Place, Richard, Ed. Connecticut Commission on the Arts, Hartford

DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 111 025 CS 202 245 AUTHOR Shapiro, Stephen R., Ed.; Place, Richard, Ed. TITLE Artists in the Classroom. INSTITUTION Connecticut Commission on the Arts, Hartford. SPONS AGENCY National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, D.C. PUB DATE 73 NOTE 124p.

EDRS PRICE MF-$0.76 HC-$5.70 Plus Postage DESCRIPTORS *Art Activities; *Artists; Case Studies; *Class Activities; Classroom Techniques; *Creative Activities; Creative Art; Creative Expression; Creativity; *Educational Programs; Elementary Secondary Education; Music IDENTIFIERS *Artists in the Classroom; Connecticut

ABSTRACT Since 1970, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts has sponsored educational programs in which artists participate actively in the classroom with students and teachers. Thisbook contains eight case studies showing the effects of visitingartists in eight Connecticut schools. Topics of these studiesare song writing, dance movement in suburbia, artas a natural element, talking drums, a 30-day musical jam session, caustic merriment, creating an alternate school, and an interdisciplinary improvisation. Three additional chapters discuss efforts to develop longerterm residencies for artists in two schools; thesuccesses and failures of the new Poets in Colleges program; and the function, needs,and programs of artists assigned to schools. An annotated list of the participants is included.(JM)

*********************************************************************** * Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished * * materials not available from other sources. ERIC makesevery effort * * to obtain the best copy available. nevertheless, items of marginal * * reproducibility are often encountered and this affects thequality * * of the microfiche and hardcopy'reproductions ERIC makes available * * via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS isnot * * responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions * * supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original. * *********************************************************************** Artists in the Classroom U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION &WELFARE LC1 NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION N \../ THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRD DUCE D EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM C) THE PERSDN OR ORGANIZATION ORIGIN ATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS I STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRE SENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY

y Connecticut Commission on the Arts Education Programs

Narrative: Stephen R. Shapiro Richard Place Richard Scheidenheim

Design: Nathan Garland

Photography: J. J. Linsalata Artists in the Classroom" was written and c Copyright 1973 Connecticut Commission edited by Stephen Shapiro and Richard on the Arts Place, education consultants to the Connec- All rights reserved However, we encourage ticut Commission on the Arts, with the reproduction of any part of this book with assistance of Richard Scheidenhelm, free- our permission. lance writer-editor from Denver, Colorado. The journal is published through grants from the Education, Literature and State and Community Programs of the National Endowment for the Arts. -PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS COPY- RIGHTED MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of Connecticut the National Endowment for the Arts or Commission on the Arts the schools and individuals whose participa- TO ERIC AND ORGANIZATIONS OPERATING tion in the education programs of the UNDER AGREEMENTS WITH THE NATIONAL IN Connecticut Commission on the Arts are STITUTE OF EDUCATION FURTHER REPRO DUCTION OUTSIDE THE ERIC SYSTEM RE- documented in the report. OUIRES PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT The editors wish to express their gratitude OWNER to the National Endowment for the Arts, and to June K. Goodman, a member of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts who served as an editorial adviser, Martin Kush- ner, Victor Miller and Andrea Keller.

Connecticut Commission on the Arts 340 Capitol Avenue Hartford, Connecticut 06106

203-566-4770

3 Commission on the Arts

Edgar deN. Mayhew, Chairman New London Joseph Albano West Hartford Marcia Powell Alcorn Suffield Marian Anderson Danbury Marcia Babbidge New Haven John X. R. Basile West Hartford Earl P. Carlin Branford Herbert L. Cohen Westport Frank B. Cookson Storrs Anita Brand Eisner New Haven James Elliott Rocky Hill June K.Goodman Danbury John W. Huntington West Hartford Carmelina C. Kanzler New London Philip Kappa! Roxbury John L. (Jackie) McLean Hartford Paul P. Mitnick West Hartford Paul W. Morency Avon Jean Clarin Orr Storrs John F. Papandrea Meriden Moshe Paranov West Hartford Sally Thomas Pavetti Waterford Vincent J. Scully, Jr. New Haven Mary Hunter Wolf New Haven Ann Newton Zeisler Bridgeport

Anthony S. Keller Executive Director Janet D. Alba Information Center Coordinator Gary Paul Caster Fiscal Officer Michael A. Croman Staff Coordinator, Grants Officer Mary R. Custer Editor Arts Calendar Maureen Ferrara Information Center Assistant Charles L. Fidlar Music Consultant Therese L. Hannon Stenographer June Kennedy Dance Consultant Catherine Metcalfe Communications Officer Sydell Newman Secretary to the Director Richard Place Education Consultant Kip Rosmarin Administrative Intern Stephen R. Shapiro Education Consultant The Connecticut Commission on the Arts was created to "encourage, within the state, participation in, and promotion, development, acceptance and appreciation of, artistic and cultural activities which shall include, but are not limited to music, theater, dance, painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, films and allied arts and crafts ... To this end the agency may join or contract with private patrons, individual artists and ensembles and with institutions, local sponsoring organizations and professional organizations..." ... All activities ... "shall be directed toward encouraging and assisting, rather than in any way limiting, the freedom of artistic expression which is essential for the well-being of the arts. Said commission shall maintain a survey of public and private facilities engaged within the state in artistic and cultural activities and determine the needs of the citizens of this state and the methods by which existing resources may be utilized, or new resources developed, to fulfill these needs."

Public Act No. 579 (1965) Connecticut General Statutes 10-369 through 373

5 Contents

10 Preface

12 Introduction

East Hampton: 18 Eight Year Old Songwriters Memorial School

Glastonbury: 28 Dance Movement in Suburbia Glastonbury Schools

Bristol: 38 The Feel of How It Grows Bingham School

Oldletown: 46 Talking Drums Woodrow Wilson High School

Manchester: 54 Thirty-Day Jam Manchester High School

New Haven: 60 Caustic Merriment Edgewood Scnool

Hartford: 66 Creating An Alternate School Shanti School

Washington 78 An Interdisciplinary Improvisation Washington Middle School

88 The Artist in the School

Hartford: 98 Poets in the Colleges Program University of Hartford New Britain: Central Conn. State College Bridgeport: University of Bridgeport New Haven: Southern Conn. State College

Bridgeport: 114 Artist -in Residence Program Whittier School North Haven: North Haven High School

124 Things to Think About

128 Visiting Artists 1971-72

0 Preface

This book is an invitation to examine some by these models can take place in your of the untraditional roles the arts can town. If you are an artist who has never play in education. The documentation we had the satisfaction of working with schools offer is the voices of artists, teachers, before, we hope this book creates a desire administrators, consultants and students within you to bring your special gifts to ele- describing their own classroom experiences mentary and secondary students. The case studies in these pages are not We welcome your inquiries and will do all success stories, programs sometimes our very best to provide complete answers. flop. Nor are the experiences always Please contact either Richard Place or descnbed objectively, passions are central Stephen Shapiro, our two education con- to what we are trying to achieve. We do sultants, at the Connecticut Commission not presume to tell you everything-you-need- on the Arts, 340 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, to-know about programming artists in the Connecticut, 06106. (203) 566-4770. classroom: that knowledge is best discovered in the doing. Anthony S. Keller What you will find in the book are Executive Director individual studies of artists working as para- November, 1972 professionals in the classroom. If you are a school administrator, teacher or curriculum planner, you may be challenged by these examples to develop a visiting artists program geared to the special needs of your school. If you are a parent or school board member, you may be encouraged to seek special funding so that programs suggested

I I 10 i Introduction

The Arts Commission has been developing tion of our cultural development objec- its education programs almost since the tives, the agency is in an excellent position agency's inception in 1965. The first major to support our many colleagues in effort was Project CREATE, a nine-town education who seek a more rapid moderni- Title III (ESEA) project that operated with zation of their profession. the Commission's guidance between With them, we are committed to change, 1967 and 1970 After that very valuable ex- not for its own sake but for the sake of perience, the agency has sought a new the present generation of students and those relationship between artists and schools, yet to come. Never before have major one that is direct and takes place in revolutions in knowledge, understanding, the classroom, not in the auditorium. This production and life style occurred with such has meant personal, active participation speed. Learning to balance the primary of students and teachers, rather than the forces of stability and mobility is critical to anonymous viewing of performances the well-being of our youth. If our artists or one-shot demonstrations engagement can help young people and educators find rather than detachment, involvement that balance, the Arts Commission will rather than entertainment, questioning rather continue to consider the concentration of than tranquility. its efforts in the schools just and proper. In support of our approach we have often During 1971-72, we worked with schools taken our cue from those educators who in Bloomfield, Bridgeport, Bristol, Dan- view the field of education as walking back- bury, East Hampton, Falls Village, Glaston- wards into the future. We associateour bury, Hartford, Manchester, Middletown, efforts with those critics who, while accepting the significance of teaching basic subject matter, are first and foremost concerned with the education of the whole person. With them we recognize the importance of educational strategies that, instead of fragmenting the child and alienat- ing him from himself, bring his body, mind and senses together into a strong, responsive individual. We urge that more attention be given to teaching how to learn and unlearn, how to ask questions, how to absorb, discard or utilize information and how to relate to one's life material and experience for- merly considered unimportant or irrelevant in traditional education. Proceeding from this point of view, the Commission's education programs have been ambitious, spontaneous in character, often mysterious in form, and varied in ideological and political content. As a small agency located outside of the established educational structure, the Arts Connnnk,sion is fortunate in not being duty-bound to accept all the cumbersome aspects of today's education process. Perhaps that is our greatest value to educators. Because we consider the work of the state's schools so closely akin to the implementa-

12 3 Montville, New Hartford, New Haven, New- Naturally, some will have more success ington, North Haven, Roxbury, Sims- than others, in terms of skill and range bury, Stratford, Washington, Waterbury and of creative imagination. But saying "that's Woodstock. The programs struck a balance bad art" oris it art?" will generally be between rural, suburban and city schools irrelevant and probably counter-productive and served students from varied economic The essence of the process is the ex- and cultural backgrounds. ploration of the senses through artistic A crucial prerequisite in setting up media and the guidance of practicing programs is demonstrated interest on the artists. In this regard, it should be distin- part of the schools. Sometimes this guished from ordinary art and music interest is vested too much in one individual classes where primary lean ,ng expectations the principal, a teacher, a guidance are in the areas of (a) skill and (b) ap- counselor rather than uniformly spread preciation. throughout the school. Other times it And what is the relationship of the visiting is too vague or diffused. In either case, we artist to the art or music teacher? If the try to work with the school officials artist happens to be a visual artist or a musi- toward a more promising involvement. Oc- cian, he or she is in no way a substitute casionally, efforts to develop a receptive or replacement for the existing staff. Most atmosphere for a program fail and we are visiting artists have had limited class- forced to drop a school from considera- room experience and few have had any tion. Getting a replacement is no longer a formal teacher training. They do not problem since there is now a waiting list of schools wanting to participate. Visiting artists, such as painters, film makers, dancers, musicians, poets, writers, sculptors, puppeteers, craftsmen and theatre people spend as few as 15 days in a school and as many as 100. They work primarily in classrooms with the teacher present. Whenever possible, they work with the same classes over extended periods of time. Partial coverage of artists' fees comes from the Arts Commission through one of three programs being administered by the agency: the Visiting Artists Program, the Artist-in-Residence Program and the Poets in the Colleges Program. The Commission expended $80,850 for the programs in 1971-72. Most of these funds came from the National Endowment for the Arts. $133,628 has been budgeted for 1972-73. Participating schools receive grants from the Commission, usually on a 50-50 matching basis. Our school programs are more concerned with the development of sensitivities than with the development of skills. We believe that all kids can profit from experiences that heighten their sense of themselves and their world.

13 enter the school as teachers and if cast in as successful in the classroom were able to that role, they are not likely to provide shine, or at least voluntarily participate, their most valuable service. On the other in one aspect of their education." hand, if the faculty and administration When communicated to kids, the artist's can capitalize on the differences between special way of viewing the world and them and normally available personnel, directly relating to the senses createsan the artists can significantly enrich the intimacy that is a joy to see. Because school's learning atmosphere. the arts have generally been considered We have discovered that one of the peripheral in our schools, or not con- important results of an artist's involvement sidered at all, one of our primary concerns in the school is a new, improved level of is to provide compelling examples of energy in the whole school population. The the arts as a major source of discovery with- skeptics will say "Of course any gim- in the total curriculum. We have found mick that breaks the routine will raise the that the best people to guide this new direc- energy level." They may be right, but tion in a school on a Monday and Wed- the successful visiting artist ends up by being nesday are people whose daily living on the more than a gimmick In some cases, we've other days of the week involves profes- noticed that the energy level stayed up long sional work in the arts. Artists don't survive after the artist's departure. in their own creative work unless they On a number of occasions, teachers have constantly exercise their minds and imagina- reported that artists can bring out the tions and the tools of their trade. These child who is unresponsive in other circum- artists who offer their services to schools stances For example, in Chapter I you generally have a stake in the teaching-learn- will read the following comment of an East ing process which is vital, demanding Hampton teacher' "Children who are not and on-going. A school ready to experiment with this resource is one where challenge and honest dialogue is not feared. While we are not fussy about which students are selected to participate in the program, we do care about the numbers of students our artists are sometimes asked to engage in a class or a school. A principal who yields to the pressure from parents to reach every student with every program equally will get the least benefit from a visiting artist to his school, The "highs" students hit with their new- found friend, the artist, must worry teachers at times just as a parent worries about restoration of order and allegiance after the favorite relative leaves. The best way of avoiding post-visit conflicts is through a close working relationship between the artist and teacher during ine visit. The only time we have been aware of an artist's time at a school creating trouble after his or her departure is when, in clear view of the students, the teacher and artist disassociated themselves from each other.

14 im This book is divided into 11 chapters. During the past five years, the Connecticut Eight case studies showing the effects of Commission on the Arts has observed visiting artists in eight Connecticut that there are few investments a school can schools; one chapter concentrates on ef- make in arts programming that can be forts to develop longer term residencies more valuable or longer lasting than an in- for artists in two schools, another discusses vestment in the perceptions of artists the successes and failures in the new themselves. Our own experimentation with Poets in the Colleges Program and one deals visiting artists has repeatedly under- with the function, needs and problems of scored this view. artists assigned to schools. Now the Commission feels it is ready to A few words about the case studies. The act as a resource of ideas, artistic per- eight were chosen from a field of 18 sonnel and, whenever possible, funding to because we felt they were particularly good the schools of Connecticut to further examples of what educators can hope to their own work with artists. As we become accomplish with visiting artists. The studies better staffed and budgeted, we took also indicate the wide range of artists forward to widening our service to public available to work in Connecticut's schools education in the state. and how important it is for administrators and the Arts Commission staff to have a very A.S.K./S.R.S./R.P. clear idea of what the school needs before seeking out an artist. The case studies can be introduced best by setting out a number of key questions, raised through each chapter, that administrators and teachers might consider:

Can a visiting artist provide teachers with new teaching methods? (East Hampton) How can artist-teacher interaction help generate growth for each while contributing to new curriculum? (Glastonbury) What is the role of communication when conflicts do arise in a VAP? (Bristol)

How can artists help teachers realize their innovative objectives? (Middletown) To what extent can artists help "humanize" a school atmosphere? (Manchester) What happens in a school program when the artist's strong personality is the core of the program? (New Haven) How does an artist function in the unstable setting of an alternative high school? (Hartford)

How can a visiting artist act as a catalyst for an interdisciplinary program in a school? (Washington)

17 1.1 East Hampton: Eight Year Old Songwriters Memorial School

I wish I was a fire-breathing dragon Returning Artists In a New Format I wish I was a fire breathing dragon An early question Mr. C. explored with If I was a firebreathing dragon Commission Education Consultant Stephen I'd take a ride in a little red wagon Shapiro was whether or not to have the I wish I was a fire-breathing dragon Patons back for another year and, if so, (lyrics by a Memorial School third grader, whether to alter the format of the program. written to a traditional folk melody) The Patons ale warm, friendly people. The Visiting Artists Program is about After many years of being wandering folk change. Sometimes it is the students who singers, they settled first in Vermont and seem to change the most over the period now live in rural Sharon, Connecticut Sandy, the artist works in a school. But if the /AP whose roaming days stretched back to his is to have real impact, the teachers must early teens, spotted a beautiful, engrossed be lett with expanded ideas and new pos- listener at a Berkeley concert he gave sibilities for their own teaching. When in 1957 "Two days later I asked her to mar- the artist leaves, they remain. ry me; three days later she accepted the By the end of Memorial School's VAP in idea; and we've been singing together over spring, 1972, some of the teachers were since." utilizing specific teaching techniques they After their two children reached school had picked up while working with the age, the Patons began to do more sing- artists. They were approaching their writing ing in public schools anti less concertizing and general English-language instruction and touring They also produce their in more imaginative and playful ways. For own and others' records for Folk-Legacy the eight-year-olds, learning had become Records. Their involvement with the more fun. Arts Commission's education programs ex- Memorial School is located in East tends back almost to the Commission's Hampton, a fast-growing commuter com- inception. munity with a population of 7,078, They are tremendously popular with twenty-three miles southeast of Hartford. elementary schoolers. Children swarm all Children in grades K-3 attend the over them. They had appeared in assem- school, a one-story brick structure with bly and doubled-classroom sing-alongs at bright, airy rooms and expansive, Memorial the year before. But was this grassy playground space. format meaningful enough? At a later meet- The school reflects its predominantly ing, one teacher expressed her reserva- white, middle-class surroundings. There is tions and her change of heart when she had an ease to it. Principal William Cies lu- experienced the new structure of the kowski is large in physical size and smiles. spring, 1972, program as follows: At the time of the VAP, he was serving his But even when the Patons came in last third term as principal. A fishing and camp- year and then came around to the class- ing enthusiast, he has two daughters of rooms, they were much better i n the class- elementary school age. He likes his Job. rooms . .. When we put two classes Visiting artists are not new to Memorial. together it was not the same thing. Some Folk singers Sandy an,.. Caroline Paton children were sitting back and not sing- had been there for five days the year before. ing, I thought it was a waste of time last In hopes of a 1971-72 program, Mr. C. (as year. I was not for it. But alter seeing his teachers call him) had already done some when they came to the classroom (this is scrambling for matching funds before he the first time this year whon we just had contacted the Arts Commission. Private do- them in the individual classrooms), it was nations and benefit performances by Dodo quite a difference. the Clown and the local Belitown Players And other teachers: helped the cause. Mr. C. raided his assembly fund for additional money.

