A program of Idaho

Parents Unlimted

hands and clay

Creative Access Program

The VSA arts of Idaho Creative Access program has developed and provided for over 50 arts in education residencies in Idaho since 1998. Residencies can be in any art discipline. The Idaho program has grown to cover school districts throughout the state and has produced annual in-depth program evaluations on the overall program and outcomes for individual students and schools. The program includes all arts disciplines based on the needs of the local students and the available resources of each community. The program sites include grades K-12 and are always in both of Idaho’s two congressional districts. This coming year we anticipate having over 10 school sites involved in the program. These sites are identified throughout the school year until all program funds for that year have been allocated. Sites for last year were located in Boise, Nampa and the Fort Hall Reservation.

Creative Access Project Description 2004-2005

The Creative Access Program for 2004-2005 Included the following sites:

An additional project was also piloted at Adams School in Boise. The programs occurred throughout the school year over long periods of up to 8 weeks.

The Creative Access program for the 2004-2005 school year included 7 projects from both elementary and secondary programs in Idaho. The students who participated in the projects were taught by experienced artists, four of whom had participated in Creative Access projects in the past. Students were exposed to a variety of art mediums including painting, sculpture, drawing, and working with a various building materials.

A total of 260 students, 13 teachers, 9 artists, and 9 teaching assistants or art assistants participated in this year’s Creative Access projects. Seventy-eight students participating in the projects were receiving special services or considered at-risk.

Taft Elementary - Boise, Idaho


"Look Mrs. R., a happy Accident"

Sue Rooke has worked as an artist for the Creative Access Project for the past four years. Ms. Rooke is a well established artist in Idaho and always brings a particular flair to a class. This was her third year working with children at Taft Elementary School. Taft is a low income school. Between” 75% and 85% of the children” come from families who are at the “poverty level.” Twelve children began this year’s class with one of the children moving and another child expelled from school. All of the children were labeled either “at risk” or “learning disabled” and were receiving special education services. Classes were held for an hour and a half after school on Thursday afternoons for 11 weeks.

Adams Elementary - Boise, Idaho


"He had this transformation"

Take One Painting is based on the Take One Picture program which was developed by the National Gallery in London.  For the past ten years, the staff at the Gallery has chosen a painting from their Western European collection and invited teachers from across the United Kingdom to use it as a stimulus integrating art and the curriculum. The purpose of the program is to use this kind of approach to learning and teaching by taking a single image to stimulate classroom project work. For Take One Picture 2005, 160 schools from across the United Kingdom submitted work based on Degas’s "Beach Scene." The painting inspired work in literacy, mathematics, science, geography, history, music, and art.

The purpose of the Take One Painting pilot was to replicate the National Gallery project as an extension of the VSA arts of Idaho Creative Access program. A 4th grade class at Adams Elementary School in Boise, Idaho volunteered to conduct the pilot. The fourth grade teacher, Karen Weinberg, had expressed an interest in the Take One Painting concept and the special education teacher had been a recipient of Creative Access funds for two previous years. VSA also asked Surel Mitchell, a well known and respected local artist, to work with Adams on the project. Even though the goal of Take One Painting is for teachers to use a single image in a cross-curricular inclusive way, it was felt that using an artist during the pilot year would provide VSA with insights into what kind of training and skills might be needed in the future.

Prior to the February start date, Karen and Surel met with VSA staff in October 2004 to discuss the project. The first task was to decide on which painting would be the focus of the program. There was some discussion about using local artists such as James Castle, who is well known in the Boise area and was an artist with a disability. The problem with Mr. Castle’s work is that there are no reproductions that could be placed in the classroom. There was a discussion around the idea that a local gallery owner could bring one of Mr. Castle’s pieces to the classroom but since there are no reproductions any piece would have to be taken back to the gallery. It was felt that having a permanent print of a painting was important for the children to see while they were involved in their work. This strategy is used by the National Gallery as a way to introduce a painting to the children. In late October Surel and Karen met again to choose a painting. "We looked through different books," said Surel, "Kandinsky would have been my first choice but I wanted to talk to Karen before choosing the artist. When she came to Kandinsky she really liked it. You can go so many ways with him. Personally, he is one of my favorite artists."

Once the artist was chosen, Karen ordered posters that could be placed in her classroom. Surel began working on ideas for the project and decided that the work could be completed in four sessions. The classes were scheduled on Thursday afternoons for an hour and a half. There was some flexibility in the schedule and some free time during this particular time of the year.

The first class began on February 3, 2005. There were 24 children plus two children, M and L, from the special education self-contained classroom. Both of these children were categorized as having "cognitive impairments." The goals for these two children were "to be able to walk into the classroom and assimilate without a lot of accommodations. To cooperate with the other children in the class," said Ms. Chandler, the special education teacher who accompanied the children to Karen’s classroom.

