Arts are alive at elementary school

A 2013 Oregon Arts Commission report says arts education plays a vital role in developing students who become innovators and engaged citizens. Yet many Oregon communities are still struggling to integrate arts programming into the school day. In 2012, one in five elementary-aged students in Oregon attended a school with no access to arts curriculum.

Sisters Elementary School is not one of those schools.

In 2014, through a community partnership with Sisters Folk Festival (SFF) and a grant from the Fred W. Fields Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation, SFF hired a contractor to assist with arts integration at the school.

Karen Williams began her work last year, the first year in a three-year program coordinated by SFF, by helping elementary school teachers create an "art path" in their classrooms. Each day she was tasked with attending different classes, working with both the students and teachers integrating arts into the curriculum.

"The teachers here are awesome," says Williams. "So many of them had pieces of art programming or creative thinking already in their curriculum, I was able to assist by helping with additional integration opportunities."

This year it's all changed. Her classes have transitioned from an integration format to a complete arts experience for students. Every afternoon, Williams hosts four classes back-to-back as a part of the elementary school scheduling wheel. Williams has her own classroom, outside, behind the elementary school in the modular building, where every third day students experience a class dedicated to the arts at school.

"I love helping students become their own artist," says Williams. "I love to watch them explore. It's important for me to pass on a love for the arts and a voice of creativity."

In addition to being an arts educator, Williams is also a professional artist. When she has time, she focuses her work in acrylic painting. In fact, Williams stumbled into substitute teaching as a way to pay the bills.

"I rarely paint in front of the students - and if I do, I make a mistake - so they aren't comparing their work to another's work," she says. "I believe everyone should be creative in their own way. When the students come into my classroom, I call them artists."

After 20 classes, Williams allows open studio time or "free art day" as the students call it - and they love it. Students are able to create projects of their choosing with little direction from her.

"I was nervous with open studio time," she says. "I went home so thrilled with how well everyone did. The kindergartners were amazing! So focused on their projects - quietly working hard on expressing themselves creatively."

The Sisters Elementary School students are thriving with their additional creative time in Williams' art classes.

"Art is my favorite subject," says Lola Gloeckner, a first-grader. "I love painting and creating."

Studies show that young people who are exposed to and experience the arts can lead to greater success in other areas of the classroom and in life. The National Art Education Association believes art teaches many lessons to our youth. Some of those lessons include teaching children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships; problems can have more than one solution; small differences can have large effects; and that the arts can help students learn to say what cannot be said.

Sisters Folk Festival has known for years about the importance of art in education here in Sisters. The Americana Project, founded, directed and funded by SFF, is a gem in the Sisters School District. The data from the OAC's 2012 report only helped to articulate what local partners have already been working toward in this community which includes the importance of the arts all age levels.

"The grant from the Fred W. Fields Fund at OCF allowed us to increase the presence of arts in all of the Sisters schools," says SFF Development Director Katy Yoder. "We have been working hard for a long time trying to find a successful way to further develop the Americana program in the visual arts this grant has helped make that happen."

Community members can volunteer to assist in the art classroom. All volunteers must be pre-approved by the District. Applications are available at the front office of Sisters Elementary School during school hours.

Williams is always looking for donations of items the students can use to create projects - recycled greeting cards, calendars, or other items will always be put to good use.

"Nothing goes to waste in the art room," she says with a smile.