18 2 411.1101,..---.--

There's a certain give and take in the We had worked as visiting artists before classroom. You're not lost in a crowd like and had spent five days in the same the auditorium Those who sat in back school in 1971. In addition, we have done forget it. hundreds of school assemblies and I don't think their coming just once... children's concerts. Always our emphasis there is nothing there. I'd say a certain has been on singing with children group of boys, they didn't really respond all rather than at them. We tried to find and use out the first time. They started to warm material that children could learn easily up in the second session a little bit more, and that they would enjoy singing. With very and by the third they were there. The young children, we usua. y broke the ice Patons come on so strong, when they walk with a song that used their own names, mak- in they're just there, and they're just hu- ing the musical experience immediately man, and sometimes the kids don't know personal. We usually got a high degree of how to take them. They're so open, and they group participation and the children sit back and just watch them. usually seemed quite enthusiastic about the So out of the 1970-71 program that had songs. focused on sing-a-longs, a more con- But this year, the program engendered centrated program with a different thrust a degree of enthusiasm and involvement that evolved in the spring of 1972. The we don't think we achieved before and Patons spent eight days at Memorial School. the reason was that the children actually After an opening assembly day, they participated in the song-making process. concentrated their energies on six 3rd Grade Steve Shapiro, of the Connecticut Commis- classes. This allowed the children a new sion on the Arts, suggested the idea to kind of participation. Caroline Paton describes the change:

19 us and caused us to examine our repertoire Children Writing Songs with an eye for those songs that could be In a series of about five visits with each 3rd expanded in a creative way. Grade class at Memorial, there was a There was one predictable difficulty that chance for the kids to compose and de- resulted from focusing the program on velop their own verses. They could the 3rd Grade. Mr. C. noted in a report that then experience the joy of singing their while "concentrating the program was own creations. The Patons, whose more effective and beneficial ... other sensitivity to the possibilities of this ap- youngsters at the other grade levels proach emerged from their love of were disappointed that they didn't work children and the fact that they always took with the Patons for more sessions." the youngsters' efforts seriously, described the process: The use of words as pure sounds, in a genuinely poetic way, seemed to delight the youngsters. This was a device used in constructing new verses for several of the songs and gave us some of the most imaginative contributions. Many verses were created which placed animals in unexpected places and unpredictable activities. These were used to help the children break out of conventional patterns and produce more imaginative concepts. They delighted in I eying frogs float on cakes of soap in bathtubs, or squirrels riding on private eleva!ors in their hollow trees, or horses eating peanut-butter sandwiches. (Sandy) We were really delighted with the way the children responded to this new approach to the songs. The children were consciously trying to create new verses to the songs and when we returned to their classes, they presented us with pages of verses they had written themselves, Many of the best verses, however, were made up in the classroom, by group effort and with different children offering their own ideas. (Caroline) The traditional pattern :or one song that the Patons used as a model for their songwriters was as follows: I wish I was a fuzzy, wuzzy fox, I wish I was a fuzzy, wuzzy fox, If I was a fuzzy wuzzy fox IV never have to change my sox, I wish I was a fuzzy, wuzzy fox. A 3rd Grade boy created the Patons' favorite verse for this song: I wish I was a corny unicorn,

20 14 WalM4,

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I wish I was a corny unicorn, provide an opening'ch as "I wish..." Ill was a corny unicorn and then the studen.. vould complete the I'd play a tune on my unicorn horn, line with their own pislaso. The Patons' I wish I was a corny unicorn. technique was similar, but had the advan- Trusting Sandy's exhortation to be "silly' tage of an added dimension. When the and "goofy," tne children wrote verses kids finished writing, they got to sing their that made them giggle in delight at them- poems! selves: "Hey, Little Boy" was another song that I wish I was a wriggly, wiggly snake, provided a model for children's verses. I wish I was a wriggly, wiggly snake, The original lyrics are: 111 was a wriggly, wiggly snake Hey, little boy, (other half of the room I'd make my home in a birthday cake, answers "yes ma'am"' I wish I was a wriggly, wiggly snake. Did you go to the barn? (yes ma'am) I wish I was a boxy-woxy turtle, Did you see my horsie? (yes ma'am) I wish I was a boxy-woxy turtle, Did you ride my horsie? (yes ma'am) If I was a boxy-woxy turtle Well, how did he ride? I'd never have to wear a girdle, He rocked just like a cradle, I wish I was a boxy-woxy turtle. Rocked just like a cradle, Poet Kenneth Koch, in Wishes, Lies and Rocked just Pke a cradle, Dreams (New York: Vantage Books, Rocked lust like a cra-a-dle. 1970), describes using "I wish ." as one This song stimulated some marvelously of his models for children in his poetry outlandish ideas: project in a New York City school, He would Hey, little boy, (yes ma'am) Did you go to the jungle? (yes ma'am) Did you see my dinosaur? (yes ma'am) Well, what was he doing? A 3rd grader named Linda created her Playing catch with a marshmallow, "food man" on a piece of paper at Playing catch with a marsnmallow, home and proudly presented it to the etc. Patons: Hey, little boy, (yes ma'am) The Food Man Did you go to the jungle? (yes ma'am) He has a cheese hat. Did you see my elephant? (yes ma'am) He has a tomato head. Well, what was he doing? He has jellybean hair. He was flying paper airplanes He has carrot hands. Flying paper airplanes, He has potato body. etc. He has celery legs. Other verses had a chipmunk playing the He has string bean socks. piano, a raccoon playing cops and rob- He has potato feet. bers, a cat chasing a mouse on a motorcy- He has green bean fingers. cle and a kangaroo doing a war dance. He has a leaf coat. A Bahamian folk song had a different He has lima bean buttons. rhythm to work with: He has cherry earrings. Mama, lend me your pigeon, To keep company with mine. [first two lines repeated] My pigeon gone wild in the bush, My pigeon gone wild. [last two lines also repeated] (traditional verse) Set free on this one, a child wrote: Mama, lend me your vampire bat, To keep company with mine. My vampire bat gone swim in the bathtub My vampire bat gone wild. The children also wrote about a dolphin that chased a blue whale, an elephant riding on an ant, a kitty flying up in a tree, a turkey on a date, a buffalo riding in a truck and a teacher crawling into her dog- house. Caroline Paton described one song about an imaginary moonman, "Aiken Drum." whose body was transformed by the children into vegetables: It was fun and easy to add verses to "Aiken Drum" and it spurred their imagination to think about parts of the body as different types of food. The children were usually eager to draw a picture of Aiken Drum when the song we:: over, or sometimes while we were singing it. We found that it was unwise to start this song unless we had twenty minutes to half an hour left to spend, for the children got so involved in this song that they didn't want to leave it.

22 A0 TM Paton:, The Program, and making. "What a gentle way to learn to The Teachers write poetry to learn language and So-me of the teachers who worked with the word relationships mostly, just to express Patons soon found opportunities to in- feelings." Although teachers derived new tegrate into their own teaching variations techniques from the experience, some felt on the Patons' approach. The principal limited in their ability to employ the full applauded the connection, though he won- possibilities of this approach. dered if it would be sustained: The children were able to express One thing I should point out at this time themselves in several ways. They helped to is that the Patons opened up doors compose the lyrics to the songs. Also, for boys and girls to be creative to be some of the songs led very easily into crea- able to express their thought:. feelings tive art ("Aiken Drum"). And, there are and opinions. This feeling of creativity car- also many possibilities for creative writing. ried over to other subject areas, social In my classroom, we prepared for the studies, science, and most of all, in language artists by making lists of opposites which arts. the Patons kept (for the "opposites For some teachers, the VAP was inspiring song"). I saw room for many more related because it showed them how students classroom activities, but have to admit could be creative, how much they wanted that I was not able to "squeeze them in." to share their ideas and how much they enjoyed doing their "own thing." One thing I really can't determine at this time is how much carryover will be exhibited by some of the teachers and what will take place once school begins for a new year. I do know that several of the 3rd Grade teachers were as enthused and excited as their students. But I do hope that all teachers will carry on some aspects and ideas left by the Patons. Teachers described how they made use of some of the techniques begun by the Patons between the artists' visits: Every spare moment for the next few days was spent preparing verses for the Patons. The kids were working together and exchanging ideas and the results were great. The Patons not only brought music and fun to our class but also created an enthusiasm for poetry and rhyme. I was able to tie in many lessons in these areas, each very successful. As far as writing grammar we did two- line verses, three-line verses, four-line verses, rhyming words and I also tied pen- manship in, rather than straight penman- ship, we did rhyming words They were Lgetting many things out of the one thing the Patons started. Consultant Shapiro's journal, from a visit during the program, about the verse-

23 Some Effects On the Children be promoting a better social adjustment The staff participants emphasized the for some children, in that it is again some- exciting results of the VAP for children who thing in which the child who is often were socially or educationally behind "left out" can participate. some of their classmates. Sandy and Caro- One boy poignantly expressed his feelings line made special efforts to draw out about what the Patons meant to him in a shy children, encouraging everyone to conversation with Stephen Shapiro: write verses. They communicated the Third grader: I hope I stay back. view that no verse was "better" than another. SRS: Why do you want to do that? In a report, Mr. C. wrote: "Many of these Third grader: So I can see the Patons again. youngsters, who never before contributed to class discussions, began to actively become involved." He felt that the learning environment created by the Patons gave students a sense of belonging and a sense of responsibility. Above all, a sense of pride and achievement. Sandy Paton found his effect oil certain kids to be a central part of his experience as an artist at Memorial School: Perhaps the most important aspect of the "make up your own verses" approach was the fact that many youngsters who held back from noticeable participation in the actual singing of the songs came out of their shells and contributed good, thoughtful verses. One could clearly see the sense of pride when their contributions were appre- ciated by the rest of the class as well as by us. A few fairly non-verbal boys were quick to respond to the suggestion that they could draw or paint a picture il- lustrating one of the songs and often would bring such drawings to us before the end of the class period. The praise they received for these efforts served to bring them into the actual music-making after just a few sessions. It was quite gratifying to see non-verbal youngsters beginning to find enjoyment in utilizing verbal skills previously undeveloped. A participating teacher emphasized another aspect of this from her perspective of months of work with the same children: I also feel the children enjoyed this program from a social standpoint. Children that are not as successful in the classroom were able to shine, or at least voluntarily participate, in one aspect of their education. Further, many of the songs learned were heard chanted on the playground during recess. This carry-over may

24 J. d 1 The Artists Learn ons' folk music, in order to provide a In a successful VAP the artist gains fresh varied experience for the children. insights into his or her own creative As for the Patons, they will be spending process Artists may also, as happened with much of their working time, when not the Patons, learn specific techniques producing folk records, in Connecticut that change their approach to working with schools. They also plan on making a children Caroline talked about applica- record of children's songs soon where the tions of the verse-writing method to other children will be the featured artists. With programs they have been doing. their sense of the creative potential of chil- We were so happy about the way this dren broadened by the experience at method of song-making worked that Memorial, the Patons will spread their own we have been using it in all of our other sort of joy with more impact and in- children's programs and it seems to volvement for kids. The Memorial School have made them all more lively and inter- VAP was a growing experience for esting and personal. A friend who most everyone. works for the New York State Department of Education is very excited about these S.R.S. "child-created songs" and has asked us to do several workshops in her state. Through the Memorial School program two artists had made their own discoveries and applications. They were particularly receptive oerhaps because their own work is now as much or more involved with children than it is with writing and singing folk songs for adult audiences. This makes them unique in the Commission's VAP. But there were no artists who did not learn something about themselves as well as children during their 1971-72 school experiences. The VAP at Memorial had eight-year-old lyricists, learning their own language eagerly, creatively. The school program followed an ideal structure. The artists discovered a new, more creative way of involving the children. At least some of the teachers utilized the artists' techniques to make the learning of basic language skills easier and more fun. And some kids, who seldom if ever had participated in the classroom, contributed verses and joined in the singing. It is difficult to predict long-range results. Two of the 3rd Grade teachers seem particularly committed to some new directions in teaching that the VAP helped them to explore. The others probably less so. Memorial School will have another visiting artist in 1972-73. Both the school and the Commission are looking toward an entirely different art form from the Pat-

26 Glastonbury: Dance Movement in Suburbia Glastonbury High School Welles Junior High

We became aware of the body as an art committee of Glastonbury's Parent-Teacher form not unlike that of sculpture, as we Organization, and members of the physical could model our movements and form our education and English departments of moods to project a feeling. Now I don't Glastonbury High and Welles Junior High walk, I glide; I don't run, I leap. Schools met to arrange the workshops. (Glastonbury High School student) It was a meeting of immense frustration. In the 1930's, Rudolf Laban, a dancer The schools' rotating schedules allowed for and choreographer, began studying how a certain amount of flexibility from within, we move ow bodies in our everyday lives. but little room for special programming from Building on Laban's work, dancers, anthro- the outside. While there was interest in a pologists and psychologists have intensified teacher workshop, for example, the idea had their examination of expression through to be dropped because there was no time movement Educators among them concluded or place to schedule it, either during or that through dance movement, school children after school. In addition, organization of a can achieve greater self -awareness and group sustained co-educational class as part of awareness The self-consciousness that often ac- physical education was impossible. The de- companies physical activity can be eliminated partment did, however, arrange to have in the discovery of new sources of creative one class of girls meet with Alice 12 times energy. during her 15 days in Glastonbury. When members of the Arts Commission The final decision was that the bulk of Alice's staff first discussed the inclusion of Glas- time would be spent with the two high school tonbury High School in the VAP, there was drama classes and the single drama class at considerable question about the appro- the junior high. Doug Ross taught all three. priateness of working in a situation so rela- Young and vigorous, he was in his second year tively advantaged Located in a well-to-do as a teacher of speech, English and drama in suburb southeast of Hartford, the school Glastonbury. had three full-time art teachers Innovative An important aim of the VAP is to suggest educational programs were hardly new, new possibilities for the participating though the ideas of dance movement teacher(s) both in the spirit and substance enthusiasts were generally unknown. So, of their teaching. Doug Ross was a for- crucial to the decision to work in Glaston- tunate complement to Alice in this program. bury during the spring of 1972 was the While determined and strong in his own belief that if the program could involve stu- educational philosophy, he was open and dents and participating teachers in new receptive to this stranger who would invade creative experiences, a VAP was appropriate. his classes. He was open also to new pos- At the time of the preliminary meetings sibilities in his relationship with his students between Commission Education Consultant through his own participation in the Stephen Shapiro and the Glastonbury workshops: school people, dancer Alice Martin became available for a spring program. Alice had worked extensively with the Commission before and was committed to movement education for children. She had taught both hyperkinetic and "normal" children of all ages in movement workshops. Her own training had included study at the Martha Graham, Jose Limon, Tally Beatty and Merce Cunningham studios. In late April of 1972, Consultant Shapiro, Alice, Ginger Moore, of the cultural arts

28 I looked forward to working with Alice Experiences Through Movement Martin having had no training in dance What Alice had in mind for the students was or body movement. Working with, is less very simple to verbalize and extremely dif- true than being "student of," as I partici- ficult to realize: pated as a student, with the students. There All I was trying to do because of the was, in this, unforeseen advantages. One nature of the time (and I knew these of my better students in an aside during kids were not necessarily going to become a class, said "I never thought you made a dancers, particularly with the boys whom mistake," after I had awkwardly finished I'm always concerned with, how they react an exercise As many teachers, I emphasize to it) all I wanted to do was open up the the areas at which I'm best, and often for- possibilities of body awareness, open up the get how students dehumanize us for this. possibilities in the way that they move, and Not only is the teacher made more human explore all the different directions of it. by the revelation of his inabilities, he is able I didn't have any pre-conceived notions. to regain some perspective into the stu- I wanted them to be happy, I wanted it to be dent-teacher relationship from the reversed an enjoyable experience for them. I wanted roles My willingness to try new things I them to enjoy the way they moved and let wasn't good at often caused more and better that kind of freedom happen. participation by the students. (from a taped interview, Alice Martin) (from Doug Ross's written report) Part of the difficulty lay in the age of the participants. Elementary school children, in Alice's experience, were relatively free in their movement. High school and junior high students were a different matter: I think the thing you have to always remember when you're dealing with the Id is body is that you're fighting so many old inhibitions, especially with boys in high '11,LILA 4, school If the class (one high school drama class with which she had some difficulty) had met a hundred times I really don't know if it would have made that much difference. I think that's a terrible thing to try to break down, and I think that was certainly evident also in the junior high kids. Though they were pretty good they really weren't able to be sophisticated enough and sure enough about themselves to handle it the way the senior high first drama group did They were confident about themselves, the boys as males. I think that's a terrible hang-up for a lot of them. One of the boys in a high school drama class confirmed her views in a post-program evaluation: The first time she came I think everyone was a little slow because it was new but a little embarrassing. After a while everyone got used to it but were a little embarrassed at the start of every time she came, For Alice, the tightness of kids by the time they got to high school provided per-

