| Artistic Discipline | Visual Art |
| Grades | K | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Instruction Language(s) | |
| Availability Notes | Ready to schedule for the 2023-24 school year! |
Questions? Contact Kim Strelchun,The Right Brain Initiative Director, at 503-225-5900 x703 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
About the Artist
Mia is a brown, non-binary Latinx artist, activist and healer. Their work, from visual art to performance, creates alternative realities wherein alternative worlds and futures that revolutionize and decolonize our perception can be imagined and made.
References
Provided upon request.
Program Description
GOALS:
Encourage inquiry, observation, process, and discovery through tactile experiments.
Deepen student learning and explore curricular concepts through an artistic lens.
Foster creative self expression and connection to the world at large through world-making and character creation.
Expand emotional literacy and self-awareness through reflection and self-investigation.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
More than ever, students need to find moments of quiet and calm to discover themselves. Between a global pandemic, civil unrest, and climate change students are overwhelmed and are often left to process their feelings on their own. Tactile experiments and world-making offer an opportunity to externalize internal narratives within a safe and encouraging environment. The process of creation gives students a chance to complete an art work within a set amount of time in order to foster positive feelings towards themselves and their abilities. It offers students a sense of control over a part of their life and the collaborative format of Mia's residencies further empower students by validating their agency and autonomy. After a year of virtual school, Mia has witnessed rising levels of anxiety, depression, feelings of isolation, and overall stress in our students. Their goal is to foster moments of mindfulness and playfulness in our youth.
SAMPLE RESIDENCIES:
COMIC BOOKS: Students will combine visual art and language to create comic books in relation to, or completely separate from, subject matter they might be engaging with in class. Comic books serve to further engage student by allowing them to world-make and imagine themselves as a character in their own story. First, we create a story and then use thumbnail sketches to plan our book. We incorporate the tactile practices of bookmaking and illustration to create the book from scratch and students are welcome to use different art mediums to complete their comic. This residency can be adapted to all grade levels and typically needs 4-5 sessions to complete.
THIS HOUSE CAN BE A HOME: This residency takes 4-5 sessions and gives students an opportunity to define the concept of "home" as a metaphor for safety, community, and rest. Students use different materials to build a house and design accompanying furniture, characters, landscape, etc. We cover basic principles of building such as: structural integrity, balance, weight-bearing supports - by using basic shapes like triangles and squares to create their homes. This residency is suitable for grades 3 and up.
SCULPTING FEELINGS:
Students are given the chance to interpret the physicality and materiality of emotion by translating emotions into multiple mediums, ultimately creating abstract sculptures that expand on their newfound emotional literacy. This program can be modified to become more complex for students in 4th grade and up. Residency normally takes 3-5 sessions.
BEEP BEEP BOOP: In this residency - which takes about 2-3 sessions - students create an avatar/robot version of themselves. By pulling from lived experiences in the digital world, students are able to imagine themselves as a customizable video game character. This residency encourages students to think of proportion, scale, texture, and color theory in order to create a visually striking character. This residency can be tailored to suit a classroom's needs and can accompany classroom lessons if needed. This residency can be expanded to include a small stop-motion component for grades 4 and up.
Encourage inquiry, observation, process, and discovery through tactile experiments.
Deepen student learning and explore curricular concepts through an artistic lens.
Foster creative self expression and connection to the world at large through world-making and character creation.
Expand emotional literacy and self-awareness through reflection and self-investigation.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
More than ever, students need to find moments of quiet and calm to discover themselves. Between a global pandemic, civil unrest, and climate change students are overwhelmed and are often left to process their feelings on their own. Tactile experiments and world-making offer an opportunity to externalize internal narratives within a safe and encouraging environment. The process of creation gives students a chance to complete an art work within a set amount of time in order to foster positive feelings towards themselves and their abilities. It offers students a sense of control over a part of their life and the collaborative format of Mia's residencies further empower students by validating their agency and autonomy. After a year of virtual school, Mia has witnessed rising levels of anxiety, depression, feelings of isolation, and overall stress in our students. Their goal is to foster moments of mindfulness and playfulness in our youth.
SAMPLE RESIDENCIES:
COMIC BOOKS: Students will combine visual art and language to create comic books in relation to, or completely separate from, subject matter they might be engaging with in class. Comic books serve to further engage student by allowing them to world-make and imagine themselves as a character in their own story. First, we create a story and then use thumbnail sketches to plan our book. We incorporate the tactile practices of bookmaking and illustration to create the book from scratch and students are welcome to use different art mediums to complete their comic. This residency can be adapted to all grade levels and typically needs 4-5 sessions to complete.
THIS HOUSE CAN BE A HOME: This residency takes 4-5 sessions and gives students an opportunity to define the concept of "home" as a metaphor for safety, community, and rest. Students use different materials to build a house and design accompanying furniture, characters, landscape, etc. We cover basic principles of building such as: structural integrity, balance, weight-bearing supports - by using basic shapes like triangles and squares to create their homes. This residency is suitable for grades 3 and up.
SCULPTING FEELINGS:
Students are given the chance to interpret the physicality and materiality of emotion by translating emotions into multiple mediums, ultimately creating abstract sculptures that expand on their newfound emotional literacy. This program can be modified to become more complex for students in 4th grade and up. Residency normally takes 3-5 sessions.
BEEP BEEP BOOP: In this residency - which takes about 2-3 sessions - students create an avatar/robot version of themselves. By pulling from lived experiences in the digital world, students are able to imagine themselves as a customizable video game character. This residency encourages students to think of proportion, scale, texture, and color theory in order to create a visually striking character. This residency can be tailored to suit a classroom's needs and can accompany classroom lessons if needed. This residency can be expanded to include a small stop-motion component for grades 4 and up.
Program Requirements
Existing art room preferred. Sinks, adequate table space, and a projector. Can be flexible with enough communication.
