2024 Winter Highlights: Craft in Schools Field Trips & Partners
As we round the corner from winter into spring, our Craft in Schools program would like to reflect on our most recent and multimedia season of teaching artist & student programs. Throughout February, over 200 students across five schools learned about and explored the creative potential of puppetry, piñatas, reclaimed, and assemblage art from our Spirit of Play: Craft and Imagination exhibition.
Inspired by our most recent PBS Craft in America featured Play & Miniatures episodes, we connected and engaged these students ages 9-18 with featured teaching artists Lorena Robletto, Calder Kamin, and local artist Eleanor Tullock from the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre.
![Rosewood Elementary 4th grade classmates, a chaperon, and their teacher ooh and ahh over the many colorful plastic/recycled art sculptures by Calder Kamin](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/W2024-Rosewood-Group_.jpg)
![Smiling group photo of 2 dozen or so enthustiastic Paul Revere M.S. art class with their teacher among the many colorful plastic/found object sculptures of Calder Kamin](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/W2024-PaulRevere-Fieldtrip-Group1_.jpg)
![Candid group photo of Rosewood elementary schoolers studying Schroeder Cherry's Future Voter artworks](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/W2024-Rosewood-2.jpg)
Our gallery visits investigated the environmental impact and hope within reclaimed/reuse art practices, guided by visiting artist Calder Kamin; we had a blast discussing school recycle programs, building out marker-cap jump ropes (pictured below) and exploring how we envision the future based on collective ecological responsibilities. Our curriculum explored poignant historical art related to Black History Month as seen in Schroeder Cherry’s historical puppetry and hopeful Future Voter Series assemblage art. Working with each of these artists was such a treat– full of personal artist-journey insights and messages of creative empowerment.
![Paul Revere middle schoolers gather their cardboard and found object materials for assemblage project with artist Calder Kamin](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/W2024.PaulRevere.Calder1-1.jpg)
![close up photo of colorful star pinata's with varying shades of blues purples and oranges held in a group by Van Nuys High School student hands reaching from off-camera](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/W2024-VanNuys-Fieldtrip-pinata1.jpg)
![Candid moment of Fairfax High School art students studying Mark Murphy's displayed miniatures and Loren Robletto's giant window Piñata](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/W2024-Fairfax1.jpg)
![Close up of cork and various found object mini figurines made by Palms M.S. students. Students work on their found object projects in the background](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/W2024.PalmsMS.ReUsed.Sculptures.jpg)
![Fairfax High students showing off their origami fabric puppets](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/W2024-Fairfax-3.jpg)
![Van Nuys high schoolers and Amazing Piñata Studios teacher craft star piñatas together with crepe paper](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_7483.jpeg)
All of us collaborating educators were impressed and delighted in our students’ depth of inquiry, creative innovation, and visual thinking. Special thanks to the following schools teacher and chaperone collaborators at: Rosewood Elementary, Paul Revere Middle School, Palms Middle School, Fairfax High School, and Van Nuys High School.
Community Partnerships: Reaching this many students in a whirlwind few weeks wouldn’t have been possible without key community partnerships. Our Craft Center would like to show our biggest thanks to all of our teaching artists and shoutout our wonderful LA-community partnerships with Remainders: Creative Reuse Space & Thriftstore in Pasadena; and Señora Robletto’s Mid-City Amazing Piñatas Creative Studio for donating our assemblage/reclaimed, piñata teaching artists, and piñata workshop materials. Do yourself a favor, explore and connect with these wonderful community shops and studios!
For more information about our Craft in Schools program or teaching artist opportunities, please contact (me) Sam@craftinamerica.org or center@craftinamerica.org
![Lorena Robletto (of Amazing Piñatas in LA) and Francisco Cardenas, PLAY, Craft in America](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Lorena-Robletto.jpg)
![Storefront of Remainders Creative Reuse store and community hub in Pasadena, CA](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Remainders_its_here_somewhere-640x640-1.jpg)
![Calder Kamin with her unicorn installation, PLAY, Craft in America](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Calder-Kamin-with-her-unicorn-installation-Denise-Kang-photograph1-edited-e1699558217961.jpg)
Craft in Schools: End of School Year Student Showcase
In the last week of Craft in America’s Permanent Collection exhibition, we proudly feature artwork made by students from our Craft in Schools program. The student art on display includes completed projects from school-workshops, virtual workshops, and school field trips to the Craft Center led by teaching artists. We’d like to extend a big thank you to Rosewood Elementary, Fairfax and ArTES Magnet High School classrooms for participating in this end of semester Student Showcase.