30 sonal difficulties. She made sure that she but it wasn't necessary. This staggered the age groups shewas teaching' began with a single person going to the centerof the I think the hardest thing forme when ... I run into encounter alter room and starting a motion. Others encounter with would then loin in one at a lack of joy ... is to constantly go in fresh a time, adding to go out of there and go a motion and relating to the precedingper- home and son Appropriate noises added with the redo it again and goin fresh and say damn movements contributed to the overall it, here we go again and start again as if it hadn't happened at all. effect. A single machine could involvethe whole class. The students It's just extraordinary to teachin a high were also asked school as compared to teaching to think of how their additionwould in a gram- affect the overall visual impression mar school. I need to revitalize myselfby of going into a grammar school the machine. every once in Alice's use of electronic music a while because I need tosense the hap- in many piness that comes from just of her exercises was the firstexperience ir the sheer most of the students with this movement that happens sosportaneously modern with younger children. medium. One high school girlwrote about how "we walked, hopped, skipped, Despite the difficulties of theage group, and there was intense activity and jumped to the twinkling sound ofelectronic involvement in music all the drama classes. Graduallymany of ." Another noted that "the music the students began to loosen she used was excellent for theexercises up and move we did more easily and freely. Doug Ross It was very artistic itself. Youcould describes move with the music finding its hidden the success Alice hadin gaining involve- meaning with your each move." ment by her method of startingeach class: Another thing I thought especially Students commented on otherexercises. effec- The thing that worked for tive and necessary was Alice'sconstant me was the use of easy but vigorous warmup getting into an emotion (anger,fear) and exercises. freezing or painting how you feel, It well illustrated the law ofinertia: "A body because in motion tends to remain in I can easily get a strong emotion. motion." I didn't like the mirror (where Once the kids got going, theyseldom one person moves and a second person, or a balked, no matter how "way out"the new group exercise for the day was. of people, mimic his/hermovements) Alice met with the Welles Junior because it didn't work, we got toosilly. High I think I liked the emotion drama class on each of the 15days freezes and she worked, and with each of paintings the best. I was really impressed the high with this as I could really get into school drama classes 11times. After the it after a warmup, the class would concentrate bit and I really felt each emotion. on and We used an invisible object develop a few exercises duringthe period that was of about forty-five minutes. passed around a group of students,each In his report on student making up a different the program, Doug Ross talkedabout shape and size "people pictures" and "machines:" with the object we started with. (I remember) the trust walk(an People pictures began by havinga limited exercise number of people moving with where one person leads anotherwho electronic closes his or her eyes, exploring music, then on cue, theywere to relate to the sense each other to form a "people of touch arid smell, with movement).I picture." After felt that after a while I could this was done a few times,others in the trust the kid class could reshape the picture who was walking me and I wasn'tem- by moving barrassed as much as if I saw the participants and their partsin any someone way they wished. staring at me. The consultant Shapiro, Machines was sometimes done withmusic noted other experiences from his diary of hisown participation in the class:

31 1

Early, to warm up, we were instructed to shapes. Alice pushed us to extend our feel- move as fast as we could and as close ings for the possibilities of each form. to others as possible without touching. I Alter we had worked through these for felt my body angle out in new ways. Then a while, she pinned large (maybe fourby we did an exercise in which a person five foot) pieces of paper on the wall ... moved to the electronic music, ending by three of them. Then she started us with touching (with hand, head, foot, whatever) round shapes again: "change . . . change . . another person, who would respond to change .. . freeze .. . now go and draw the the area touched, and move to the next feeling of your last shape" (she had left some person. We tried it in slow motion as crayons on the floor near the paper). We a variation. did this with jagged and straight shapes During a break we sat in a circle and also. The connection of the feeling of introduced ourselves, motioning with our specific movements with line, the expression hands as we said our names. Then we stood of that feeling through crayon on paper, and introduced ourselves with lull body made sense to me Here was drawing most expressions. What a nice way of doing it. directly connected with feeling-moving The next exercise had Alice calling one- experience, and it gave me another sense two-three with three people at a time of my body. alternating movements in reaction to each Perhaps the most dramatic movement- other. It built to full sculptures. I played the piano to some of the movements. Later she had us make round shapes with our bodies, changing them to the beat of her hand drum. Then we were instructed to make jagged shapes and finally straight

32 11111.""

exercises were those that used props, time seems to pass so quickly a World War II surplus parachute and a absence of much thought, only concen- "total mask," a huge sheet of taped- trating on together construction paper that measured the strangeness, the new feeling. eighteen by twelve feet. Outdoors with fear the parachute the kids ran, picking up wind dizzy feeling that made the chute billow. Then they excitement would dive into it and roll around, feeling wonder its texture. thinking about thoso watching, do they The total mask was used indoors by feel the same as I? Am I the only one groups and individuals. For the person(s) noticing? under it, textures and sounds from the looks mysterious crinkling paper dominated. For the viewer, amusing strange, fanciful shapes emerged that at one looks like flower blooming as the paper point had the junior high class laughing unfolds loudly together Describing the experience powerful paper crinkling and drowns out of being inside the total mask, the ninth other graders called it "a mass trying to take sounds, some thoughts shape," "a jello monster," "like in a closed different shades of light inside strange box all alone," "I like to be alone in it, shapes because it lets me be me," "caterpillar," fatigue "boys moved violently and girls more uncomfortable gently," "sea serpent." Ninth grader Tammy O'Rourke was moved to write a poem about her experience:

33 Conflicts and Dialogue a word. Out of nowhem she jerked The 15 days presented their conflicts. Some her head up and screamed "smelly" at of these involved struggles that moved him. At that moment, she was all out there, people along. Others did not. An example openly expressive, anger, resentment, of the latter revolved around a boy in confusion, fear, all coming out within the the more difficult high school drama class, context of the exercise .. suddenly . whom Doug Ross described as debilitating then it was gone. to the whole class. Ross earlier had the Another episode that reflected a con- same trouble with this student. Alice did tinuing dialogue between Alice Martin and not want to acknowledge his effect on the Doug Ross as visiting artist and teacher, class's energies, but finally admitted that revolved around the high school drama the "underlying hostility that pervades class with the "difficult" student. Beginning the room" when he was there was reduced one day with the usual request for every- when he wasn't. The drama teacher's one to take his or her shoes off and sit solution, never put into effect, was that in a circle, Alice saw she had two rebels "such a person should be given individual on her hands. They had, as she later put it, work and removed from the class." This "totally broken any unity that I was trying situation related to the general problem of to build. So I looked up, and I tossed students being in classes they did not out a question to the class, Well, what do want to be in that is, compulsory edu- you suppose happens when somebody cationIt was ironic that the issue arose in stands on the side, what are they saying an "elective" course. to us? ' Another, more immediately poignant con- The group got into a discussion about flict involved a moment of intense, honest what the boys' physical withdrawal meant, expression from a shy girl who before and what it did to the class. Then Alice the episode had participated in the move- began a movement, beating its time with ment classes with obvious physical and her hand drum, and asked for someone to emotional reservations. Consultant move differently when they were ready. Shapiro's diary describes it. No one did. The tone had been set. When We were put in groups of three. A group Doug Ross started to lead the group into was instructed to choose three words, a new movement, Alice turned off the with no particular relationship. The object phonograph, confronted the class with the then was to move and speak those wr-ds fact that she wasn't going to make all simultaneously. Alter a couple of groups their decisions for them and with the drama had tried it, with varying looseness, two teacher in tow, left the room. girls and Doug came up. Doug was So I left and Doug left with me. And moving a lot, changing his voice and lace I purposely showed them dismay on my as well as his body position as he said part and I realized that they were going the words (with this group, "chair, light, to say "The hell with you, lady," or else smelly"). they were going to somehow internally One of the girls got involved. The other stew and maybe come up with some girl stood aside, at first complaining that work. One way or the other, it was going she "didn't understand." Alice explained it to happen. Well, as it turned out, Doug again Doug started focusing his energy and I went out and talked about it. He feels toward her, bending over and looking that you can't really expect that from up at her as he said "chair," touching her hair and saying a word. She stood there confused, or retreated, only occasionally saying one of the words, quietly. Finally Doug really started getting aggressive with her, even shouting

34 that kind of a group. You can't give them their efforts, which he had never done be- that much freedom, because they're not fore. The class had tried to describe going to come up with anything. And certain emotions fvough movement and his contention was that there are natural he had attempted to illustrate pain in born people who will lead and that group terms of the Vietnam War. The difficulty was a group of followers. I thought his he had encountered was in moving to arguments were very fair, but that isn't my a feeling he had not experienced. As he put teaching style. If they don't do it now, it, he had "never been blown up." It was in high school, are they ever going to do a real discovery. it in the world? The next time the class was together, We talked constantly. We battled back things started to happen. Alice later spoke and forth a lot of ideas. He would play the about how they began on a very limited devil's advocate with me. He wanted me basis, again not terribly aesthetically to come up with real evidence for the way wonderful, but they began to make their I did want to teach. And I constantly own decisions about how to do it. And challenged him. I think he felt he learned I didn't have to say, 'Well, I think this looks a lot of techniques that he will want to great.'" use, but more than that, I think he began Alice's experienc,3s led her to reassess to trust my style a little more. He was her whole teaching style and she ended very good to work with. He participated with a renewed commitment to a struc- all the time. And he laughed. tured teaching that allowed for real And Doug Ross affirmed his growing decision-me,ing freedom by the students. belief in the worth of the kinds of things What happened in her dialogue with Doug that Alice was doing with the kids. Ross is that both were moved to a greater Often I thought of how energetically the appreciation of their different approaches students were responding to the exer- to teaching. On the surface, the contrast cises. And usually, this was an almost was between Doug Ross, the realist, total class response. I had mixed emotions and Alice Martin, the free spirit. as I thought of this. As a person,I en- Alice talked abc 't the dialogue: joyed the students' energetic enthusiasm, I think Doug has a point when he says but as a traditionally-educated tracher, you've got to be realistic in looking at I wondered. 'How do I eval...ie this in the world and that was what he was trying terms of behavioral objectives? How much to argue tin the discussion about giving of this movement-freedom will they be able the kids more freedom). And I was saying, to recall and use in the disciplined form "Damn it all, if they don't get it in high of a production? Are they 'learning' any- school when are they ever going to get it? thing?" Somebody is going to lead them around I've come to the belief that the exercises the rest of their lives." I'm at least going to and their responses can be an end in tell them that I'm not going to do it. themselves. I don t feel a need to measure Well, I'm not concerned with the aesthetic what they ve learned through the exercises. thing. I'm not really concerned about the Rather, I trust in what I see, feel, and be- performance end of it. Doug's conten- lieve that here can be times free of tion is that kids like to perform. I've been restrictions, times for flights of physical re-thinking if you don't have to have fantasy, times for enjoyment of their physi- different strokes for different folks. cal selves loose from restraint of preconceived forms. No great production came about in their absence, but one of the recalcitrant boys did come up and apologize to Alice after the class. He talked with her about

35 Sallies of Sheer Joy given them even more human situations. The result of 15 days in Glastonbury was I steered away from giving them things that generally positive in all the classes One of were fairly sophisticated. Like we did that the high school drama classes was par- hand thing tan exercise which involves ticularly gratifying to Alice: finding your partner with your eyes closed That first drama class... really did please by the feel of his or her hands), and me, especially the way the boys came up they liked it, but I never dared to try to at the end and said how they really thought do the face thing [the same exercise, but they'd take the class when they got to with faces .. first faces are felt with college . I mean I thought that just eyes open, then partners try to find each opened up a whole new world. other among many people by feeling faces, I went to that class always with the sense with eyes closed]. of "Where are we going today? I'll toss Tney had begun to break down, though this out and see where we're going to go." not enough. Alice did, however, "... see I never knew what was going to happon glimpses. I saw some smiles of just sheer and that's joy for me. They were happier joy." with themselves and they were, therefore, Alice Martin will be concentrating her able to go out of themselves. energies on dance movement with The girls' physical education class did elementary school children during 1972- more growing than any of the other 73. Helping to further the Arts Com- classes, according to the visiting artist mission's commitment to movement educa- At first, many of the girls were physically tion, she will be working in a 50-day very uncoordinated and inhibited. This program at Latimer Lane (elementary changed over the 12 sessions. school) in Simsbury. She feels that she The students at the Welles Junior High will be a better resident artist because of were a mixed experience On the one hand, her experiences working with Doug Ross. according to Alice, they were "marvelous Glastonbury High School's future in the and unsophisticated," but their age held Commission s VAP is uncertain. Doug them back from carrying over many ideas. Ross, however, will be utilizing many of She described it as an "up and down the techniques and exercises that he situationHer fear was that she had "lost" learned from Alice in his drama classes. some of the kids, either "because I ex- Dance movement has Just begun in pected too much from them, or because Glastonbury. I wasn't giving them enough praise as I went along." S.R.S. Finally, there was the other drama group at Glastonbury High School, the one which Alice had confronted half way through its 11 sessions over the issue of students making decisions for themselves. It was this class which she had agonized over the mcst, During the session with the parachute, Alice had become depressed over the inability of some of the girls to lose themselves in play even for a few moments. But things had happened in that class also I would have liked to have seen more of them, because they were just getting started. I don't know what it was, but something was changing. Maybe I should have

36 ./ !.r 1 Bristol: The Feel of How It Grows Bingham School

While at Bingham School, Mrs. Walton one to hold back feelings or ideas. 2) If sought to give the youngsters a better un- we chose a visual artist, he or she should derstanding of how art is a natural ele- be able to work in two and three dimen- ment in our everyday lives. Our visual en- sional art forms. 3) A list of objectives that vironment is able to affect our intellect would help both the artist and partici- and emotions through our senses, some- pants grow and an evaluation processs times positivoly, and other times, should be set up so that the educational negatively. Students not only created art effects and developments could be forms but also evaluated existing forms, noted and discussed in concrete terms. as well as their own work. Their awareness In early April, I introduced the school to to and evaluation of existing forms, hand- Sonya Walton, a visual artist from New made and natural, will strengthen their own Haven who seemed to have the kind of vital aesthetic judgments and enrich their personality the school was seeking. Sonya lives. As a result of this experience, hope- was asked to submit a list of her objectives fully the children will have a greater ap- and an evaluation checklist, which she preciation towards art and express fewer did a week before the beginning of the inhibitions towards creating forms program. themselves. With this decrease in inhibitions it is hoped that they will attain Sonya's Objectives: some degree of success in art and have aExploration of surroundings spontan- some feelings of accomplishment re- seeing and relating to the world. garding their own efforts In the end, last- b Awareness of one's own ability to create, ing attitudes of a positive nature is the change and discover. prime objective. c Art is living and expressing one's own (from the Bristol Connecticut Press, feelings. Wednesday, June 14, 1972) 1 All senses relate:music to line, body to Bingham Elementary School is in the music to line, hand to economically-depressed city of music to line, you feel Bristol, southwest of Hartford. Although the it, it is not in your mind. city is growing in both population and 2 Experience of expression is what is industrial development, it still had one of important, not artifacts to keep. What mat- the highest rates of unemployment in ters is doing it for one's self it feels Connecticut in 1971I wondered about the good and is something only I can say. tensions created by these conditions and 3 Breaking down inhibitions and self-con- their effect on the education of the children sciousness about doing. who live there. In January I met with members of the Bristol School System after Sonya's Evaluation Checklist. I had received a letter from Mr. Carl 1 How did the teacher respond? Venditto, Bristol's director of state and fed- 2 How did the children respond? eral funding, asking that Bristol be con- 3 Was there a feeling of excitement while sidered for a VAP. After two exploratory working? Intensity? What form? meetings, everyone involved was favorable 4 What was the children's feedback? Talk, to the idea of a program to take place awareness, relaxation? in May The necessary matching funds were 5 Teacher should look, see.... Were there to be provided by the Women's Service changes in the children's learning in Organization of Bristol. other subjects? What and to what degree? In February I met with the principal of Bingham School, Mr. Richard DiMeo, and two of his teachers. Together we set the following initial goals for the program: 1) The artist should be dynamic, not

,'1 38 «a' 0 One day while visiting the school, one little girl called to me in the halls, "Hey there, you hippy-diPPy". I replied, "Hey there, yourself, little girl," and we began to talk. She had two friends with her and we quickly got into what a hippy was and what made hippies tick. They all had different ideas and soon we were all laughing and feeling very warm and friendly toward each other. We had made friends, which is what the original invitation "hippy-dippy" was probably all about. We had each made a connection with something new and we found it pleasant.

I was personally very excited at the prospect of working in Bingham School. Although the situation in the school often seemed rigid and tense, I was met with complete honesty and sincerity by all the people with whom I dealt. They just wanted one thing: Stimulate their children by providing varied educational possibilities for their development. They felt that the VAP would help do this. Bingham is a Kindergarten-6 Grade school. The children who attend come from predominately white working-class families of ethnic minority groups. The kinds of homes from which the children come is typified by one class of twenty students: Ten had no father and five had fathers who were unemployed. Two students had professionally-employed parents and three had fathers who were working as laborers. The number of poor readers and non-readers in the school was very high. The need for individualized attention was especially great at Bingham and when it was given, the response was immediate.

