing from observation teaches scholars how to synthesize a 3D image onto a 2D piece of paper. Since my scholars are interested in realism, I would like them to experience drawing from poseable manikins.
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. Bennett and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.