Casey Arts Alive!

Last Saturday, families, teachers, and volunteers from the community spent time creating together and celebrating Casey Elementary. Over 40 people-- parents, staff, and community members-- gave time or resources to make this event happen. Thank you so much! Over 120 people attended the festival. The visual art contest had 25 entries. The Poetry Out Loud Celebration had over 15 entries-- including some last minute interest. The Art Smart Committee hopes that Casey Arts Alive will become an annual event and that each year's group of art smart parents will feel free to create the festival in new and exciting ways.

Below are slide shows from the day's events:

Dancing Together with instructor Sonita Singh



Visual Art Contest with judges Rachel Misenar, Roz Roy, and Limeul Eubanks and coordinated by Stephanie Ivy

Knitting Together with instructors Bonnie Bowley, Jennifer Deaton, Susan Nix, Donna Evans, and Kathy Devenney

Drawing Together with instructors Adrien Caroll-Perkins and Shannon Frost



Gardening Together with instructors Melanie Allen, Mrs. Morgan, and Robby Luckett

Music Together with Strings Instructor Tammy Luke and strings students

JumpstART Mosaics, Silhouettes, and Collages

Today, Mrs. Pepper's third grade class made mosaics of an image of the King Edward Hotel that was projected onto the white board at the front of the classroom. They were practicing the technique with paper to prepare for creating a mosaic from small, square tiles and mirrors. Mrs. Bowley, a third grade parent, sent a book to share with the class entitled Saint Valentine by Robert Sabuda which uses mosaics for its illustrations.

Mrs. Wilson's class drew musical instruments that will be incorporated into their mixed-media art piece. Mr. Shambé and Mr. Miles also traced each student's silhouette in the teachers' lounge using two overhead projectors. Mr. Miles found an old guitar that he plans to break apart into pieces that will be added to their project.

Students in Ms. Gee's class focused on collage today. They viewed a large print of a collage by Romare Bearden, an artist of the Harlem Renaissance. Then, they began cutting images from old magazines and from their own photographs of Farish Street to mix into their portion of the JumpstART project.

Below is a slide show of all photos I took today. I ran out of battery power towards the end, so I apologize that there are not as many photos from Ms. Gee's class as from the other two third grade classrooms. Through these photos, I hope you may glimpse some of the work students, teachers, and artists did together this morning.



The third graders will be presenting their JumpstART project at the Casey Arts Festival and PTA program on March 26, 2009. There will also be a special meeting for third grade parents that night. Mark your calendars now!

LifeShards and the Dufy Exhibit

Photos by Kay Holloway from December 2008 LifeShards

You are invited to the Mississippi Museum of Art’s opening of the exhibition Raoul Dufy: A Celebration of Beauty Saturday, February 7. There will be activities in the galleries from 10:00-2:00. There is no cost for LifeShards participants. Please sign the sheet marked LifeShards which will be at the admission desk at the entrance of the exhibition. After you sign in, you will be given a Dufy sticker which allows you to go in the galleries. Looking forward to having you for this fun, exciting day!

For more information, contact:
Ivy Alley
Curator of Education,
Docents and Volunteers
380 South Lamar Street
Jackson , MS 39201
tel. 601.960.1515 fax 601.960.1505
www.msmuseumart.org

Special Note:

If you have been LifeShards regulars or if you want to visit LifeShards for the first time, I want to let you know that it is in a process of transition. The administration / management of LifeShards is shifting from Parents for Public Schools of Greater Jackson to the Museum. It may not look and feel exactly as it has in the past but it will continue to be a great opportunity for families to have quality arts experiences. This Saturday promises to be a special treat. Please help us spread the word!

Growing up through art

When we moved to Jackson in January of 2006, a flyer came home from my daughter's school about a community art project at the Mississippi Museum of Art called LifeShards. She was just entering Casey Elementary as a Kindergarten student, and my 2-year-old son was not yet in school.

Even though our house was still full of boxes that needed to be unpacked, we went to the first meeting of LifeShards on that first Saturday in January. Originally, LifeShards was a community response to Katrina, and it aimed to help families -- post Katrina-- connect with each other through making mosaics. Since we were new to Jackson, it helped us make new friends. And, coming from a small Mississippi town, we were eager to take advantage of the many cultural opportunities Jackson has to offer.

We made many individual and collective projects with mosaics including a piece for the Mississippi Museum of Art and a piece for the Mississippi Department of Education. My house has evidence of LifeShards all through it-- light switch plates, tiles, birdhouses, and picture frames. As LifeShards changed from its focus on mosaics to other art forms, it also began to meet once a month on the first Saturday instead of every Saturday. While we have not been to every single LifeShards gathering, we have made most of them.

We have had great fun through these three years and have learned so much from artists, friends, and each other. We have made mosaics and Styrofoam prints, drawn portraits, collaged, painted, and pieced together paper quilts. We have re-purposed recycled materials and fashioned figures, musical instruments, flying shoes, and altered books. We have taken knowledge of new art techniques acquired at LifeShards and shared them with others at church, other schools, and at home. We have incorporated skills learned into projects for school. We have been guided through exhibits of Jacob Lawrence, Marshall Bouldin III, and John James Audubon at the Mississippi Museum of Art.

The photo collages in this post reveal how my children have grown in three years. I am so grateful for how LifeShards has both enriched and changed our lives. I hope that Lifeshards will continue and that I may continue to watch my children grow through visual art experiences.

Growing up in a small town Arkansas, I did not have an opportunity like this. While I had some exposure to art in elementary school, the tracks we took in junior high and high school were determined by scheduling. If I wanted to play an instrument, I couldn't also be in choir or visual arts. My children have already learned in three short years what I have learned in forty years. My first serious exposure to visual arts was in college. Theirs was at ages 3 and 6. Just the other day, I overheard my now 9-year-old daughter explaining to my 6-year-old son how and why Matisse started making cut-outs. Thank you Casey. Thank you LifeShards.

All of these amazing photos and more were taken by Kay Holloway and can be viewed on Elizabeth Robinson's photo sets on Flickr. Kay's photographs of the children, activities, artwork, and materials document three years of community and creativity at LifeShards. Families from all over Jackson have attended LifeShards, including several families from Casey Elementary.

Won't you join us? Do you have a LifeShards story to tell?