Printing Press for AP Studio Art Students in the Bronx!
My students need a Speedball Printmaking Press and printmaking inks. Having printmaking pieces in their AP portfolios will give them an edge, as not many high school artists have been exposed to printmaking.
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 high school is a charter high school in the South Bronx, and the students come from all over the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Harlem. Our middle schools and high school have well established, strong music programs, and we have been working really hard over the last few years to develop a strong visual arts program as well! For the first time this year, we are offering Advanced Placement (AP) Studio Art for a group of our rising seniors who are passionate about creating art and wish to pursue the art in college. Not only are these students incredibly creative, curious, talented, and hard-working, but they are genuinely kind individuals. The goal of providing them an AP Studio Art is to give them the opportunity to take a rigorous, college level art class that gets them thinking at a higher level, and also gives them the potential to earn college credits while still in high school!
My Project
For the first time in our high school's history, we are offering an AP Studio Art course. The group of seniors who have enrolled in this class are an incredibly talented, passionate, and kind group of students. Taking this AP Studio Art course will help them learn to think at a higher level and make them more competitive college applicants. Many of these students wish to attend top art schools like Pratt, School of Visual Arts, and Parsons.
While dedicated, these students will also be competing (both for AP scores and college admissions) with students from much more privileged backgrounds who have more resources available to them.
Most students across the country who take AP Studio Art have been taking art classes both in and out of school for most of their lives. Many of my students did not have the opportunity to even take a former art course until two years ago, and they don't have the resources to be able to afford private art classes after school or on weekends.
Printmaking is an art medium that is often not taught at the high school level, and so when students include high-quality printmaking work in their AP Portfolios, their portfolios tend to stand out. I am excited to give my students the exciting opportunity to learn printmaking techniques and have an edge when their portfolios will be scored in May among almost 40,000 other art portfolios around the country! Scoring a 4 or 5 on the AP portfolio would allow my students to place out of intro-level college classes, and ultimately save them valuable time and money in earning their college degrees.
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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. Coiro and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
