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Macris, Gina

HELIN Digital Commons

The art of learning

Rhode Island College

Rhode Island CollegeDigital Commons @ RICBroad Street Studio Youth Program11-10-1995The art of learningGina MacrisFollow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ric.edu/bssThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Youth Program at Digital Commons @ RIC. It has been accepted for inclusion in BroadStreet Studio by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ RIC. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@ric.edu.Recommended CitationMacris, Gina, "The art of learning" (1995). Broad Street Studio. 2.https://digitalcommons.ric.edu/bss/2' ~. METRO EDITION . . .. . .:;. i#t\11¢tdQ;{!l'JI•l#¢tii1~1•JMi1Qjl•llJI•1§~ti ·.- -Pit . lbENCE The art of learning Journai·Bullet'in/TlMOTHY C. BAAMANN SELF-EXPRESSION comes naturally to George Threats, 11 , center. who belts out the lyrics to a song he wrote as he and others record a rap song In a recordtng ~tud to at AS220 yesterday. At left is Matthew Curran and at right, Germaine Ki ~g. The fifth graders-were studying art first-hand. In art,. pupils imitate life • A Youth A tts Confer~nce gives Snckett Street School l'i fth graders a chance to experience the life and work of artists. By GINA MACRIS .luurnal-Hullctin S taff Wrilc r PROVIDENCE - Fifth graders from the Sackett Street School went down-town to work in art ists' stu-dios at AS220 yesterday, but their a11istic experience actu-ally began a few weeks ago with a reading assignment about that "special place for the arts in Provideflce." · Like any other reading lesson, the story about AS220 highlighted certain vocabu· la ty; words like "alternative space" and ' 'revitalize'' and "blighted building." ·. Those words figur~ in the decade- long saga of the group of artists that eventual-ly ra ised enough mo'ney to tum a decrepit three-story building at 115 Empire St. into a new forum for the arts, with space for s tudios, living quarters, theaters and a cafe. The story of the success of AS220, which has people talking about an arts and enter1ainment district down-Turn to AS220, Page C 2 TAKING DIRECTION: Joseph Auger, of AS220, explains to the students that cooperation is important in the collaborative work of recording music. AS220 Contitwed frorn Pogo C 1 town, also stood out as rea l ~ life les-son in what people can do if they work together. ASl20, b y the way, combines the numbers from the address of the original an forum at 220 Weybossct St. with the initia ls for "a1t space" or "alternati ve space." It's a deta il the children lenrncd in their rending assignment. 1\nd after all that bctild-up, the entire fifth grade - about 60 chil-dren. including special educa tion students - got a chance to work at AS220 themselves. Mill icent Espada,. who signed up for drawing with illustrator l{ eith Munslow, said. " If's fun. You have to be crea tive and use a Jot of your . imaginat ion." Millicent was asked whether being creative is also a lot of work. She nodded, describing how she closed her eyes and thought hard about what she wanted to draw before she actually set to work. "Everybody has a different imagination,'' she said, as she showed off her " moogle," a benign-but-ugly creature that she had drawn as a boy with a cat- like grin · and a rin growing out of his side. · "You get to draw cool sru ff." . sa id Andy Flete. who got tips from Munslow about ways to bring move-ment to his drnwingofa "moogle." The day-long Youth Arts Conference. financed by tt~e Rhode Island f-oundation and the Ve1y Spe-cial Arts. was AS220's first plunge into cut educa tion. " It's important for people to rea li ze that arts are an important pmt of the community," said Laura Travis. who is both an a1t teacher at the Sackett Street School and a member of the board of directors of AS220. " It's impotta nt to tell people about it. hut not everyone is going to come through the door," said Travis. · "If we get kids in here to have this experience. hopefll lly they'll take idens away," she said, Travis engineered the multi-\ faceted art educa tion project with the help of all the school's fifth grade · teachers. AS220 made a video recording of the d~y·s events that the organiza-tion hopes to parlay into more fund· ing for a continuing art education program. · It cost about $3,000 to put on the event, or about $50 a chi ld; according to Umberto Crenca, i\S220's art istic director. As practicing art ists, the fifth graders were asked to choose the workshops they preferred and were given pack ets of material about · I AS220 that included biographies of their workshop leaders. • They also received T-~hi rts that FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 199~ commemorated the day with a log that played on the title of the Yout Arts Conference with the initial Yi\C and drawings of three yaks, touch of humor designed by i llusrr. tor Munslow. i\t first, it was hard to find th children, except for six or seven nn. ralisfs who Were working at the e~ trance of 115 Empire St. under th supervision of Angel Quinonez. The young artists were ver: quiet, <l pparcntly so absorbed i1 their work that they didn't have timt to mess around. Working from a photo, eacl youngster was busy covering a s~c lion of the wall with a fu ll -tengtl portrait pf Crcnca. Several version: of Crenca's bald dome bobbc< across one wa ll and turned a comer One art ist put Crenca in a dress. " I would have picked a differ· ent dress,'' Crenca said with r · st raight face when he was askec what he thought or the mura l. The other children had spreac Out in six other workshops nvcr three floors. Some of them to"k pic-tures of each other and developed ' the negatives in a basement dnrk· room. a workshop in science as well as art that was run hy photographc1 Scott Lapham. Others sweated in a fi rst noor dance studio with Cathi Nicoli , building individual movements, heat by bea t, into a number that flowed aga inst" a musical curtain of rhythm and blues. ' Upstairs on the second floor, Russell Kellogg led a workshop in acting that taught the children to be-come aware of their bodies and how they move. Down the hnll , producer Joseph Auger 'taught students what it takes to work in a real recording studio- including anent ion to tech-nical detail and cooperat ion. "Teachers don't make enough money," said a harried Auger after spending a morning with the chil-dren. When he listened cacefully to the music and words the children had recorded. he hea rd a rap piece that poignantly renected a fear of the streets and the indiscriminate vio-lence that emanates from the drug trade. " I be watchin' my back, some· body gonna smoke me" ... " I'm say-ing to God, please forgive me . . I never thought I'd get mY. family • killed." Auger said he was shocked. " It's a tragedy they have to deal with adult issues," he said. · He said he was thinking about cutting the rap piece out of the tape. but he quickly decided against it. " It's an authentic statement," he sa id. :'When it comes to self-expres-sion, it has to be done without cen-sorship. That's vital, er:>ecia lly for kids," he said. 

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The art of learning

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