Bringing Art from the Gallery to the Classroom

The McLean Project for the Arts’ (MPA) ArtReach program has enriched the curriculum of local area school children by introducing them to the creative world of visual arts for 40 years.

The program began in 1962 as a collaborative effort between the MPA and the Fairfax County Public Schools. It blossomed in 1990 with the opening of the new facility. 

The MPA’s objective: To go into schools that were considered “at risk” because of a large number of English as a second language students and/or students who qualify for subsidized breakfast/lunches.  Typically, in other schools in Fairfax County, the Parent Teachers Associations (PTA) pay for field trips and art enrichment programs.  ArtReach allows the schools without the funds the opportunity to go to the MPA or to have a representative from the MPA come to them. 

 “MPA's ArtReach program is the only program in Northern Virginia going into Fairfax County Public Schools' elementary, middle and high school classrooms to conduct in-class-slide lectures, class art projects and after-school art workshops, and brings students to the gallery for interactive exhibition tours and hands-on activities that reinforce the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) Curricula.” said Sharon Fishel,the ArtReach Director.

Dabney Cortina, the Public Relations and Marketing Director for the MPA, said, “Some of these children have never been to a museum. They get a lesson in art gallery etiquette…Sharon Fishel  finds a way to tie the art into the SOL curriculum…some are math or science based…She is tying the current exhibits to prose and poetry..Art is important to our whole learning process. Art is not separate from learning.”

Tours are given by Fishel, Anthony Brock, and a docent, Lee Dicenso, who is also a member of the McLean Community Center Board.

This year, Fishel created her interactive program around the winter exhibits at the MPA: “Beyond the Pale”,” Of a Piece” and “Shiny New Tomorrow.”  Using Standards of Learning benchmarks, she tied the exhibits to prose and poetry and science while incorporating basic elements of art. During a 90-minute tour with first graders from Glen Forest Elementary School in Falls Church, students were asked to create word banks of colors, copy shapes from paintings, draw butterflies and superimpose one cartoon image over another.

The students were focused and attentive during the tour, busily drawing and answering engaging questions posed by Fishel and Brock.

“I like this one [Headlock Daphne by Bill Gusky] the best. She looks like Scooby Doo. She ate him [Porky Pig]. I drew Scooby and Shaggy and Alvin and the Chipmunks. They’re friends,”said   one student about “Shiny New Tomorrow,”

Nancy Obervillig, one of the art teachers at Glen Forest with the class said, “This is fantastic. The children get to connect at the artist’s level... Look at them. See how captured they are.”

Since its inception, ArtReach has grown beyond its original mission to include some new programs. The Resident Artist in School program is designed to give local area schools the opportunity to create collaborative art projects which are facilitated by Fishel. The students at Westgate Elementary School in Falls Church created a mural on one of the school’s walls. 

ArtReach has a program for special needs students who do not have art classes as part of their curriculum. “I often have projects that I offer for Special Education classes based on the exhibitions that we are having at the gallery," Fishel said. 

In the classroom, ArtReach sessions will often involve a hands-on project with a follow -up in-gallery visit to view a current exhibition. "This past fall, we offered Special Ed students at McLean High School, Longfellow Middle School and Langley High School a watercolor or collage project  which involved them in creating their own city. The McLean High School Special Ed students followed up by visiting our fall exhibition, "Realism Now: Cityscapes."

ArtReach also provides supplemental art classes, slideshows and afterschool activities to schools in Fairfax County. Some of these programs are supported by the PTAs.  According to Fishel, Churchill Road Elementary, Lemon Road Elementary, Westgate Elementary and Chesterbrook Elementary schools have PTA Coordinators who help organize after-school workshops.

In the fall of 2010, Fishel worked with teens at The Old Firehouse in McLean to create collages for the MPA’s "Cities" ArtReach project.  Fishel is planning additional painting workshops in the spring 2011 to add to the permanent collection at the Firehouse Teen Center

ArtReach has also provided classes to senior centers, such as the Lewinsville Senior Center and the Pimmit Hills Senior Center. The group from Pimmit Hills created collages and watercolors which are on permanent display at the Senior Center.