40 The Artist and the Program Sonya Walton is primarilya painter, although she sculpts and designsas well. She received her elementary and secondaryeduca- tion in Zurich, Switzerland.Over the last ten years. Sonya has studied at theRhode Island School of Design, the SanFran- c cisco Art Institute, the SilvermineSchool of Art and other schoolsin the United States and Europe Sheis a little person with dynamite energy and herlight blue eyes dance when she talks.Between smiles and warm laughter, theintensity 4A of her ideas stand outas she moves freely from easy-going to demandingpostures. She worked 14 days during Mayand part of June at the Bingham School. Shecovered all twelve classes, workingfour one-hour sessions a day Every teacherwanted his or her class to be involved. Eventhough we all generally felt that thiswas too little time for each class, it proved to bea good way to introduce everyone to theprogram. Sonya worked in the school's artroom rather than going from class to class,which was helpful in centralizing the supplies. Sonya started by drawingon large sheets of paper, often to music, thenworked make it clear by more examples ofshapes, with clay and finally, with largeboxes. She but then just decided to have the chil- wrote about the drawingin her journal. dren get into the clay. Havingso much clay "One of my primary goalswas to give the for each child was somethingnew. Most students the freedom to explorea total of the children took smallpieces off to work s,".ace the page and to understand that with They began to squash itand squeeze space by really using all of it." it and stretch it. Sonya pointedout that these In working with the clay, Sonyawrote, pieces of clay in the children's hands before building with it, I found itvery now had shapes. Gradually the idea hit important to have the childrenfeel their own them Pieces of clay were pulledoff limbs, fingers, and shoulders,to shut to make great mounds of shapes.The chil- their eyes and imagine howtrees grow, how dren began commenting on eachother's cells build up, etc. Besides buildingand products They tried to expand theirown getting away from fronts andbacks in their with careful placement of shapes now work (looking at their work fromall they suddenly became aware oftheir own angles), I tried to have the studentsuse control over this mound of clay. During their hands on the clayin many ways the hour, some children mademany differ- tearing and digging into it withtheir ent structures, buildiny, changingand nails, making textures, andso on. creating new shapes as oftenas they could. A first grade teacher in her journal The hour went by quickly. Itwas a lesson describes a lesson with Sonya andher class. that started us seeing anew way, and we Sonya began by explaining theway hope to keep on learningnew ways to shapes can grow out of andon each other. see things. The class was confused. Sonya triedto The students commentedon their work with a variety of reactions: yip 1.A1

I hate using the clay. Because the clay others are quietly creating together. The makes my hands rough. teacher is feeling the mood as well. As the I didn't like working with the clay, but it kids finish one sheet (roughly 21/2 by 31/2 helped me understand a little more feet), they pile it on the floor and grab an- about geometry. other one and go back to their table. The most funniest thing of all is that when The Beatles are on the record player Before it rs wet and you squash it, it goes threw it was Grand Funk and before that, the [sic] your fingers, it feels funny, it tickles. teacher had put on her favorite, Al Hirt and Sonya provided the students with lots of his band. There rs a low-key energy now, stimulation and she encouraged immedi- replacing the earlier frenzy Every now and ate responses. She often worked quickly, then there are minor disagreements be- using music and dance as partners to tween the children (these are second grad- drawing and sculpting. This procedure re- ers) and Sonya deals with them by giving lated to her objective of inter-relating out new ideas. New ideas promoting discov- the senses. My diary of one of her classes ery and harmony The kids dig it and carry showed this methodology in process: On Sonya has the class moving, all the kids moving to music, warming up, shaking it all out, early morning wake-up, get-loose time. There is an enthusiasm in the air that is contagious, and from moving to the music, we begin to draw to the music. Some of the kids are drawing with ten crayons at once. There are 29 kids at 10 tables, some are excitedly freaking out and j 42 Evaluation of the Program The students evaluated the program by answering the question, "What new things have you experienced?" Five of them wrote: To let your imagination wander and do what you want to do. That with movement you can create new 4. things. The feelings of big things and little things. To look under and above. The feel of how it grows. The response from the teachers was generally quite favorable. In all cases, there was a rapport with the artist and the aims of the program. In sonic cases there were confusions and disagreements, which were later resolved through dialogue and getting to know each other. For example, one 6th Grade teacher, Mr. James Capone, disagreed sharply with Sonya's methods in the early part of the program, but later found it useful to correlate the visiting artist's work with his math curriculum. In her diary, Sonya dis- kr; cussed this development: Mr. Capone felt that his class was "too The lesson with clay especially was a good" for this program more time good one. It coordinated things in geome- Ice arithmetic would be much better. He try with the art lesson. It gave my people himself always "hated art" and had no a chance to build and to apply principles use for it. One day, he left the room because of engineering and math. Some of my his "best students weren't turned on", boys were quick to recognize this. The last lnd he was so ashamed of them (he ex- session was also good on perspective plained to me afterwards) that he was and depth. Some of my better people did afraid if he stayed he might get violent with exceptionally well. We concluded the them for not doing better. "These kids lesson with a little talk in which I said that know my Latin temperament", he said. Later she was an artist, a professional, who we did work things out. He could relate learned about teaching, and that we were math to the clay structures and perspective professionals and artists in our own to the boxes. He even expressed warmly, right who had learned a little more about at the last session in front of the class, that art. though he knew the "concepts" he never Helene Dunkler, a 3rd Grade teacher, could have expressed them the way :r.,e kids found uses for the concepts and ideas had done. He said he had learned of the VAP in her social studies class. something. We correlated the clay modeling with our Mr. Capone, in his diary, also talked about social studies and discussed the Navaho the situation and its resolution* and Pueblo Indians' use of clay. In pictures I think the VAP was only partially success- we drew for Social Studies and illustra- ful. The first two sessions we had with tions for stories we read, we discussed mak- Mrs. Walton were uncoordinated and really ing the "things" in our pictures large and not productive. The last two sessions, I filling up the 'Whole" paper as opposed to felt, were productive things did happen the tiny figures they were accustomed to making.

43 c)2 Sonya found that eating with the teachers pression in creating art forms as well. Such and spending time with them in relaxed freedom was very apparent in activities circumstances was very productive. in which these primary graders used their Sonya wrote in her diary. bodies and to their surprise realized that My time with the teachers was spent they and they alone had control over their getting to know them, listening to them, but actions. One teacher remarked that for not discussing art Once we established the first time some children seemed to be some rapport, things began to improve in developing an awareness that they had the art room. The amount of time it value as individuals. takes to get rid of inhibitions to know No longer did they have to draw things one another can't be shortened ... "correctly" but objects could take on Although it may not sound like it, I do have dimensions that did not resemble exactly respect for the teachers in what seems the form they were drawing. Being able to me their impossible jobs Carol Bloom- to have control over their art form and creat- quist, the art coordinator for Bristol ing it as they saw it became a realization. Schools, told me I should go into educa- In effect then, individuality and respect for tion, I had done so well but my value it was the outcome. to the school was in not be ,7g a teacher' The school also had its effects upon the The teachers were receptive to this new artist. Mrs. Walton realized the need fog definition of a "teacher" in their school more careful preparation, organization and being essentially an "artist" by profession. an emphasis on what she wanted the It helped them to relate learning con- students to do. A contributing factor to the cepts practically, through this experience, latter situation was the lack of different that would not have been available to art materials. Nevertheless, greater prepara- them otherwise Katherine Robinson, 4th tion and dialogue with the stall on Mrs. Grade teacher, wrote: Walton's part obviated the situation. Her I feel the art program was a worthwhile ability to involve the classroom teacher experience for most of the children in with the students was a critical factor in the my room They responded to the freedom success of the program. The greater the of expression allowed in a constructive involvement on the part of the teacher, the way A few of them did not seem to know more positive were the reactions of the what was expected of them, and a few students. misused the freedom But several students The success of the Bingham VAP was who have negative attitudes toward manifested in the growing pains and in the school in general responded in a positive resolution of potentially difficult situa- way, and were pleased with the results tions. To a school where this was a new of their work. kind of art program, both the adminis- Another teacher said "The children each tration and teachers stretched to understand have a creative spirit within them. With- and deal with issues so that the contri- out the pressure of a marking system, they bution of the artist was not lost. Conflicts could develop this art." were exposed. Feelings were honestly The principal of Bingham, Richard DiMeo, expressed. People were listening to each was responsive to the development he other and key answers were found. The saw reflected in the teachers' evaluation feeling of how it grows" was many things, comments Some of the key points of but all agreed that it grew and felt good. his final report are as follows. In an evaluation questionnaire, ten of thir- The children enjoyed the change in teen teachers recommended that an- atmosphere, especially a new found freedom. other VAP be scheduled. Student Brian This freedom was not only the more open Lane wrote Sonya a letter in which he and less restricted classroom situation, but expressed how it felt to him. also involved the opportunity for self-ex- R.P.

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45 Middletown: Talking Drums Woodrow Wilson High School

Initially, what we're striving for in a program the newness of the experience to the like this, is to set up the beginnings of school. But there were more serious prob- an awareness of the sameness .. . that's the lems that the artists, the Wesleyan wrong word .. . oneness of people. The music department administrator Cynthia things that the black kids want in the way White and Commission Educatic i Con- of self-identity are the same kinds of sultant Stephen Shapiro felt reflected a lack things the white kids want. The cultural ex- of real support for the program from the pression ... the African dances, say ... school administration. The school made lit- it's a more natural thing for a black tle effort to resolve a conflict over work- to be able to get into. But its an expres- ing hours, provided no assistance in trans- sion of the same thing that white kids porting Adzenyah's drums back and forth will want to express and maybe can express from Wesleyan, permitted unauthorized peo- more naturally in another way. And ple to wander in and out of the classes the more you as a non-black or as a non- taking pictures and refused to allow a stu- white can take up on what the ether ent performance at the end of the 15-day guy is getting into, the more you start to program. realize the oneness of the total picture. These conditions meant that the artists (Marvin Holladay, music teacher, Woodrow never felt welcome or comfortable in Wilson High School, from a taped the school. To the front office, the two art- interview) ists existed only as scheduling problems. Emmanuel Duodu and Abraham Adzen- This was not at all true for the students or yah, black Africans from Ghana, are for English teacher Marge Daltry, who both accomplished artists with a wide served as liaison with Wesleyan, and one range of teaching and performing physical education teacher, Judith experiences throughout the world. The Holder, who had the most contact with the graceful Duodu has trained and taught at program. In fact, Adzenyah and Duodu's the University of Ghana and has per- positive experiences with the Middletown formed throughout Europe and Africa. Ad- High School students made them want zenyah, a strong, handsome man, also to try again at Woodrow Wilson High School taught at the university. His performing in he spring, when the opportunity arose tours have included Poland, Russia, Maurice Schimetschek is principal of England and Mexico. They were in their third Woodrow Wilson His school had been the year as artists-in-residence at Wesleyan scene of tension during the past few University when they participated in VAPs years. According to one teacher and a num- at the two Middletown high schools. ber of students, some of the problems They worked separately, Duodu in his may have been racial in nature, but their specialty, dance, and Adzenyah with main impetus had been administrE..ion- West African drums. Their teaching styles student conflict over authority. differed. Duodu was more controlled, About 13% of a total of 743 students at more structured and his classes had a tight- the school in 1971-72 were black The er discipline. Adzenyah, who with Duodu students came from a wide range of eco- had taught high school students in the Mid- nomic tackgrounds, from the poorest dletown Enrichment Summer School en families in the East Main Street ghetto to 1971, seemed to be able to ride with the the sons and daughters of professionals distractions of the students more easily. and university professors Middletown is a They were very much in agreement, how- city of about 37,000, with a variety of ever, on certain problems that they en- ethnic groups The largest is Italian-Ameri- countered during their work in the first can. Looming over all is Wesleyan Uni- school, Middletown High. Some of the versity. The contrast between the richness ditliculties, such as the tightness of the of its facilities and the drabness of down- schedule, were technical. They arose out of town Middletown is striking 3'; 46 Schimetschek was looking for programs that might help ease the tensions in his school. At a preliminary meeting in Decem- ber, he was asked why he wanted to have Duodu and Adzenyah come as visiti,,g artists He emphasized that he thought it would be good for the school's black students. The principal's receptiveness r helped to resolve the kinds of problems encountered at Middletown High School. Each artist would work with two forty-five minute classes on each of 15 days during February and March. Schimetschek agreed to help control attendanco and visitors in the classroonand to help in the transportation of Adzenyah's drums. An introductory assembly would present the artists and their skills. A concluding assembly would allow participating students to perform with the artists. At a meeting to set up the program, it quickly became clear that the crucial person in its success was to be Mary Hol- laday, bearded, forty-three-year-old in- 4.1 strumental music teacher at Woodrow Wil- son He felt he had been hired in the fall of 1971 because of his ability to communicate with both black and white students. Dinah Washington and Jimmy Smith, A jazz musician, he responds to the charge among others Holladay views jazz as a that it is impossible for a white man to vital art form that emphasizes com- participate directly and successfully in munication relating to every aspect of its black music by letting the music that listeners' lives. comes out of his saxophone talk for him. His connection to the program was even At the same time he acknowledges that more intimate In 1971-72 he was a grad- the music and the street language that go uate student in Ethnomusicology at Wes- with it are black in spirit and substance. leyan's Department of World Music, Holladay is an unusual person to find on studying African and Afro-American music. a high school music faculty. He has a Prior to the Woodrow Wilson VAP, he degree in music education, has seven years studied drums under Adzenyah. They de- of teaching experience in public schools, veloped a mutual respect for each and has been an instrumental instructor in others musicianship Holladay agreed to Afro - American music and a master coordinate the dance and drum classes teacher with the Hartford Teacher Corps' Al- at the school and to act as an assistant ternate Learning Centers in 1970-71. His teacher in Adzenyah's classes. He as- uniqueness comes from extensive experience sumed the additions' task of "getting the as a jazz musician and living amidst black word out" to the black students that jazz sub-cultures for two decades. He has the program was happening and did some played with the best, including Charles recruiting for both classes. Mingus, Quincy Jones, and the Thad Jones- There were 35 students who came, more Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra. He has re- or less regularly, to Duodu's dance corded with Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Eckstine, classes, and 22 divided themselves between Adzenyah's two drumming classes. The

48 dance classes were predictably all female, except for one white male who achieved more than adequate proficiency in the difficult movements. At the closing performance in the gymnasium, his school- mates not only refrained from ridiculing his participation, but many seemed to respect him for it. The black male students, who occasionally came to watch, could not be coaxed into trying the dance, despite Holladay's efforts. If the dance group had been all black, it might have made a difference to the black male students. Some, with the girls, belonged to Middletown's Ujamaa So- 4, ciety, an Afro-American identity group that JA performs African-oriented dances and music. But dancing in the more exposed context of an interracial high school was a different matter. Both black and white girls participated in Duodu's workshop. There was peace, though certainly not harmony, between the groups. Some of the black girls complained about certain white girls being chosen for the performance when they had not mastered the steps very well. across a large chasm between groups Mary Holladay explained that if he and of people. And you tend to end up with a Duodu picked only those who could do the differentiation between the two groups dances best, the same ones would partici- between those who can and those who pate all the time, with the rest sitting on the cant rather than black and white. And side Although the blacks and whites in then you start getting your elitist thing that the classes tended to keep to their own way. groups (a general pattern in the school) the (Mary Holladay, from a taped interview) division in the dance workshops began In practice, most of the black girls took to take another form. to the dance much quicker than the The awareness that a couple of dancers, whites. It was closer to their experience though they were not black, were doing and many had already had some Afri- a very good job of course girls are a lit- can dance in special summer courses. While tle more reserved about acceptance than attitude changes between groups was boys are, at that age level anyhow but a probably very small, Duodu's commitment recognition of the fact that somebody else to exposure for everyone prevented the could really get into it, and that those skillful students from intimidating the less white kids who could really get into it successful white participants into drop- were digging it for the same reasons that ping out. The final performance reflected a the black kids were digging it . those whole range of abilities. If anything, white girls were respected (by the black according to the Woodrow Wilson music girls). teacher, the whites may have pro- There was attitudinal change, minute gressed the farthest. They had the farthest a step was made in the right direction to go: there. You've got the elements to move

49 "sior Joel

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In this situation I'd say the learning couldn't was even stronger than with the situations were more noticeable in the white girls in the dance. There was reserva- kids than in the black. It is easier for a tion and jealousy by blacks, who felt that black kid to play black music or African whites were treading on "their" thing. music than for a white kid. So you But in the final analysis, when a cat is real- found the greatest amount of change in ly playing his part well," said Mary Holla- white students, since being able to day, "it was a feeling of accomplishment. play patterns, being able to dance is to be When everybody was taking care of loose and free and not have to relate to business, it didn't make any difference one-two-three-four in a very regimented whether it was black or white then." sense You've got certain beats reoccurring A drumming student, writing an evalua- (in African and Afro-American music, tion after the conclusion of the pro- as contrasted with the European musical gram, talked about another kind of division. tradition), you've got a pattern, but it flows. When African drumming and dance And there's where the white kids were were first introduced to the school, it was able to realize that there is a roundness, a considered a class only for blacks or wavelike kind of feeling that occurs in the so-called freaks. However, that has black music that floats, which is the whole been proven to be totally wrong. There point of cross-rhythmic relationships. As hasn't been one person who has heard our the white kid was able to let go and feel in- concerts that hasn't truly enjoyed the ex- ternally this sensation of motion he be- citement and sensation they produce. As came more relaxed and he became for the people involved in the classes, it less inhibited. was not only fun, but also a chance to learn With Adzenyah's drumming, the split between those-who-could and those -who-

50 0,3 _AU

something about music besides the music importance of developing abstract skills, of our own western culture. I personally but only criticizing what he saw as can't write enough or begin to describe the the rigidity of the schools." Behind Holla- feelings that we made during that short day's urging for balance, of more activity time. in art, was his concern for the "totality of The comments of the students empha- the child." He said.IfI make a plea for sized the exposure to another culture. the art area, it is not on the basis that d is A few students made a comparison between more important than anything else, but the drumming and dance and other high rather d you cease, or obstruct, or eliminate school subjects ir. terms of the time allotted the culture of any civilization, then that to each. For one the contrast was dramatic. civilization dies." I'd like to see more of these positive The Commission consultant's journal of approaches to learning. School is ostensi- a late winter visit to Adzenyah's classes bly a place to broaden the education noted the connections that the artist made and mold the whole person, but this is one between the drumming and aspects of of the few courses that serves present cultural history. Those ties seemed to have learning rather than serving to push us into much more meaning for the students be- college. (What good is two years of two cause they emerged from the experience of languages going to be to most students, be- doing. sides meeting college entrance require- Adzenyah a leading the band in a ments). beautiful light-blue blouse, with gold tassels Her music teacher agreed with her. For at the neck playing a large, stand-up Holladay, too much of education was drum. based on a "process of reflection," rather than activity. He was not denying the

51 About 10 kids are actually playing, with fished for having taken part in it, either di- five or six others watching. They seem rectly or indirectly. One kid who had to be very much into it. Most are playing gotten permission to take it and it was un- some variety of drum, with a few hit- derstood that he would keep his work ting rattles into their open palms. They up. and he kept his work up, made As on stop, get up and switch instruments. his tests. But he got a B for a course Adzenyah announces that they'll change where he had an A average. The teacher the music now this new thing is said, Well, you were absent.' Yet he faster, with cross rhythms that are really had given him permission to go ahead and nice. take it .... Jive stuff!" Adzenyah stops everyone and explains There was also a conflict over the use of about some new music they are to the gymnasium that had an unfortunate learn. (They never have any written music. effect on the substance of the program. The He generally teaches specific patterns gymria.ium had been promised to Duodu by going from instrument to instrument, for the dance classes. The band room has demonstrating what is required.) The concrete levels which divided the space music is from southeast Ghana and reli- and prevented the dancers from practicing gious in origin. He talks about how large ensemble pier.es. A week before music and the dance that goes with it are the program was to begin, the Physical central to many aspects of the people's Education Department retracted its daily lives. This kind of connection seems offer of the gymnasium, saying that they important to me, especially as it is had forgotten that equipment filled the really so different in concept and function space during that time. During a special from what we generally experience with rehearsal in the gymnasium for the final music in Western society. performance, the dance and drum students The bell rings terrible sound. Adzenyah moved the equipment aside in a matter stops everyone again and before they of minutes, something they could have been leave, he demonstrates some musical con doing all along. Whether the reasons for versation" patterns on the drums, the the retraction of the offered facilities were call and response. He doesn't ge: too far Justifiable (Mary Holladay thought other- into Jt, because the marching band wise), the program suffered when no ade- members swarm into the room. quate alternate space was provided. There were important possibilities in this Despite such difficulties, the administra- program for integrating the activity into tion of Woodrow Wilson was committed regular courses, particularly in the social enough to the success of the VAP to insure sciences. One humanities class did visit that it would proceed relatively smoothly. a dance and a drumming class, but no move was taken either by the Commission, or the school administration, or the teachers to initiate more intensive relationships. The attitude of some of the teachers toward the program, according to Mary Holladay, was a factor in preventing other inter-disciplinary connections from developing. "Some of the teachers," he said, "had mixed reactions to the program, because kids were getting out of class to take part in it. Some teachers presented a cooperative image, but when it came down to the final analysis, the kids were pun-

52 41 At its conclusion, the students, with the help of their artist-teachers, presented a combined performance of dance and drumming to a gymnasium overflowing with students and faculty. The black female dancers wore traditional West African dress for the occasion. It was an extraordinarily exciting concert and a unique experience for the school. The performance was later repeated at Winsted High School in northwestern Connecticut. A black girl who had participated in the dance wrote about the performance. I really feel that in African drumming and dancing that they did a superb jobin only having a few weeks to learn what they ""Sch, did. The performance was good and they should be able to perform more often, so other people in the community can see that black people have something to be proud of. The dancers did good but they should have had more boys instead of one. The drummers were excellent. They r. should do this more often because it's a chance once in a lifetime .. and show it to other schools because maybe other kids would want to learn something about Woodrow Wilson, the Arts Commission Africa because that is our heritage. and Wesleyan University agreed that It is clear from her remarks that one of the the initial success in spring of '972 was original objectives of the principal, to important enough to warrant program provice a relevant experience for the black expansion. Fach institution contributed students, had been realized. matching ft, towards the Endow- In the early summer of 1972, the National ment grant. The 1972-73 school year will, Endowment for the Arts approved a grant hopefully, provide a model for inten- to the Connecticut Commission on the Arts sive, cross-cultural artist-in-residence pro- to support full-year residencies by two grams elsewhere in the country. foreign artists in Middfr.uwn public schools. Freeman Donkor, a Jrummer and dancer S.R.S. from Ghana. will be at Woodrow Wilson High School three days a week for the 1972-73 school year. Unfortunately, Mary Holladay will miss out on this extension of the cross-cultural program. He has accepted a teaching position at Oakland University in Roch- ester, Michigan. The music teacher taking his place, Seb Lombardo, has prepared for his collaboration with Donkor by participating in a drumming course with Adzen- yah in the summer of 1972.