Surel then began to talk about feelings and how artists can express themselves through art. She asked them if they knew anything about Kandinsky. One child said that he knew he was an abstract artist and that his first name was "Wassily." Surel told them that Kandinsky had "synesthesia" and asked the class if they knew what that was. She proceeded to explain synesthesia (or synaesthesia). The term is loosely defined as "senses coming together" which is a translation from the Greek (etymology: syn- together, esthesia from aesthesis – sensation). At its simplest level, synesthesia means that when a certain sense or part of a sense is activated, another unrelated sense of part of a sense is activated concurrently. For example, when someone hears a sound, he or she immediately sees a color or a shape in his or her "mind’s eye." People who have synesthesia are called synesthetes. Wassily Kandinsky was a synesthete. Music would set him off and he would hear, see, and taste different shapes.

She continued to get their thoughts on the three prints. How are the pieces alike and how are they different? "They have different colors," "shapes," "movement," "abstract."

The children then had questions for Surel. "What is it like to be an artist?" "Are you a synesthete?" "Does you do abstract art?" "Is your art on any posters?" "How long does it take to finish a painting?" Surel told the children that she thinks a person needs "passion" to be an artist. She said she had been working as an artist for 35 years and as a child, she would notice things "that other people didn’t notice, like the colors in an oil slick on the sidewalk." She told the class she was not a synesthete. "But when I was 8 years old I went to the Museum of Natural History in New York with my aunt. I saw a stuffed lion standing in front of a background of Africa and I was influenced by making something out of nothing." She went on to explain to the class that she "works from the inside out," and gives them an example of painting flowers in a vase. She described to the children how she paints the impression of the colors which reflect how she is feeling. "I don’t paint what I see, but use my feelings and thoughts about what I am seeing."

Surel then gave each child a piece of paper and the instructions "you need to make something from one line." When they finished the drawing they were given oil pastels to fill in the shapes. During each session Surel put a CD (e.g., Yo Yo Ma Jazz) on to inspire and relax the children.

The second project was done in teams. Surel began the session by asking the children what the word "collaboration" meant. Hands went up and the children came up with answers like "teams," and "working together." Karen divided the class into six teams with six children to a team. The teams were broken up into girls and boys and composed of people who were not necessarily friends.

Surel began the project by spreading a large piece of cardboard on the floor and then a piece of canvas on top of the cardboard. The canvas was split into six squares. The goal of this project was for the teams to draw Kandinsky shapes together with other members of their team. The team was given one pencil and first child on the team was instructed to begin a shape and the additional team members were to add on to it until the shape was finished. At particular places on the canvas the six segments would be connected to make separate sections look like a single painting. "Your pieces are finished if they look balanced," Surel told the children. "Some paintings may need additional, smaller or longer lines to make them look balanced." When the individual sections were finished the children went over the pencil lines with a marker and filled in the shapes with oil pastels.

The third project also required the children to work in teams. The goal of the final project was to use the Kandinsky shapes to complete an individual sculpture that would eventually turn into a group sculpture. The shapes had been drawn on poster board with white oil pastel on black and cut out. The shapes were placed in a basket and each child chose ten shapes which they painted with tempera paint in colors like lime green and hot pink. Once the shapes were painted each child was given a piece of clay, some toothpicks, and four painted shapes. The clay was to act as a base for the sculpture. Once the children had completed their individual sculptures it was the work of the teams to figure out how to connect the pieces to make one sculpture.

When the sculptures were finished Surel asked the children what, if anything, surprised them. "It was hard to do something cool and painting was hard," said one boy. "That shape, size, and color would make a three dimensional sculpture," said another boy. "That balancing the sculpture was so hard, "said a girl.

The children liked all the projects but creating the team sculpture was the highlight. Comments about the process included:

"I liked putting it together, liked how it looked. It looked unique."
"It was being creative in a different way, not just drawing on paper."
"It was a three dimensional piece and you could feel it."
"You could do whatever you wanted with it."
"Everyone’s was different."
"You could rebuild it until it worked. It was fun trying to make it balance."

The most surprising element of the project for Surel Mitchell was also the participation of the children from the special education class. "There was one boy who was basically disinterested with the first two projects," said Surel. "He was always tired, thought the projects were too hard and wasn’t motivated. When we did the sculpture, it was like someone had turned on a battery. He became so focused. He said, "I’m having so much fun. This is like a game." His brain is wired for three dimensional projects. That was the biggest surprise. The best moment."

The three projects were either hung on the walls of the hallway or displayed in the school showcase for several weeks. There was also carryover on a couple of different levels. After the second session, two boys from Karen’s class went down to Boise Blue Print where they bought canvas and acrylic paints. They began painting at home. Additionally, the "art mom" who assisted in the class was so impressed with the Take One Painting idea that she suggested to Karen that the class do a painting for the Adams School annual auction. The children did two additional cooperative pieces. One sold at the live auction for $1000.00 and the other one sold in the silent auction for $300.00. An additional $1300.00 for Adams School!

What did the children like best about the Take One Painting experience?

"I liked being able to do my own thing – no rules to follow."
"I couldn’t make a mistake."
"It looked cool, like we were professional artists."
"I liked doing it."
"I liked talking about art and learning about artists."