Over the last six months, 300 students from over six schools engaged in Craft in America’s Exhibition key concepts, vocabulary, art discussions, and artist workshops. K-12 students collaborated with teaching-artists Mandora Young, Victoria May (of Craft in America), Joe Cunningham, Carrie Burckle and the inspiring work of Diedrick Brackens. Featured mediums in this Student Showcase include compact card-loom weavings, quilting, and Hmong Paj Ntaub embroidery as explored in our previous exhibition Inspiration and Home: Highlights from the Episodes.
Craft in America wishes all students and their families a happy end of the school year! We hope to collaborate with more LAUSD schools in the coming school year!
For future Craft in Schools-program inquiries, please contact both:
Education Programs Lead – Sam Sermeno and Craft Center Director – Emily Zaiden
center@craftinamerica.org
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![Mandora Young at Rosewood Elementary, Craft in America](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Mandora-Young-Rosewood-Elementary-edit.jpg)
Craft in Schools: Home and Inspiration Winter Reflections
As we welcome Spring, our Craft in Schools program proudly reflects on all that we accomplished earlier this year. Thanks to ongoing partnerships with K-12 LAUSD classroom teachers and various teaching artists, we were able to host several on-site field trips, virtual gallery talks, and hands-on craft workshops based on our recent Home and Inspiration Exhibition.
In these educational programs, students were conversationally guided through Visual Thinking Strategies, and journaling and sketch pad prompts as they explored fiber, ceramics, woodworking, and sculptural art. Students ages 8-18 were encouraged to share their curiosity, ideas, and critiques of how they viewed craft and art practices both past and present.
![photo of 6-10 teens in an art gallery watching a screen slideshow about featured artists. There's pedestal stands for various art around them and a big window of walls looking out to the screen everyone's facing towards.](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Van-Nuys-Field-Trip.jpeg)
![Rosewood Elementary Field Trip Human Loom, Craft in America](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Rosewood-Elementary-Field-Trip-Human-Loom.jpg)
![ArTES Magnet Paj Ntaub, Craft in America](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/ArTES-Magnet-Paj-Ntaub-rotated.jpg)
![Two fourth graders proudly show their multi-colored yarn-weavings. Both of them smiles at the camera, while the boy on the left holds up a cardboard loom now empty of fiber](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Rosewood-Elementary-4th-Graders-Loom-Weaving.png)
Talented 4th grade weavers proudly show their yarn-weavings
Several classrooms hosted on-site teaching artists, such as Paj Ntaub artist Mandora Young and textile artist Victoria May. Together, we learned about the significance of Paj Ntaub’s mesmerizing embroidery within the Hmong diaspora, while learning the foundations of cross-stitch embroidery. Our neighboring Rosewood Elementary 4th graders enjoyed a dynamic “human loom” weaving exercise as pictured above! And, several classes explored hands-on weaving as seen in Diedrick Brackens’ Kente-cloth inspired weaving. Our Craft in Schools program hopes to continue collaborating with and would like to thank the engaging classes at: Rosewood Elementary, Palms Middle School, Van Nuys High School, ArTES Magnet High School, and Fairfax High School.
Stay tuned for more family and Craft in Schools programming!
![Rosewood Elementary 4th Graders Paj Ntaub, Craft in America](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Rosewood-Elementary-4th-Graders-Paj-Ntaub-1a.png)
![Rosewood Elementary 4th Graders Paj Ntaub, Craft in America](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Rosewood-Elementary-4th-Graders-Paj-Ntaub-3.jpg)
![A classroom photo shows students looking ahead at a screen with colorful Hmong embroidery patterns near a whiteboard. An asian lady with long hair and glasses expressively gestures to them as she speaks and they listen](https://www.craftinamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Mandora-Young-Rosewood-Elementary-edit.jpg)
Teaching Artist Mandora Young leads a hands-on Paj Ntaub workshop with elementary schoolers