53 Manchester: Thirty Day Jam Manchester High School

I think being a visiting artist was one of the Manchester High School serves an urban meat important kinds of experiences and residential population of nearly I've ever had, just in terms of my own de- 50,000, 10 miles east of Hartford. The velopment. It really struck deep. Like school's "Program of Studies" lists trying to get into the kids heads taught a variety of course levels from college me about youth and sterility, as op- and business preparatory programs to posing forces. Often a lot of the scenes, "terminal specialized" and special educa- when you are doing serious work, can tion programs from which its 2,000 easily become sterile if you are not care- students may select. Its cultural arts cur- ful. You won't even know it till you're riculum may be described as extensive struck in the face with some real fertility and hierarchical. Students interested in of imagination, pleasure, pain, all of singing, for example, may choose be- it Wham! tween mixed chorus, choir and advanced (Bill Walacm, of "Coster, Welling and choir. For those students playing brass, Walach") woodwind, or percussion instruments,performance in the marching and concert The 30-day VAP at Manchester High band is a usual prerequisite for "making" School during the spring of 1972 suggests the orchestra. a model for scheduling artists into Commission Consultant Richard Place schools over an extended period of time first met with Principal George Emmerling In a 15-day VAP, the inter-action be- and music department chairman, Martha, tween the artist, teachers and students White, in the winter of 1971-72. They de- must be premeditated and direct. The cided to present department heads with experience of Coster, Welling and Walach the idea of bringing in a musician. Consult- at Manchester High allowed a more re- ant Place wrote of his first encounter laxed format in which the artists could in- with the school's staff: troduce themselves as performers and This was the first time many of the evolve teaching roles For a school begin- teachers had heard of the VAP. There was ning to experiment with alternatives in a good reaction, and they seem to un- cultural programming and for the Commis- derstand the experimental nature or the sion on the Arts, this longer approach program. Moreover, they understand that allowed a testing of new possibilities. the program will be built by them. I Previous to the 1972 VAP, the bulk of the would provide an artist and general guide- money appropriated by the Manchester lines but it would be up to them to School Board for cultural programs in the develop the classroom dynamics. schools had gone into Hartford Sym- There was a feeling of quiet excitement phony Orchestra performances for students. in the room. Confidence, cooperation Despite the benefits of Symphony ap- and a "let's get down to business" attitude. pearances, cost-conscious administrators In the course of the meeting, we decided in the school system were beginning to on a folk singer, with perhaps a rock consider alternative programming as early background. All department heads said as the fall of 1970 A discussion among they could use such a person in their Jan Alba, the Commission's Information various classes. Center coordinator, Dr Donald Hennigan, Bill Buckley, proprietor of Hartford's superintendent of the Manchester organic Good Food Store, introduced Place Schools, three school principals, and John to "Coster, Welling and Walach", a three- Allison, executive director of the Capitol musician band. The group, which plays a Region Educational Council, confirmed variety of non-electrical string instru- the school system's desire for an intensive ments and woodwinds, described them- program enabling close inter-action selves: between artists and students.

4 2, 54 I ,V.....liaiMLII-

Coster, Welling and Walach briig a Place felt it was critical to emphasize that strong new sound out of the Northeast, out the musicians were first and foremost of its crowded cities and silent old hills. performing artists, since they had had little A different kind of music, but somehow or no experience teaching or working in quietly familiar, something with roots. classrooms In a letter to the school, he de- They had appeared at the Gaslight and scribed the musicians as; Bitter End in New York, the Cafe Lena well versed in various folk traditions of this in Saratoga Springs, and shared the same country and Canada and capable of bill with such performers as Ramblin. playing and discussing this music and its Jack Elliot, Paul Siebel, Boz Scaggs, and history. Because they are a young group George Harrison. in the initial stages of developing as profes- Following a discussion with Bill Walach, sionals working together, the students Consultant Place proposed having the will feel the dynamics of their struggle and group work at the school. He suggested learn, perhaps, of the hazards and re- paying the group $100 per day for a wards of living the life of a professional 30-day program. The school agreed to musician. this, and scheduled the musicians for The Manchester VAP, then, was more two days a week for the months of March, than a carefully planned alternative to a April and May On Mondays, the group costly, one-day cultural event. What had would give all students a chance to listen begun as a discussion of a 50-day single and talk with them by holding an "open artist program, ended with a commitment by jam session" in room A-7 On Tuesdays, the school to experiment not only with they would work in classes an art form strange to many, but also with an improvised schedule and budget.

55 4J Playing The group discussed alternatives to AM John Coster on composing a song. I was radio programming but, most of all, trying to impress on the kids that there travelling. "When we would come to the is some kind of mysterious process that school, we would be coming from some goes on when any of this happens. job or other," said Bill Walach in an inter- You can discipline yourself, develop your view. "We would tell stones of where skills, or go on other trips that other we had been and what we had done. You authors and writers have been on that have know, it's amazing, but lots of these kids pulled their ideas and lives together. have never travelled outside of the state, all You know, dig symbols that relate things their lives, only travelling short distances." together quickly, see what others have The creative process within the group done, and then find your own ways to say was a consistent source of interest to what you are feeling. students. Consultant Place's notes recalled As a storyteller, the artist can perform a John Coster's response to the inevitable variety of educational tasks In addition query. "When you write a song, which to entertaining, a yarn may inform, prepare comes first the words or the music?" the listener to expect the unexpected. John likes the question. He explains how Songs about being stranded and trying to the music makes him feel stories. He get a ride, old fiddle tunes about pirates never writes a song as words. He has to get in Nova Scotia, Delta and Chicago blues. the feeling of a story, hear sounds, not Coster, Welling and Walach brought in the music, maybe some chords, then it the music they liked, "music close to the writes itself. Sometimes he writes from people playing it," in John Coster's poems, but they change when they become words. songs. John puts a poem on the black-

V2.

56 t,... board, then they play the song. The kids a striking contrast to the passive anony- see how it changed. People laugh, and mity of a large assembly. "I think the idea Bill Wa lach, always fooling around, begins of inviting a group to play like that is to play on his bass. "Feel what these do more worthwhile than inviting someone to you," he says. He plays three chords, that everyone feels they have to go see," and John plays a melody. "What is the one student evaluation read, "I'm not story in the feeling of these sounds?" People putting down orchestras, but you have to smile, few offer answers, it is so new, admit more kids would enjoy hearing a this kind of class. rock group than an orchestra." During the program, the musicians The evaluations of cooperating teachers realized that they had to do more than en- revealed some strikingly progressive and tertain students Bill Walach described adventurous attitudes. In recommending the group's efforts. the continuation of the program, Robert We went in one day, after playing for 8 Ahbno wrote. "Education should not be con- few weeks, and just sat and said, ''O.K., fined to rigid formats and outdated text- now you entertain usThen we heard what books. Education must be a collective and they had to say. For me personally, this continuing expenefte rather than a was very important because it allowed me twelve year sentence." In noting the posi- to treat the kids just like I would any tive student reaction to the musicians, :A:around me. It became a much William Di Yeso wrote. 'Programs of this more (;:rect, immediate, POW kind of thing. type should be made a permanent part Like we teen began really to show them of our curriculum." Marilyn Fabian was our lives, how we got impressed with struck by the relationships that could be things. drawn between the songs presented by The informal rapport achieved by Coster. the visiting artists and classroom discus- Welling and Walach with students sions concerning propaganda and ecology. brought out in the musicians "a kind of Some members of the class started creative and psychological consis- submitting poems on a daily basis," she tency," to use John Coster's words Bill wrote, "without being asked." Walach dealt with the length of the For both students and teachers, the project by recognizing the "time between medium of folk -rock offered new perspec- important discoveries" as "critical time tives on academic curriculum.All spent in creation." He remembered that "the facets of life are reflected in music, thus seeming non-productivity in creation" was are subjects in school," wrote one "an important notion to grasp" in his deci- student. English teacher William Howie sion to become a musician spoke of the program's significance to Despite prior intentions, the musicians the classroom experience. learned to assume teaching roles The Coster, Welling and Wa lach appeared in impact the musicians could have on stu- my classes on Adult Fantasy and English dents could not always be anticipated II and moved gracefully into the flow of both or perceived What they were able to bring classes. In Adult Fantasy they shared to the students was a collective and in- some songs which gave us insight into the dividual recognition of-their own experiences fantasies in vogue in different periods in and a respect for the attempts of others this country and elsewhere. In English II to engage in the creative process Coster's class we were working a unit on song most rewarding moment was with "this lyrics, and the musicians developed and one shy blond kid I got to play mu- maintained rapport while drawing from sic with me." a phenomenal array of song styles The voluntary structure of the open jam- and themes to stay on target with the goals ming sessions and the opportunity to of the class. All this and spontaneity too! discover the musicians as people provided More

57 Improving the Program visit on occasion." (letter to Richard Place, The musicians played a really good song July 6, 1972) about how people are never satisfied. Even The teachers' proposals for scheduling with money they aren't happy, because a future VAP suggest that this highly uncon- money can't buy love_ Those with love and ventional program had opened up the money are always pushing trying to people involved to a significant number of be best, but no one is ever best. They're al- new, if unclarif led. possibilities. ways trying to "be". 1 Begin with a big show total exposure to (from a student evaluation) the school community. This high-key be- Consultant Place's evaluation of the ginning might stimulate teachers and stu- Manchester High School VAP recognized dents to thinking of how to make use of the the open environment of the school artists. and the willingness of teachers to put the 2 Start in lamming and in classes. experience to good use Teachers had 3 After two or three weeks, have a series of respected the program for what it was, he workshops with teachers, administrators felt. They had begun to suggest that and artists. sustained cultural activities aimed at involv- 4 Defined program continues, grows. Perhaps ing students could be incorporated into there are a few more workshops for the life of the school. "There has been little teachers alone. threat in this program," he wrote in his 5 Have a big party celebration in the spring, journal. "The atmosphere is open and en- and final evaluation. gaged, and yet what has been done is potentially very threatening to any traditional R.P./R.S. school structure." In an evaluation meeting with the school staff and the artists in late May, teachers asked that more attention be given to planning and publicizing future projects. "I had no real forewarning of their arrival," commented Mr. Alibrio. "As such, their ap- pearance did not coincide with any program of study." Peter Di Rosa felt the program would have been more beneficial had a background for teachers in the form of a workshop taken place. Vice-Principal Laurence Leonard, coordinator of the VAP at the school, suggested better publicity to facilitate a wider exposure to the visiting artists. "Although we did announce over the P.A. System the d :tails of the visit each day the group was present," he wrote, "perhaps a series of assembly programs for all at the beginning of the semester would have been desirable " The musicians' presence at the school, in his view, had prompted teachers to request a greater diversity of music. from the folk traditions of minority groups in particular, "Perhaps it would have been a good idea," he continued, "to have arranged for another group of visiting artists to

58 et 6 New Haven: Caustic Merriment Edgewood School

The kid has to do something with a certain creative of mischief. There are always sur- kind of majesty. The thing has to be a prises in Jeff and Cathy's house and size as large or a head taller than the kid this feeling for living Jeff has brought to especially if it's a group project. I also his work with children at Edgewood. like to do reflections of self, so the kid Edgewood School is in a residential taks a look at himself, takes a look around, neighborhood a block away from the Yale takes another look at himself; then Bowl. It served 297 children in 1971-72, something happens to him, a magic thing. 14% of whom were black. Most were bused (Interview with Jeff London, July 19, 1972) from the inner city. The primary consti- The VAP at Edgewood School illustrated tuency of the school is middle to upper- the unique ability of a visual artist to middle class. Two years ago, the New turn the environment of a school upside Haven Board of Education eliminated art down without posing a threat to a fairly teachers from its elementary school budget. traditional teaching staff The artist, sculptor Commission Consultant Stephen Shapiro Jeff London of Stony Creek. describes first met with Principal Dora Levy and himself as a performer and creator of "caus- Mary Ellen Mininberg, Edgewood School tic merriment." Jeff has had a great deal PTA member, in November 1971. to dis- of experience with programs sponsored by cuss their request for a VAP during the sec- the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. ond half of the school year. The PTA and In 1970-71, he was artist-in-residence the school had raised money, with no Com- at North Haven High School and visiting mission help, for a cultural program in- artist at Edgewood He has worked involving kindergarten through Grade 3 class- dependently as an artist in other New Haven es. Ms. Levy and Ms. Mininberg wanted area schools and will be artist-in-resi- the Commission's support for a program dence at Choate School, Wallingford, under involving Grades 4-6, which they would Commission sponsorship, during 1972-73 fund by raising additional money from par- In many ways, Jeff is Stony Creek's artist- ents, if necessary. As it turned out, the in-residence also a strong, prematurely- New Haven Board of Education allocated graying man who cruises the tiny shore the money to match Commission funds. community in his jeep, bantering with shop- Through the initial meetings, it was de- keepers and children He lives with his cided that the program should be more wife, Cathy, and two children in a multi- intensive than before. At first, the teachers colored house with facial expressions wanted two or three artists to work for painted on the exterior Entrance is by 15 days, splitting the time. Consultant Sha- walking up the tongue of a face painted piro stressed the fact that the develop- on the front stoop and ringing a fire- ment of a relationship between the artist house gong. and the children was crucial to the pro- Visiting Jeff's house is an exciting ex- gram. This was more likely to happen if there perience, a fantasy world full of strange and was only one artist, he said. happy things An example is Jeff's "people The school staff accepted the one artist furniture," such as a chair with the features idea, then had trouble deciding on the of a woman You have to sit in it to be- art form. The teachers had suggested the lieve it On a given day Jeff might be full of possibility of a visual artist who could stories about his latest scheme for a new do "a lot of things." The Commission con- creative environment fir pre-schoolers, fea- sultant, in criticizing the staffs sugges- turing lots of things that move and can tion that many crafts areas be covered, be rearranged by children Cathy will have tried to convince them of the importance of just returned from a hectic day teaching considering an artist's individual style. pregnant unwed young women in New Ha- All parties finally agreed on Jeff London. ven Tina, their eight-year-old daughter, who was available and had worked at will be dancing while Jeffer, age three, will the school before. The discussion indicated. be running around getting into the most

60 however, that a meeting between the artist and the school's staff could improve upon the experience of the past year. We had been struggling for about one and a half hours, with one teacher looking very unhappy, when the subject of Jeff Lon- 4, don came up [Consultant Shapiro reported]. They laughed and giggled over episodes from past years. Ms. Levy told the story of plastic burning through the grass on a hot day, and calls from the grounds 111111 people over this. The fire marshal stories came fast, also tales of parents lugging old car tires every morning for junk sculpture. From what they said, Jeff is a true hero to the kids, and in a way anybody else this year would be a disappointment. There seems to be almost a mythology about him at Edgewood, with even the teachers participating, although they are afraid of the "problems" that follow Jeff around, Jeff met with the school staff early in January The meeting confirmed a schedule of 10 meetings with six classes, and defined a work day as four teaching periods. The five or six periods assigned during the previous year had proven to be too much for him. The schedule of one day a week meant that the artist would go two weeks without seeing some classes, Al- 'If though Jeff anticipated that some projects would take several class periods to complete, he expected that student interest could be sustained Generally, the projects called for murals and making masks, using polyurethane for hair and cardboard shapes for bodies For later in the spring, Jeff suggested going outside to paint the cement playground Ms Levy and the staff seemed receptive to this idea, especially after Jeff promised to lay off the grass. With theories of how to become an artist some people say you start off and you get an exact likeness, and then you abstract and develop from that But that s terrible, because that just gives you an up-tight character. You should start far of and then come back to that and build upon it, and notice the things you wouldn't notice ordinarily. (Interview with Jeff London)

