It's about the kids - Celebrate!

Classroom Happenings and Unexpected Lessons

I thought the class room meeting yesterday was very good. I've been thinking about Eric doing the photography, climbing up on the box, changing lenses, etc. I'll bet that the students talked about it later among themselves or at home. They've probably heard about fashion shoots, etc., but they witnessed a professional photographer working with a group of artists who were intently doing creative stuff. It just so happened that the creative stuff was with the students' boots. It was an experience that probably showed them quite a few things. The value of their boots as ART, working together, a creative atmosphere where new ideas -even strange ideas -are valued. All the ALRI artists were focussed on helping Eric with a good, artistic shoot, and the boots were the center of attention. I think there were lessons in that which we never thought about and which the students benefitted from.

Bill and I talked about what we were teaching the students on the drive up. I think we taught them something yesterday that we never thought about. It came naturally from our creative cores!

Evelyn

And Eric, our photographer responds:

I thought about this on the way home, too. I wish that we had included the students in the process... Had them arrange boots, shown them the final images and what we thought were the better images... We were so intent on getting the image that we passed up an opportunity. Next time....
... and, believe me, you're not talking about a professional photographer!
Be of good cheer,
Eric

Coming to the End

The boots are being completed. Kids who had thought the task impossible when introduced in the Fall, or thought it just another art project are discovering a whole new side of themselves. 

Reflections in a Down Economy

The project has been very different this year than last. We have had to steel ourselves for the trip to Central Falls High School. The foreclosure rate in Central Falls is the highest in the state (57/1000) with Rhode Island being the highest in Southern New England. On each trip there are more boarded up houses on the streets leading to the school. These are not detached single family homes either - these are triple deckers, some with units fore and aft, so as many as six families might be affected by a single abandoned house. 

The nativism promoted by the current governor in his policies towards immigrants has added to the tension among the students.  We see this particularly this year because we know some of the students from last year whom we are encouraging to apply to college. We promote college without being able to address the elephant in the room of immigration status - and hope they will have the courage to see themselves as college students. 

This year it is all the more apparent when the downturn arrives, those least prepared are the ones most directly and deeply affected. 

Coming to the Holidays

As we look towards the break for Christmas we are coming to the end of the design phase. Some students who had settled into the design quickly, have even begun painting their boots. 

The designs this year are seem less focused on identity -- my national flag, my soccer team's colors. the flora of my homeland, or my favorite thing -- and more on an escape. There are boots with medieval worlds, boots with fantasy characters, and boots with mythical plants. Some boots still reflect ethic heritage or national identity but this year more are personal. 

For many reasons this year feels different from the last time. We feel constrained in the materials - the paints that were new last year, are sometimes thick in their pots, hardened and impossible to reconstitute. The paints and Sharpies from last year have become art supplies - that sense that the materials were special, were part of a singular project, has been subsumed into the class routine. 

But still, there is joy - hard work and focus on rework to make things perfect.

Project Launched for 2008-09

Mimo Gordon Riley mentors a student as he begins to experiment with the designs for his boot template.