ARTsmart’s compassion is not cancelled! We reacted quickly to meet the changing needs of students, now learning at home. Our swift action affirms our mission to serve our communities by providing educational opportunities in the arts that promote confidence, self-discovery, and creative problem-solving skills. While much of education has shifted to online learning, ARTsmart reached families across the digital divide by providing arts activity booklets and art supplies for students who may not have consistent access to the internet and or computers.
Art Inspiration Bags
Beginning in mid-March, ARTsmart shared Art Inspiration Bags filled with free arts supplies with over 1200 Northern New Mexican students:
~ 275 students at 6 schools in Rio Arriba County
~ 1000 Santa Fe Public Schools (SFPS) students
Arts Curricula
ARTsmart Instructors created and shared age-appropriate Art Activity Booklets for students at 4 schools in Rio Arriba County. Over 1000 Art Activity Booklets were also shared with Santa Fe families through wide-scale resource sharing made possible by Santa Fe’s Community Educators Network and the National Educational Association.
With some support from Santa Fe Public Schools Art Department, ARTsmart gave Art Inspiration bags and Arts Activity Booklets to families served by SFPS Native American Services, SFPS Adelante Program (homeless families), and with Salazar Elementary School students.
Virtual Visiting Artist Video Series
ARTsmart’s Teaching Artist Program (formerly called Visiting Artist Program) has served Santa Fe Public School art students for over nine years. Through a partnership with Vital Spaces, ARTsmart continues to connect students with local artists. The Virtual Visiting Artist Series brings exciting techniques, ideas, and aesthetic practices to students through short videos created by five diverse artists living and working in our area. This inspiring content is found on ARTsmart’s YouTube Channel and will also be uploaded to this website as they become available. Watch, enjoy, share, and create!
Click on an image below to view full size
- Andrea Vargas, Virtual Visiting Artist (Part 1)
- A. Vargas “thumbnail” sketches (Part 1)
- A. Vargas Plein Air Painting (Part 2)
- A. Vargas Plein Air Painting “thumbnails” ( Part 2)
- E. Oscar Maynard, Virtual Visiting Artist
- E.O. Maynard paper cutting
- E.O. Maynard tracing for paper cutting
- E.O. Maynard finished paper cutting
- Gasalli Adeyemo, Virtual Visiting Artist
- G. Adeyemo tie-dye artist
- G. Adeyemo folds and ties paper
- G. Adeyemo tie-dyed paper design
- Heidi Brandow, Virtual Visiting Artist
- H. Brandow drawing a monster
- H. Brandow drawing a pattern of words
- H. Brandow placing monster drawing onto background
Click to watch the Virtual Visiting Artist video below where painter John Paul Granillo challenged student artists to create a video of their own artwork and submit it by May 29. Contestants had to answer the following three questions in their video to be entered to win an original 12″x12″ painting by the artist:
1. How do your surroundings inspire you?
2. How does your culture or tradition fuel you or impact your art?
3. What is the story?
Kimberly from Santa Fe is the winner of this challenge. Click below to view the video she made that features a painting she created that depicts her Guatemalan culture and helped her grow to express her love for her culture -something she was not so proud of years ago. Congratulations, Kimberly!
Everyone has been impacted by this crisis in some way. You can help make sure we continue to provide dynamic programming for children through and beyond these challenging times by making a donation today. No act of generosity is too small to make a difference.