62 43 Irene Husak, Grade 6, kept a journal of her 10 sessions with the artist. 1/31: We made sort of masks of our faces. We used plaster cloth. First the laces were covered with vaseline (ugh!) and then the plaster cloth was dipped in warm water and put on the peoples' faces. It feels like wet paper towels with paint on them. We had to sit with it on for about 15 to 20 minutes. It feels so funny when you're taking the mask off. It feels like your whole facr, is coming off. Je on making masks One kid does it to a another. They learn that there is a certain trust to what the other person is doing, and that there is a certain belief that that person has that they have to believe in also. They have to put themselves under the complete control of the other person. 2/14: This time I made a mask for someone. Everybody looked so funny and now I know how I looked (like mummies). 2/29: se- Today we used polyurethane its the stuff that grows many times its size. We put it on the masks for hair. Some of the hair looked a little like brown Styrofoam. Jeff on polyurethane. It expands thirty 4:7 times its size. They put one component in, then another. Then they have to wait about fifteen seconds. Then they stir it for , 23-27 seconds. Then all of a sudden it starts to get warm, and they feel the heat, and it would start to come up and over the cup if they left it in the cup. So they have to pour it out and let it expand on an object to create hair. They could make a facsimile of some kind of hair maybe their dream-fixation hair, or hair they would like to have, or hair that they don't have, or hair that they do have. 3/20: Today we made bodies. We lay down on a piece of cardboard in a funny position and someone traced us Then Jeff cut it out. First I did Carol's mask, because she was absent when we did them. I traced Jessica and Ellen traced me. Then I nailed my

63 mask onto my body. Mr Shapiro played ground isn't as dull as it used to be. You the piano and there was a photographer can't be dull all the time. who took pictures. Shapiro: What are you painting? 4/3: Kids: Some funny Martian man; it makes Today we painted our bodies and our the playground happier-looking it was faces. We didn't paint the hair because all black. The only thing I don't like is it would come right off. The bodies mail}, that I'm moving and I won't be here next looked nice when they were painted. year to enjoy it. 4/10: The artist's success may be described by Today we drew pictures of ourselves. We the feelings he projected. Jeff's appear- looked in the mirror. My picture doesn't ance was informal dungaree bells, paint- really look like me that much, but I guess splattered shoes, a blue polka-dot ker- it looks like me more than anybody else. chief tied around his neck, long hair tied 5/1: in back. The artist's constant chatter We made pictures out of letters today. created a loosene.:s and spontaneity that We took a letter and drew a man or could be shared by students and teach- something out of it. ers. The simplicity of the materials and art- 5/15: ist's techniques allowed everyone to be Today we wrote letters to Mr. Barbaresi infected. (superintendent of schools] to let us From Consultant Shapiro's journal. The paint the playground. classroom. Jeff is working with plastic 5/22: splint cloth today. He explains to the kids Today we drew with chalk what we were what it is, as he begins work on 6th going to paint We put white paint on Grade teacher Dorothy Martino, smearing some of the things so they wouldn't wash vaseline on her face to keep the plaster away. Lynn and I made flowers and from sticking. lines between the bases. Some people Jeff. "Come on gimme my hot water. traced people, some people made basket- I'm in a hurry." Kids scurry. Ms. Mar- balls, and some people made footballs. tino. "Better not be too hot." Jeff warns 6/5: about leaving the nose open for breath- Today we painted some of the things we ing. One boy, as Jeff starts laying cloth on drew in chalk. The paint dried very the teacher's face. "Better take our her quickly Lynn, Carol and I painted together. dentures first." Another. "Miss Martino, you The whole schonlyard looked happy and look like you have a toothache." alive when we finished. With the light, unproblematic atmosphere, Miscellaneous quotes from parking lot the classrooms temporarily became ex- interviews conducted by Consultant Shapiro. perimental environments where students Kids painting the playground designs could attempt a different decor. The fitting in with play areas, basketball courts, kids seemed to be most interested in the baseball diamond all asphalt with out-of-the-ordinary projects Jeff mal- crazy figures, colors. ted. creating from materials and textures Shapiro Jeff, what's the point of all this? they never used before. The artist dis- JeffI don't know, what is the point of cussed the strategy of replacing the routine all this? of a school in an interview with the Com- Teacher. looking at kids painting the play- mission Consultant. ground I was born fifty years too soon, Why do you want to work in schools?" Who would ever believe that you could have Jeff. Because its fun. You come into this in a school yard. It's great. schools and do something completely con- Kids. explaining a man they're painting. trary and different than they've ever had We're making a man, making him crazy. before. If you came in and did plaster ash- I think he's reaching for a flower. The play- trays, it would be an exercise in boredom

64 5a and not beneficial. But if you go in and do Teachers attributed Jeff's success to his an environmental thing, big huge environ- personality His energy and tongue-in- ments, where you just completely change cheek wit were seen as both unique and the whole place, last, that's fun. non-transferable. "Jeff can come in It has all kinds of benefits lust the idea here and have a ball with the kids for a of displacing something, of putting matter of an hour, and then say so long something else in, which I kind of fashion. kids, ni see you next week," said one teach- The kids fashion it. Then you put a new er. "Myself. I'm dealing with these children order into Mings. You work hard on some- five hours a day. My approach has to be thing you really believe in a changeover. entirely different from what Jeff's approach "Were there any teachers who changed, is." or were affected, just from having some One teacher was tempted to contrast the craziness around them?" difficulties of teaching routine "aca- Jeff. Sure, and sometimes it would make demic" subjects with the "show" put on by it a lot easier for them to do some of the artist. "You can't approach every their straight stuff too. It helps a lot like subject from this kind of activity," she com- that. Its like an exchange of time. That's mented. If Jeff had been teaching not to say that they would change language arts or math, he would have had their ways of doing things, but some things to use a "different" method. "He is in that they would be doing would be more one of the areas where it's not a structured palatable to the kids. program at all," the teacher concluded. It made the kids feel, especially when we Jeff is certainly a very unusual person. painted the playground, like the school with a unique style of relating to chil- belonged to them that much more. Of course dren, Still, there might not have to be such we should have painted the hallways and a division between Jeff's and the teachers' everything else, but that s beside the point. methods Experiencing art is not necessari- In a school, if the kids can make it ap- ly different from experiencing mathe- pear to be a part of themselves, then tirere s matics. reading or social studies The ques- a thing of ownership. Everybody should tions "of how to approach structure, how own a piece of the earth, am 'gave their "experiencing" is related to "learning," or marks. how to see something grow apply to The main thing is to show the kid that he every discipline For Edgewood School, has some value in what he's doing, They what seems to have been introduced class these kids by group "A, B, C, D" was an attitude, a good feeling associated by intelligence factors and all this other with Jeff's "caustic merriment" What crap dreadfully wrong, They don't give gave structure to the artist's commitment the kids something to bite into, to get to spontaneity was a respect for ma- into. Its all an identity thing. The kid has terials and a knowledge of the ways a to have an identity for himself, a recog- creative project could develop over nition of that." time. And, as Jeff put it: "Out of the kids In evaluating the experience, teachers own excitement, they made their own settled for a perspective of their VAP, as one kind of chaotic order " put it: "A good change, a wonderful experience for the children to look forward R.S. to." The excitement Jeff liked to motivate, the use of one's hands, the freedom to put aside the evaluation of a product, all were part of an experimental educational attitude, Some teachers found it difficult, however, to apply the artist's methods to the learning that took place at a desk or in the mind, 51 65 Hartford: Creating an Alternate School Shanti School

I used to think nothing at all, butnow artist, moved into a section of theHartford 1 think all the time. And sometimes Iwish I didn't think the things I thought railroad station that had not beenused cause in years. This was to be our home. now I can see where things are at. All because I stopped and thought. Everyone was excited and happy to be (Deedee Smith, Student) located, and we set to work fixing, building, painting, and cleaning the facility. The students came from wealthy and I can not tell you what to make, Iam not even sure I can tell you how to make working-class families, representing both black and white ethnic minorities in things. Perhaps all I really can do isaid you in making the connection between the greater Hartford region. They energetically began to create their school. This the world outside of you and within you stage in the school's history was exciting, the world you know in yourself. We can open, almost dreamlike. Soon were to discover together the use of tools, examine the forms in these worlds and strive come the harsh realities of peoples' differ- to ences in turmoil: suburban whites dis- learn the meaning of these forms whichyou create. covering the depth of inner-city black (A. Jonna Kay, Artist) anger; working class students finding it hard to communicate with,or have the confidence of upper-middle class kids; We go out to dinner withour teachers at the sexes discovering each otheras the school, go camping with them,go friend and enemy. tell other people about our school with them, The principal of Silent', Hindi for "the then sit around and laugh about it later. peace that passes all understanding", Gene Last year [when she attended a conventional high school' I never saw any of Mulcahy, became interested in havinga my VAP at his school in the spring of teachers outside the classroom. They were always in front of a desk, like in a tie and 1971 through conversations with Commis- sion Consultant Martin Kushner. In the suit. Now you can talk to them as people. fall of 1971, I, Richard Place, became I feel more relaxed and more comfortable, the first visiting artist at the school, working pri- and so I can do more work. I can tell a marily with video-tape. I had done the teacher to shut-up if I don't want to listen same thing at North Haven High School the to what they are saying; I can criticize them it I want, sometimes that helps, previous year, while working professionally or I as a film-maker in New York, New Haven, can lust say that was nice. You know, and Boston. In the late fall A. Jonna Kay, before I couldn't say that. I can suggest a painter from Hartford, became a visiting what I want to learn, instead of just artist and coordinator of the art program for sitting back and taking it all in andspitting it all back. the rest,of the year. At Shanti some eight artists worked in the areas of dramatics, (Migdalia Rodriguez, Student, from painting, drawing, ceramics, .nusic, candle Student Evaluation of VAP, July, 1972) making, leather craft, fashion design and photography The photographycourse An experiment had begun. One that was taught by a teacher, Nick Duke, who represented, for the first time in the Hart- is an experienced photographer. He and the ford area, an adventure into the murky, students built a dark room together, and unknown waters of alternative education Nick taught both dark room andcamera As of September, 1971, when partici- techniques. pants met to plan activities, the school did not yet have a home. By the end of the month, the community of fifty students, principal, three core teachers, twostudent teachers, one secretary, and one visiting l 66 J2 Later on, Shant Icare-for 4-111.5 able peopti, Ilove questions,wim 5-0-9911t1.9wri+h.Imrriot7evertfeelltir dangledconfusion. wish luck.Ai IVO_fon second -1-1-tou9k-,466 what- jd5115. 1:6acfivecritical and knowing, seeing andhearing +11inkiligeling-thina5 whlck isvery powerfttl. + fro qk ForThai 'Jilt 'DLO- thin.95-19efhertask 4) guestio W 4 ehablesccs es or no getincontrolof .the:gake and arouncrits, sa_y most- immtdiaitki pleastinArsfandmat ssciti* tio°1 14nds I 11115hit IfftVir/Where 16 qh a°5trtut- Oh 604+he threema ntg r`r-rIetrt.e.les+he. c+ and how Ilove.... re, Std how/ So muchlove 40joik 40tower

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-1,1! fibieratiOn roitation, Thus the VAP at Shanti was uniquely The Art Curriculum In Process different from mai' and unusually dynamic Alternative schools oiler an unusual in its impact on the school. This impact opportunity for the arts. The creative urge was reflected in the tact that many artists or whatever it be, does not, it seems to were attracted to work at Shanti without me, bind itself to schedules and bells, to pay and everyone who was a part of categories and pigeon holes. With open the school had an opportunity to take part scheduling, students can organize them- in defining its educational policies. The selves, their work, and their art in the struggle in decision making was highly cre- most reasonable of ways. ative. At times it was painful, at others (Gene Mulcahy, Principal joyful But at all times, people had the free- from Principal's Evaluation Report, dom to express themselves, as well as July, 1972) the responsibility of following through on their actions. By late winter the VAP A. Jonna Kay: was being administered by a committee What would Shanti be like without an arts made up of the principal, the art coor- program? dinator, the Commission consultant and stu- Max DiCorcia: dents. The committee directed the pro- Nothing ... (laughter). .. The arts program for the remainder of the year, recruit- gram is the only thing at Shanti that ing artists and administering the supply has allowed people to work in a direction. budget The spirit of the Shanti experiment self-direction, towards anything, even would be difficult to capture in a narra- like a self-indulgent act of throwing paint tive report, if it could be "captured" at all. on a wall. Without it, Shanti would be Hopefully, the following montage of a very conventional school. Because they documents from various members of the teach math in the same way, the same school community will serve to indicate rote learning. They read the same books. some of that spirit. Even the revolutionary courses like Labor History, Women's Liberation, and Revolutionary Thought and Process were taught in the same conventional man- ner, and were not very successful. The only thing the school has going for it is some devoted people who like the arts, like working themselves in art, and who like seeing kids I - - - around with paint and other things. That's a good thing. (A. Jonna Kay, artist Max DiCorcia, student from Student Evaluation of VAP July, 1972)

Look at yourself ... Look at your world ... What things are important to you?... You say you don't know? Then we will look for them. Examine the forces that shape you, from the outside and from within. Ob- serve and be honest about your perceptions, feelings and thoughts. Take this pencil, thiS pen, a paintbrush, clay or a camera any tool that makes a mark or leaves an impression. Take your time

69 The connection between your mind, your Even those of us who are not directly eyes, and your body needs time to de- teaching the arts are in accord with what- velop We have the time. Be patient!!! ever it is that makes up the artistic Make your art oblects meaningful to you. viewpoint on life and the world. The art- They are your creations. ists have reinforced that in their work, You are the only you. their commitment and their articulate views. (A. Jonna Kay, Artist) (Gene Mulcahy, Principal from taped interview, August, 1972) One of the key elements of this school is chaice. Students choose to become The more I get into the kids in the school, members of the school. In cooperation the more it becomes clear that very with the staff, they choose the courses few of them have anyone to rap to who is and other activities to be offered. The indivi- older (near their parents' ages) and dual stude.it chooses the courses he will holds their respect. This is becoming a con- take. stant "theme" in the school. Many of the (Information Brochure, Greater Hartford kids have expressed this feeling, and the Alternate High School, Spring, 1971) staff has very different ideas and mixed feelings about how to handle the problem. A. Jonna Kay: I decided to see if the kids vould like What is art to you? Has your involvement to put some of these feelings into their video- with the artists who have been at the tape work. With one group, we filmed a school this year mada you think or feel person walking alone and one eating alone. differently? Then we looked at the footage and I Migdalia Rodriguez. asked what each was thinking while being I look at things more carefully. I study filmed and we decided to record their in- things, I go up to things and touch them ner thoughts on the sound track as we re- more often. I dropped all my academic played the pictures of the activities. courses, I had no use for them. Marilyn, who was filmed walking, said she Bethsaida Rodriguez. was thinking about the Puerto Rican For me, if the subject was something Festival held the other day, about girls and I wasn't interested in, I lust took a walk. guys putting the make on each other, A. Jonna Kay: about white politicians speaking English When you took a walk, what happened? to Spanish-speaking people, about con- Bethsaida Rodriguez. fusions over her anger while she wanted I saw more, I experienced everything going Just to have a good time. Beth, who was eat- on in the street and it made me feel better. ing a sandwich, talked about how lousy Migdalia Rodriguez. it tasted, about all the polluting cars going When I felt like I wasn't involved in the by, and about wanting to see a special class I would leave and do something friend. We all made an important discovery. worthwhile. I stayed away from school once Visual material which draws us into a for three weeks when I was fed up with person can create an atmosphere whereby what was going on and I did a hell of a lot we can open up and express thoughts of work at home. The things I did were that are very personal, ones that have mean- some of the best things I have ever done, ing and power and say who we are. and when I came back to school, it (Richard Place, artist wasn't so bad anymore. I took on more from diary, Fall, 1971) classes and stuck around more often. (A. Jonna Kay, artist Migdalia Rodriguez, student Bethsaida Rodriguez, student from Student Evaluation of VAP July, 1972)

70 pop q a ur ).,1-D 9 94 _141 ..)-,40/ ct /Lip° s 0-7('LIC Ippyg .1.01/ -"X? 1./b g./.? LIOp A &4 rn ! (4.1 JO _ro ( J(14 iittrpi,6 _.Acg 7/ u0e, -atA4 = t ,ceclo pio ",re .T" e'l-ff r /. L 1/1"f -p11 ( 1_f IRCni ov Fuca -SST? -I-" ?'44 " "92 1-1 151u1'11 21. 1.4" cif" 131(2(3/19 tti 711.71-11_ vorV

tit/ 139. 1/441121-1- -f 41/4 44 Ain-C.' D'1"Ivw°4 --?c) /(12,C)p- W, z- T1-1001 1. -I 1"--,(:)' pi- 9: NH,. a -11 -I- 5 14,1 0 IA0A 1 / b s sz."--a IVC) be Wishes and Dreams Decision Making in Process My wish last week was that people wouldn t The artists, teachers, administrators and bull-- with one another constantly. students were all involved in a com- People are so afraid to drop their masks munity meeting process of decision making and show their true self. Those damn Points of view differed radically on how people at the conference (Free School Con- this process should proceed. At times dur- ference on Decision Making in Alternate ing the year, the school nearly stopped High Schools held in Chicago, spring 1972) because of frustrations which came about were real bull---- artists. They talked in as a result of this struggle. We were a such abstract terms that I m sure they community of some fifty people of different weren't even sure what they were saying. ages and backgrounds trying democra- The students were the ones who spoke free- tically to define and direct our experimental ly, or at least more freely than others, and school. We discovered that effective they were ignored, possibly because the forms for decision making that would in- thick-headed adults were afraid to hear clude the perspective of everyone had what we were saying about them and their not yet evolved, but a commitment to that system, their schools, their morals and discovery had been made. A new kind of values. student government had been attempted. It (Deborah Ennis failed in itself for the most part, but the Shang student representative to conference events of the 1971-72 school year now live Spring, 1972) within the students and staff. This living expenence will provide more than an intel- I used to think that heterosexuality was lectual basis for change and will hope- normal, bisexuality was well it was cool, fully mature the actions of peopleIf so, the and homosexuality was all right, but Shanti experiment will prove that effective watch it around me, baby. Now I know that learning takes place in an environment they are all fine. None is healthier than where everyone takes responsibility for the the other. Heterosexuality does seem a little t,ollective growth of the school community stranger now though. It doesn't seem "normal to have to depend on another The community is the day-to-day decision person for everything. Your own sanity making body. The community is designed shouldn t hang on a sexual dependency. but to make policy decisions by consensus it often seems to be that way. in terms of the school's operation and di- (Patti Ford, student) rection. Every student and staff member is a member of the community. The meetings Red is the sign of danger. anger fear. were characterized by some diffusiveness, warning. and a great deal of anxiety and frustration. Red is also full of brightness. They were dominated by verbal people Black as so very simple, Black is beautiful. and non-verbal people and their feelings The marriage between the two is a hot were lost in battles, intimidations and so summer night, on. Even though this taught some people which erupts with flickering red fires, that they had to forge a more aggressive and angry Black faces. screaming and path if they wanted to be heard, in the long fighting for what's right. run it created a great deal of alienation (Harry Smith. student) to the point where many kids did not attend the meetings, even though they were around. It's a problem of democracy, perhaps a problem of our public education system's historical bias, that people have a place and should stay in it. These kids have learned all too well in the past

