ArtPart

Building community through art:

The third grade art class at Calvin Donaldson along with the seventh grade art class from Chattanooga Christian School started out the school year with a very innovative and creative art idea!  

Mr. Shaun Larose (CCS Art Teacher) brought in local artist Rondell Crier to speak to CCS students and share about his career as a professional artist and designer. Mr. Crier showed students how to understand and work with client expectations and create a design based on the client’s written information to create a product of art. The product would be custom designed, hand-painted tennis shoes. All the student’s needed was a client.  So, they turned to a class from nearby neighbor Calvin Donaldson Environmental Science Academy (CDESA).  The third grade students at CDESA also had a day with the artist and gave information such as their favorite color, food and activities they enjoyed. Once this information was gathered and given to the CCS students, they went to work sketching, drawing and painting on canvas sneakers they purchased to give to their clients, the CDESA third graders. After many hours of painting the shoes and designing gift boxes the project was complete. The wonderful surprise outcome was the community building that took place as a result of these creative efforts and study of art. The CDESA students did a walking field trip and came to the fine arts center where the CCS students were anxiously awaiting the opportunity to meet their client and hand off their great, colorful works of art! There were lots of smiles and cameras flashing as the students of both schools shared stories of what they liked and what they had created. This creative project was a powerful experience with many lessons about shared resources, the creative marketplace and most importantly, building community right where we live. This project was made possible by a donation from the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts).   We are so grateful for this support and the impact on both CCS and CDESA students.