Departments
Arts
|
Week of 6 February 1998 |
Vol. I, No. 19 |
Arts
Lexington High School
students (from left) Somayeh Kashi, Natasha
Bonguli, and Peter Gill watch a demonstration by
art educator Tim Rollins. Robert Branch of the Kids
of Survival looks on. Photo by Fred Sway
Many hands make light
By Joan Schwartz
If you heard about a master class at the School for the Arts, would you picture a great diva à la Maria Callas working with the most advanced and experienced graduate students? Or would you see a master teacher igniting the creativity of a group of local high school students?
It was the latter for a group of SFA art education students on a recent weekend. They gathered at SFA to watch art educator Tim Rollins, founder of the Kids of Survival (K.O.S.), collaborate on a piece of art with students from local high schools. K.O.S. was originally established 18 years ago in the South Bronx as an after-school arts program for students with learning disabilities.
Students from high schools in Lexington, Mansfield, Milton, and Everett met on a Saturday morning and were soon getting down to business. "We're going to make art that will approach magnificence," began Rollins. "It will be based on the text of Prometheus Bound, a play by the Greek writer Aeschylus." And in turn drill sergeant, cheerleader, encouraging friend, and demanding teacher, Rollins, along with K.O.S. member Robert Branch, guided the students through both conventional and K.O.S. translations of Prometheus. "This is about fire, the creative spark," said Rollins as he passed out paper and crayons. "Now, draw your fire. Find the luminous petal . . . the size of a fingerprint, the size of a glowing ember, the size of a rose petal."
The SFA students were learning no less than the high schoolers. They saw how Rollins drew upon a classical text from Western culture to create a collaborative work of art. Similar works with which he has been involved have earned an international reputation as well as a place in such museums as the Museum of Modern Art, the Hirshhorn, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Judith Simpson, assistant professor of art education at SFA, has followed Rollins' work with urban students for many years. "When Hugh O'Donnell [director of the visual arts division at SFA] suggested that we do a master class in art education, I immediately thought of Tim," she says. "His technique is one the students would not generally see in class. He functions very much like a theater director or an athletic coach. He provides a structure and his stamp is very much on the final product, but each participant's own unique signature is there as well."
Her colleague and chairman of the art education department, Associate Professor Janet Olson, agrees. "Tim is controversial, but he is very effective for certain students, and it's important that our students see a variety of approaches. Teaching is an art form, and teachers need to try on different styles before they can develop their own personal teaching style. I think we'll have some very stimulating discussion as a result of this experience."
The SFA students had a variety of reactions. "My head is swimming," says Amy Atkins, a second-year graduate student in art education who is teaching three-dimensional