73 5 that they should not express their and at the same time see things thoughts and feelings, and they from should fol- an objective point of view and come low leadership. When you createa lead- up with alternatives. It takes creativityto ership void, which we did, by givingthe decision making power to a communal take an accurate stand, see what is happening, and say, "let's do something about group, people were not prepared to deal it." with what happened. Even though it (Max DiCorcia, student was educational for all of us, what about from Student Evaluation of VAP the kids who never took part, andwhat July, 1972) about the cleft between those that didand those that didn't? (Gene Mulcahy, Principal We need a context in order tolearn which from taped interview, August, 1972) protects our bodies and minds from the shock of what we will experienceand this must be positive in its attitude toward A community meeting the next day was a that adventure, moving from not knowing bust, and in many ways it borderedon to knowing. What is it? Itseems to me the dangerous. There was tension allthe that it must be a two-fold proposition. way through which hurt a lot of people. One, We were yelling at each cther about total acceptance of every person in the the school, and two, a growing, changing,le- dope question, not sticking to thepoint and !mutton of the school. What not listening to each other. People is, and what were is becoming, means process. That crying and we could not resolve any issue process at all, We ended up defining "community" is made concrete by everyone's changing as students, staff, parents, politicians, reality, fully acknowledged, engagedand developed. The assumption is thateveryone money and business. We found also that in the school is different and that we had to know the development of our differences zre exciting and we can learn from the school from the beginning toknow all them. the strings attached to it and to under- (Richard Place, artist stand the real power of various members of the "community". from diary, Fall, 1971) (Richard Place, artist from diary, Fall, 1971) You have the freedom to tellyour teachers to f--- off and vent your aggressions, The artists have brought a perspective with the intention of solvinga certain is- to sue. Only once you have said your our community meetings and to our piece, nothing is done, but you should be staff meetings which wouldn't havebeen available to us otherwise. They brought thankful that you can even be ina school like this where you can doa thing like a kind of mellowness, a kind ofcircumspec- tion and a kind of spontaneity, that that, tell your teacher to f--- off.Then you they bring to their own work, that are kind of easily put away, you have they said your bit, now we can go have been able to translate on to the in a more next person. sociological context, in terms ofour kids and our school and its growth. (Max DiCorcia, student (Gene Mulcahy, Principal from student evaluation of VAP July, 1972) from a taped interview, August, 1972)

Art is really observation, You can'tbe a blind artist. Part of the reason theartists at the school this year were important to our struggles is that they were ableto be involved with intense personal things

74 J3 .11011 Postscript When a school's linear structure is such Two major changes will be made in the that it can encourage and supporta man's Shanti school during the 1972-73 academic best and most fluid talents, the artist year They are in answer to many of the can find greater breadth for his talent and criticisms the students, artists, and staff enthusiasm. He can do much individual members have articulated in the document- coaching, share experiences, and energize ed material. First, there will no longer be love and skill. community meetings of the type whichat- (Gene Mulcahy, Principal tempt to reach policy decisions through from Principal's Evaluation Report, rambli.ig meetings. Instead, taskforces will July, 1972) study in depth various areas involved in decision-making and present positionsto the community for discussion and final policy formulation. This is only one idea thusfar proposed, but it would enable all the students to understand the complex factors in the decision-makingprocess without painful frustration. They 'hen could make their feelings known in discussion based on the facts presented. The home groups at Shanti, which function muchas a family and are similar to the homeroom ina regular school, will become more stable. They act as planning groups,sometimes confrontation groups, guidancegroups, ventilation groups, social groups andevalu- ation groups. Next year they will havecon- sistent leadership from a staff member (which last year was haphazard in practice) and often left students withno staff leader or with inexperienced leadership. These groups, meeting weekly fortwo hours with consistent leadershipand mem- bership, will hopefully reduce theanxiety which characterized much oflast year's learning situation. Shanti School has begun to help direct students to "look at their world" and "examine the forces that shape them, their feelings and thoughts." They are growing, changing, and most importantly, theyare "taking their time." We all need the time to develop our own very special selves. "You are the only you".

76 The Window and the Fire Hydrant The fire hydrant in today's life is a thing that soothes and cools many a flickering chaos, And the window is a thing of joy where one can look into the world without leaving the pleasures of home. And a child of these two would be a window sprayed with the freshness of a sparkling river up against a clear clean window to let every bit of gleam shine in. (Harry Smith, student)

R. P,

77 1j Washington: An Interdisciplinary Improvisation Washington Middle School

I spent the first week checking out, dealing Principal Glen Anderson, who had partici- with the senses as much as possible. The pated in VAPs before, was anticipating second week I tried to deal with emotions, the school's move to new consolidated and some kind of true life acting tech- facilities in the fall. He believed the nique, a slowing down and making things as real as possible. two-week project provided an opportunity (Michael Posnick) to test interdisciplinary work that could be incorporated into the curriculum The Visiting Artists Program at Washing- of the new school. Andersonwas also ton Middle School centered aroundan attempt by the school to suspend regular concerned with the isolation of the students and the town. He pointed out that there curriculum for two weeks in order to was only one Jew in the school (nota stu- place students and teachers inan inten- dent) and one black family in thetown, sive, experimental situation. Beginning Jamaican. He hoped the project would May 1 and ending May 12, 1972, fourclasses help confront this narrowness. from Grades 7-8, approximately half the In the first meeting between the artist, students in the school, followeda sched- school staff and Commission Consultant ule specifically designed for this inter- Steve Shapiro, Michael suggested the disciplinary period. Each of the cooperating idea of using the time to createa society, teachers conducted special units to parallel or societies, from the bottom up. This the visiting artist's activities. With theart- plan might mean starting with theater ist as a catalyst, the work of everyone games involving non-verbal communication, involved was expected to converge intoan building time relations, followed by innovative and mutually supportingat- group and family structures and moving mosphere. toward political relationships At the time of the projem Michael on a more complicated level (including economics, Posnick was 29 years old, a director with division of labor, the arts, international the Yale Repertory Theater, and visiting relations, etc.). lecturer in drama at Yale University. During the past year, he had directed two Brecht- During the several planning sessions, the theme of the interdisciplinary period be- Weill plays, Happy End and Little Ma- gan to focus on various levels of communica- hagonny, with great critical success at the tion, with each teacher developing Yale Rep, and a new production of an appropriate unit. The first meeting had been in Tosca at Hofstra University. In 1971, he early February. By April, Michael could worked with the New Haven Police anticipate a schedule of three one hour and Department in a drama therapyprogram for a half sessions a day, starting with "basic drug addicts His experiences with chil- techniques of body movement and relaxa- dren's theatre included a production of tion, theater games, individual and group Alice in Wonderland by the Long Wharf improvisation as a means to explore and ob- Touring Company He is alsoa musician and songwriter. jectify the participant's understanding of his/her relationship with self, environment Washington Middle is a consolidated and others." school in Washington Depot, Litchfield County, in western Connecticut. Families served by the school are generally rural. The economic background ofstudents is predominantly middle class,as upper- income people living in thearea often send their children to private schools. Ofthe 210 students in Grades 5-8, 46 7th Graders and 58 8th Graders were served by the VAP. Matching funds for theprogram came from the school.

f V.i.. 78 The cooperating teachers included An disciplines, used techniques generally not English teacher, Tracy Tracey, full of attempted in their classrooms. Ralph enthusiasm and energy and the only wo- Lawson organized seven topics in the sci- man involved, two science and math ence of communications from which his teachers. Ralph Lawson and Bob Hopkins, students could make a choice. Students concerned with form and responsibility electing to study Communication by and, in Hopkins' words. opposed to "change Light. Sound, or Telecommunications were for change's sake ", and Phil Zenng, a to spend three hours in laboratory ex- quiet social studies teacher Mort Brenner. periments and start notebooks of their work. a guidance counsellor, and Dorothy Those choosing to concentrate on Satel- Luke. a special education teacher. observed lite Communications, Special Applications project activities and took part in plan- of Communications. the History and ning and evaluation. Future of Communications could work on With one exception, teachers involved in a flexible, individualized basis with the the planning agreed to the open-ended consent of the instructor. nature of program objectives. Bob Hopkins spent much of the planning period asking for measurable proof of the project's goals and worth. Openly worried that his advanced algebra class would miss two weeks of math and unable to anticipate the precise outcome of the experiment, he chose not to participate, The units devised by the staff, while accepting the boundaries of the teaching

79 The techniques employed by the English Smaller Realities and social science teachers were similar What happened was that after the third day to the methods proposed by the artist. a certain schedule for the hour-and-a- Ms Tracey planned to use role-playing half slot was set up, physical activities, situations in her "Learning to Com- warm-up, a game called imitation which is municate through Poetry" unit to develop based on body movement, gesture, and the students' lbility to observe them- sound, and then some other physical activi- selves and their relationships with others. ties. The second hall of the period would The simulation game attempted by Phil be devoted to sedentary stuff, audience stuff, Zenng, with Principal Anderson's help, improvisations, role plays, squirms, and asked students to assume adult roles in some kind of acting technique demonstra- dealing with community problems. tion. The procedures offered by Ms. Tracey (From the artist's journal) hinted at the interdisciplinary atmosphere The most enduring problem encountered sought by project participants An "emo- by the artist was the self-consciousness tional response is valid, even necessary," of the students and the related problem of she wrote "Each person has a spark sustaining group interest and control. of creativity that can emerge if we all try to Michael kept a journal, on cassette tape, of bring it out in ourselves and in each his impressions: other " As for herself, she would attempt (May 3 morning]. Many of the physical to suspend the students' fear of criti- exercises I brought in they do not accept, cism by giving no grades during the because of a certain embarrassment about experiment. the use of their bodies, an uncomfortable- The principal's role in reinforcing the ness specifically using certain parts of teachers' openness with students and with their bodies. ... I've been working non-ver- each other was of great importance to bally with them, and its very difficult, the achievement of project objectives. Fre- They're just not used to it.... So, I think quent meetings were scheduled to facili- I'll go back and temper that with a num- tate staff communication When a 7th Grade ber of verbal improvisatory exercises.. .. boy asked during the opening assembly There's a part of me that feels I should what the two weeks was going to "prove", find some other exercises which won't mak6 Anderson admitted that he did not know them feel so self-conscious, but I have He pointed to the deficiencies in the regular seen a certain growth, a certain progression curriculum, and suggested the experiment of their ability to do them. They are ex- might test possible alternatives tremely aware of where they'll stop now. Maybe by the end of two weeks they'll be just a little bit freer with each other. I expect that's what this is about. Michael was able to stick to his project syllabus in beginning his classes with physical warming up and self-awareness exercises. Running in place, the "group bounce", stretching, making sounds, working in pairs, tangling, floating, simple trust exercises these became part of the established routine. Group games were used extensively, such as going outside to form machines and statues; quick verbal sequence exercises in which participants say a common phrase with the greatest possible variation; passing imaginary ob-

80 k; 3 jects with observers guessing what was week of students testing "the new being passed. teacher". The absence of another teacher In doing pantomimes, students often meant that Michael could not divide demonstrated their own party games. One the students into autonomous smaller class attempted a levitation ritual. Seven groups. To involve the entire group, or eight people knelt next to a body aid re- the artist had groups present improvisations cited, "I think he's sick, I think he's sick, to each other. Tasks were assigned, I think he's dead, I think he's dead Shall usually with some mystery attached, for we bury him or let him rise Shall we the purpose of getting the other groups put him in the casket" After five or six min- to guess what was going on. utes of this they tried (unsuccessfully) The artist was simply not prepared, nor to levitate the body. could he have been expected to deal Students were able to reach decisions on with disciplinary problems. "I try not to be the subjects and characters of more a disciplinarian, except through the complex improvisations, which demanded work," he said,but once these exercises interdependent functioning. The artist's are seen in the light of being forced journal described an improvisation on VD, to do them, they really cease to be exercise. created by a group of 8th Grade girls. They're like anything else that a person None of the boys would take part, but it is forced to do they have to come from didn't seem important They really hit a certain amount of interest in the doing." on very important aspects of VD. A girl- Michael's Journal continues. The most friend telling a girlfriend, then going amazing thing is that they're constantly hit- to the doctor, the doctor giving the girl a ting each other the boys mainly and choice of whether she wants to tell her the girls also very strong physical con- parents or not Then they talked about what tact. I would like to be clever enough they should do with the boy, should they and wise enough to find a way to use that. report him, talk with him Some of the work One of the groups today actually did was thorough. a mock rumble, a-la West Side Story, and The artist was confronted with the prob- they were in a way able to use that kind lem of involving large groups of 22 to of aggressive energy for their own enter- 28 students without outside help for ex- tainment. That's really what they like to tended periods of time. Not having an do, even when they get hurt. In almost all assisting regular teacher in the classroom the improvisations that they do father was a serious oversight in the planning and daughter, father and son, smacked up of the program and resulted in a rough the car, bad report card they're concerned with punishing, and it's mainly cor- poral punishment. It's mainly a father punching out a son. Students, Principal Anderson, teachers and consultant Shapiro suggested to the artist ways of relating to this age group. Shapiro and Mark Van Allen, a student tutor from the Gunnery, spent a good deal of time with Michael in the classroom. Their presence enabled the artist to divide classes into independent groups, and allowed students to pick up improvisational techniques at their own speed. Principal Anderson's concern, plus the support of teachers, helped the artist see what boundaries were desirable. In the end, how-

81 u ever, Michael took the responsibility of For example, two girls today did a skit in establishing the necessary rapport. He re- a haunted house. Some of it was very counted in his journal: clever, and very good. They were scaring Yesterday, in the middle of one of the each other, and finally won the ten dol- periods. I screamed at the top of my lungs, lars they said they would get if they stayed "shut up". and there was silence for a in the house. I took some time with only minute or two. I said, "Is that the only thing the two of them .. . lust to deal with the that is going to have you be quiet," and reality of holding an object in their they said "Yes". hand [they were holding imaginary candles], Through the experiences of the first and concentrating on that object. week, the artist was able to see that the I did an exercise in the B Group today students "were very well aware of noticing just observation people facing each other how people were behaving, what was in pairs, studying each other for a moment underneath their behavior and if it was dif- or so, then turning their backs and re- ferent from how they were acting." He arranging or changing something about found he could involve even the most dif- them, in their person, or their clothes ficult students in mirror exercises where possibly in the way they stand. [Students the movements of other people were imitat- then guess each others' changes.] The ed While students were good at observ- kids responded extremely well to that. That's ing, however, the artist found they did not sort of what I meant by performance and necessarily like to be watched. lust being there, being seen by another "Some kids won't perform in front of the person. group," he said,but I think there's The goal of the game is to look at ob- something underneath that which is even jects," the journal continued, "look at more important, and that is just being people as objects of study which erases, watched, noticed, by another human being. takes away that self-conscious thing. Though it's difficult, I would like to try If you're holding a candle and looking at as much as possible to break down the per- the flame, you're not worrying about formance and to break down the role how you look, what you look like, who is play situation into its component parts looking at you, whether you have such as weather awareness, time aware- pimples, and the rest of that. You're in- ness, and get into not situational things volved in an action, in doing something." but into fragmented parts of a situation The students' evaluation of the improvisational drama unit reflected the degree of their individual participation. They were asked: "What did you notice about yourself and others during the two week drama workshop?" I thought I was going to be embarrassed doing those things, but after a while you weren't. That we all could act like idiots. We looked silly but I liked it. I didn't notice anything about myself and actually I didn't pay any attention to the others. After a while you realized that the warming up exercises were just loosening you up, to relax you before you started. That some of them [the students) were really nice. For the first time.

82 U) Roles, Simulations, and Poetry be acted out by their fellow students [Principal Anderson, during teachers' and would sit quietly and watch it. I don't evaluation meeting]: I think it'san unreal- know exactly what tha: means. I don't istic expectation to expect kids of this know how different that is from sitting and particular age, 7th and 8th Grade, to shed watching it on TV and in movies, and all of a sudden inhibitions which are whether that has any kind of cathartic and almost physiologically characteristic oftheir educational value for kids being. I think to make them more to see all aware that violence. It certainly makes of their bodies, less inhibited, an im- is realistic. pression." But to think that you're going to actually change kids, isn't Michael's evaluation of the project, which because they've had been constant and self-critical, got too many things going on in their minds. reflected upon his success in becoming They're too self-conscious, and that's more a open to the students and their rhythms. cultural-physiological thing. You have to find different ways to make it come It's not a new thought, and it's comforting, that maturation is caring about what out more to your advantage you have to live with it and work with it. you're doing and what other peopleare doing. You grow to other people and Having survived the initial testing,the artist could see a few students going in the moment when you are doingsome- thing which connects to another through some real changes. "At theend of person, the session," Michael noted, "many of neither has to be concerned with who they the kids who were strongest in their are, where they are, or where they need aggres- to be and can be involved in the action, sive behavior toward other kidsmanaged to get that violence into the improvisa- the doing, and the giving. That thought came to me today [the second Thursday] tions, into the fantasies that they set up to during the imitation exercise, when it

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$3 0 became so clear that the kid who shows Boys the strongest action and could get into rough, dirty the action, was the least self-conscious and playing, fighting, kicking felt the least judged. The ones who could never clean take whatever they were feeling and give it Boys out to the group even made a stronger bridge from themselves to somebody else. The piping on the The drama program affected, in various ceiling reminds degrees, the experimental units pre- Me of New Highways pared by the other teachers. Ms. Tracey, going nowhere. the English teacher, noted that once the initial tension of the drama workshop / wish dissipated, students in the poetry class I wish I was a flag seemed more relaxed and open. The poetry of the United States written by the students described their So everyone could pledge feelings about school: to me. The desks all lined up in a semi-circle, Dawn Eastman The ,wneting dirty but decent, Papers nanging on the wall, The chalk board with a little squirmish on it, A clock on the wall probably wrong! Is this all a classroom? Alison Price

84 "I used to but now" poems brought out some surprising perceptions of Poems often contained bluntstatements identity: about inventing "a way... you could I used to want to find out who you are." Orstopping "the conquer the world world... right where they are" to but now I just "see why everybody is different,"and won- want to conquer dering if a "murder" would"jump out myself. of the dark alley and killme." This last fantasy was also tried inthe drama class as an improvisation. I used to think that lifewas fun But now I don't think like that. The success of the poetryunit was illustrated by the ability of Ms. Tracey I used to say, "I can't waitto grow up," to But now I wish I hadn't, write along with the students: Because life isn't as fun andeasy, As I thought. Bees and rose embrace Pollen drifts silently down Vicki Ernhout Quivering green sterns. I used to be myself Ms. Tracey But now I'm trying to be someone else. I try to imitate, I try to communicate, But no one listens.

I used to be a carrot sitting alone in the refrigerator But now I'm a tossed salad all mixed up with different 1feelings and different people.

Students wrote variously structured poetry haiku, tanka, picture poems about people, objects, places.A poem of opposites:

Country life, bright living, loving, growing wildlife, open, garbage, paved dying, shoving, crowding dull, dead City Beth Collum A play on slogans:

Is today the first day of the rest of your life? Or is your last day the rest of your life.

$5 The contrast between the artist'simpro- visational "reality" and the artificial uncertain The staff, however, hasmade "reality" of the simulation game clear that the learning experience whichoc- attempted curred during the spring of 1972 in the social science unitwas striking. should Principal Anderson credited Michael be continued_ Bob Hopkins, theskeptical with math teacher who preferred continuing having achieved something "rather im- his regular curriculum to participating portant, and that is to havea sense as to in where kids are and start there." For the project, involved himself directlyin the principal, the pre-packaged evaluating the program. The Super 8and materials videotape films students made of that mimicked the workings ofan adult the community contained "preconceived poetry and drama units under hissuper- expec- vision were shown at school assemblies tations" that presumed wherestudents should be at a particular point. that concluded the two weeks. Eventhough "the math was more disorganizedthan "What we did was, in a sense, schoolas usual," he concluded at the teachers' normal," he termed the project "withthe benefit-cost ... worth doing." evaluation meeting. "It wasvery difficult for the kids to step into the role of "I just wish we could have somethinglike this on a more permanent basis," said an adult member of the community Sowe started out with the concept that they Mort Brenner, the guidance counsellor."It was a very good, enabling kind of would play a role. We finally decidrtothat ex- that was unrealistic, that they perience for these kids to help them get have to out of themselves a little bit and to play their own role and comeup with their move own point of view. That's not in keeping around." Glen Anderson saw the VAP as educationally significant. "I don't do with the simulation, but it makessense in terms of themselves." big assemblies any more." Students were very critical of thesimula- R.S. tion game. One of them said, "Youdon't learn anything, plus it's a lot ofmoney. Boy, if that's what it's like whenyou grow up." Another: "We could save a lot ofmoney and even solve some of our problems." Per- haps a future social science unitat Wash- ington Middle will involve studentsand teachers working directly on realsituations in the community. It seems important to recognizethat the success of the two-week experimental period to achieve an interdisciplinaryatmos- phere was of a tentative and exploratory nature. For example, the essays writtenon telecommunication in Ralph Lawson's science un;t, although impressive inthem- selves, were only ambiguously related to the subject matter of the other special units. On the other hand, the element of student choice, structured into theunit, was relevant to the process of the total program. What kinds of scheduling andstructure to attempt in planning future programs at Washington Middle School is, at thisdate,

(Si 6 .3 The Artist in the School

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The artists who have been successful working in public schools in Connecticut have been those who have a clear commitment to their own work and a sense of the direction in which they are moving as artists. They bring to the classroom their feeling for the importance of iearning by doing, of experiential education. They can transmit their excitement about the creative act because they believe in its validity. The artist who has not accepted his or her own life and work, however painful and tenuous these may be, generally has trouble conveying a sense of structure and direction to teachers and students. Beyond this belief in self and the work process, there must be some feeling of social engagement. Isolation has been a common condition of committed artists in the past since the status of the arts in American society has often allowed for no alternative. This is changing. Today, more and more young artists are becoming, in the broadest sense,political, concerned with change beyond their

86 own immediate work and struggling for in rare cases, people may even get hurt. more sensual and humane values in the Artists who believe they know THE AN- larger society One sign of this development SWER to the problems of education, or is the increasing example:. :...` artists help- that teachers and administration are the ene- ing each other through collectives in New my, will fail. Similarly, if they see all the York City, San Francisco, Minneapolis students as latent free-spirits in touch with and elsewhere confronting together such their senses, ready to be sprung, artists problems as limited working space and will also fail. But if the artist works with financial insecurity Another is the widening teachers and administrators, suggesting interest among artists in serving as para- new possibilities instead of imposing as- professionals in community centers and sumed truths, change can take place that schools. will be sustained after the artist leaves. Through school programs, artists can In addition to a love for children and a assist educators in providing a more inte- commitment to their own work and to social grated education To have this commit- change, a sensitivity to the realities of the ment and to translate it successfully and schools in which they teach is a prerequisite constructively in the public schools are for effective service in public education. two very different things The Visiting Art- For an artist who has not been in a school ist% Program of the Connecticut Com- for many years, a visit to classrooms and mission on the Arts is dedicated to a demo- discussions with teachers can help. But as cratic ideal in its school programs. The any teacher will attest, actual classroom belief is that art is neither a commodity in experience is essential. There must be a first competition with other material goods, time. The artist must understand that this or some rarefied thing that only an elite can can be as difficult for school personnel and encounter Everyone has senses that can the kids as it is for him. If there is a basic be explored and developed through the arts caring on all sides, and an openness to the The process of doing, of discovery, of possibilities of the experience, the ingre- feeling good about oneself through creative dients for exciting learning are there. acts is at the core of the VAP. Some may have more success than others, in terms of technical facility and range of creative imagination, but any art that is honest is valid. The idea of "bad" art, in this context, is irrelevant. A successful program in a public school requires a belief in these ideals not just by the artist, but by all those involved. The process must be a collaborative effort by artists, teachers, administrators and students. Even when these concerns are agreed upon, there is hardly a VAP without some conflict. If real change is posited as a goal, risks are involved. No matter how open and ready the participants, occa- sional gaps in communication occur due to the differing backgrounds and perspec- tives of students, teachers, artists and administrators. Sometimes the collaboration breaks down. But if there is mutual respect on all sides and a willingness to work out problems, everyone grows from th e experience. If not, the program may suffer and

89 Space, Size, Materials, and Schedules Another technical problem with significant Detailed discussions of aims and needs be- consequences involves the size of fore a program begins can forestallmany classes assigned to the artists. For artists problems Logistical difficulties sometimes whose own work is solitary (visual reveal a lack of commitment to the VAP. artists and poets, for example), teaching Communication is crucial. 25 kids at once instead of one at a The need for proper space where the art- time or small groups can be particularly dif- ist and teachers can work is a common ficult. Teachers can help by splitting the challenge With many types of art, such as class with the artist, alternating groups. poetry, there is no difficulty. Working in Teachers can also help with discipline regular classrooms is usually the best ar- problems that arise when the artist has too rangement since it expands the sense of many students to work with at one time. possibilities as to what can happen within Theatre director Michael Posnick worked that space where the students spend without a teacher in Washington Mid- most of their school time But some media, dle School. When three seventh graders such as dance and sculpture, require started picking on another boy, there special areas Schools are often short on was no way that Michael could handle the space and have difficulty committing situation. Principal Glen Anderson large areas for special programs If an artist stepped in to help. Through this experience, makes such needs clear, but the school an important lesson was learned about is unwilling to provide the space, the colla- the need for a teacher/artist partnership in boration is less than complete. a middle school VAP. Ghanaian dancer Emmanuel Duodu had The cost of materials is a problem that to teach in a tiered band room in Wood- particularly affects visual artists. Most row Wilson High School in Middletown He schools have little money for materials to had first been promised the gymnasium. support a visiting painter or sculptor. Dance movement specialist Alice Martin But there are ways to gather materials, if agreed to work in a small classroom at everyone cooperates. At Edgewood Glastonbury High School, changing her ex- School. Jeff London, with teacher assistance, ercises to fit the space and using hall- cajoled the school board. local factories ways for running and leaping exercises and the PTA for paint, styrofoam and poly- Sculptors Jeff London, at the Edgewood urethane. The polyurethane turned out Elementary School in New Haven, Sam to be a problem. A few students developed Serrano, at Whittier School in Bridgeport. rashes after they had mixed the liquid and Jack Marshall, at North Haven High chemicals to get the expanded, eventually School, never did get an area large enough rock-hard substance. Though Jeff be- to do the kind of indoor work with stu- lieved there was no connection between the dents that they wanted Their adjustments, rashes and the plastic, parents and school which involved compromising the proj- officials were concerned. Anything that ects they felt best able to do with students, might involve the health or safety of the stu- were of varying success In some cases dents, artists, teachers and administrators where there is a space conflict, the school should be discussed before a program should consider another art form before begins. the program begins At other times, especial- Teacher-artist communication is crucial ly when the difficulties are discovered after in questions involving kids ability to the start of a VAP, compromise on all sides handle certain materials. Artist Jane Phe- is crucial. lan's project, for a 2nd Grade class at the Booth Free School in Roxbury, included basket-making with folded newspapers. She soon discovered that the children simply were not dexterous enough to weave the paper and hadn't the strength to do the

90 2 necessary stapling. If the artist and the Boys and Girls Together teacher had talked about the project in ad- Sometimes artists can devise solutions to vance, the artist probably would have problems that arise within their student chosen another activity more suitable for groups. An example of this occurred in the seven-year-olds. VAP at Danbury's Morris Street Elemen- Scheduling problems have taken artists tary School, where two women worked to- by surprise and affected programming. gether in a theatre and movement impro- Jane Phelan, in her crafts program in Rox- visation program. Unlike kids in the lower bury for 1st through 4th Grades, spent grades, the 4th, 5th and 6th Grade stu- a great deal of her time transporting ma- dents separated themselves by sex, with terials for papier mache from class to the boys imposing certain kinds of roles class and cleaning up the inevitablemess on themselves and their female classmates. after each session. This often put her In the first two grades, boys and girls behind schedule The artist, school staff would sit together and sometimes express and Commission personnel agreed that affection. By the fourth and fifth grades, the problems could have been avoided if this kind of relating was replaced by almost a place had been designated for storing total separation and hostility. The girls materials and more time allotted between continued to express affection to each other, classes. while the boys seemed to be able to be The scheduling conflicts at West Middle physical with each other only by fighting. School in Hartford were of greater con- In workshops with the older grades, the sequence and revealed a wide gap between boys would seize space either by hogging the artist and the school Dancer John the time for improvisations and refusing Perperner, of the Hartford Ballet Company, to pay attention when the girls would be found himself teaching during regular performing, or simply by disrupting, de- recess time. In their written comments on manding attention. the program, the kids often noted this. (from an artists' report by Gretchen Davis They resented missing recess,even for an and Lucy Liben) activity they enjoyed. By the age of 10 and 11 the students had Teachers' time commitments must be already internalized certain aspects of taken into account in planning the interac- sexual stereotyping and discrimination pre- tion between artists and instructional valent in the larger society. These staff At Montville High School, film maker emerged in particular exercises: Eric Breitbart attempted to conducta When we did transformations, an exercise media workshop scheduled for after school using a crepe paper streamer as a single Teachers, for whom the workshop was prop to be changed into any object at will mainly intended, had to be especiallycom- as part of a short scene, the different mitted to spend another two hours a ways that girls and boys saw themselves week after a full day of teaching. Despite emerged very quickly. Often the girls prior indications that many teachers created beds to be made, tables to be set, were interested in a workshop with the art- babies with diapers to be changed, etc. ist, few could find the time to attend One The boys, on the other extreme, ripped right lesson the Arts Commission gained from into very violent, angry scenes. The stream- this experience was that usually the best er became blood in a fight, a whip, a rope. way to reach teachers is to work with them Anyone whose improvisation didn't conform In class with their students. to these patterns was made to suffer for it. One boy, who used the crepe paper as a streamer in a graceful Mexican dance he created, was mocked. A girl who used the streamer as a bat was later told by another girl that she was "really a boy." (Gretchen Davis and Lucy Liben)

91 The conflict provided some painful ex- The Artist and School Administration periences for the two women, as they re- Differences between the artist and school membered the role-definitions that had administrators have sometimes emerged been imposed upon them at the same age. in Commission programs Artists who see They felt that the girls were so stifled the possibility of students creating ele- by the boys when the artists worked with the ments of their own environment must also whole class that the best solution was to expect the probability of having to con- work separately with the girls. In doing so vince skeptical administrators When painter they directly confronted the problems Randy Timmons, working with Grades they had encountered. In role playing sound 4-6 at the Center School in East Hampton, and motion exercises, they tried to help proposed that the kids paint the asphalt the girls be conscious of the limiting posi- playground area, he encountered an inevi- tions in society that they had already table delay. The principal did not feel begun thinking and feeling were their right- that she could allow the project to get un- ful "place." derway without approval from higher up. Unfortunately. the superintendent of schools could not be located that day, and the project was never followed up. The absence of money for the large amount of paint needed might have prevented the painting, in any case. Artists can be constructive in helping solve school administrative problems. This was particularly true in Hartford's Shanti School. an experimental alternate high school struggling to find ways to build a community of students, teachers and administrators. Visiting artists Richard Place and Leni Kay, with the objectivity of "outsiders," noted that the community meetings were not structured in a way to provide for positive dialogue and renewed energy. They talked with Principal Gene Mul- cahy and teachers about the problem and helped devise an alternate format for decision-making at Shanti.

74- 92 Artists and Teachers Randy's loosely-directive teaching The close contact between visiting artist methods were purposeful. He believed in and public school teacher works best creating very simple projects that al- when both parties are able to deal openly lowed the children to devise their own ways with conflicts There is, for example, of manipulating and playing with their the problem of an artist disarranging a creations. The teachers acknowledged the classroom and making "a mess." Some success of the play, conceding that the art forms, particularly in the visual arts and kids had experienced a great deal of fun crafts, are messy. One teacher at the with Randy. What they did question Booth Free School in RoAbury, though was whether the students had learned any- forewarned about the disarray caused thing. While Randy chose not to direct, by papier mache and related materials, made they criticized the lack of technical help he life difficult for the artist when things just gave the children. What Randy saw as seemed to get more chaotic than her own simple experiences which allowed for simple sense of order could handle This contribu- discoveries, the teachers saw as simplistic ted to a strained relationship with the art- events that the students could have done by ist, as they never talked through the prob- themselves during recess. In a teacher's lem successfully The kids felt it. meeting after the program ended, they Artists and teachers have not always agreed that they had not adequately disagreed on what constitutes a valid learning cussed with Randy the content and objec- experience. Painter Randy Timmons, at tives of his approach. Center School, became a hero to the stu- Sometimes teachers have inappropriate dents during a project that involved expectations of artists. At Manchester the painting of cardboard boxes and the High School, where three folk musicians use of those boxes to devise skits, build combined in a VAP, a few teachers towers and fashion tunnels to crawl through wanted them to be a textbook of songs on The students were almost unanimously a certain part of American History, or enthusiastic about their program. They elo- play American Indian music. Their inten- quently related the simple experience of tions were positive, in terms of relating crawling through the tunnels they had cre- the music program to social studies. But ated One girl described feeling "like a the teachers' requests were outside the squished worm going through cement. artists' expertise and it was up to them to tell the teachers that they could do other things best. The musicians explained their feelings and a generally successful program resulted.

I-) 93 Artists and the Community for public and private high schools in Pressure can come from the community In northwestern Connecticut, and portions of a period of controversy and rapid Massachusetts and New York near the change in many schools, some fear that Connecticut border. In 1970 the Connecti- education (as they define it), will be cut Commission on the Arts began sup- disrupted by artists. Generally, dose com- porting the project with money and some munity scrutiny of experimentation with minimal technical assistance. Poets in- new curriculum and teaching methods is to volved during the first year included Galway be expected and even welcomed School Kinnell, W. D. Snodgrass, Diane Wakowski officials should be ready to explain the aims and Mark Van Doren. By the third year, few- of innovative programming to concerned er poets participated, but each stayed for citizens in language that they can under- longer periods, giving workshops and lead- stand. ing discussions. Well-meaning interest can occasionally On February 17, 1972, the noted young become a problem to a VAP. Musician black poet Clarence Major gave an Charles Fidler, working at Latimer Lane evening reading at the Housatonic Valley Elementary School in Simsbury with Regional High School. In a February a program that (among other techniques) 24 article in The Lakeville Journal describ- utilized body movement to teach funda- ing the poet's visit, Richard Hayward mentals of musical pitch and dynamics, wrote positively about Major's abilityto sometimes found his session crowded grapple with the events and feelings with approving parents and school officials. of his own experiences ... to probe the Although he recognized the importance emotional experiences of his lac when of spreading the word about a good thing, he writes.' The reading on that evening too many spectators were disturbing. reflected these concerns, with poetry In general when an outsider visited the that expressed in honest, sometimes brutal classroom, there was a creeping strange- language, the struggles of a black Ameri- ness, a coldness in the room. The kids felt can. The result was a furor over the use of that perhaps what they were doing was dirty words that raged for months. a show and could be watched. Since I was An indignant parent, asserting that she stressing the involvement part of it at was quite broadminded about things," the expense of the more heady explanatory complained in the Journal about the part, the visitors did have a deadening "exhibition": effect on the sessions. In most cases I tried I sat with my 14 year-old son and listened to involve them as if they were a part of to unpublished poems being read to the class no special treatment, but that's an audience of an assortment of ages and a cover-up at best when it works After was thoroughly disgusted and shocked all, it's tough to hide an elephant in the New by what I was hearing. The filthy language York City corps de ballet even if you do . .. was abhorrent/ ... Shouldn't this put it in a pink tutu. and every other program be screened by The "Battle of Housatonic Valley" was a some authority? more difficult and consequential conflict Teac..er DeVoti wrote back, defending the between the artist and the community, even though it ended in uniting the teachers, students and administrators involved, Wil- liam DeVoti is a dedicated, creative Eng- list teacher at the Housatonic Valley Region- al High School in Falls Village. Coming from a public school post in New York City to the Valley in 1969, he took the lead in the organization of a visiting poets program

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poet's credentials and insisting on the supposed to change with the times but what students' right to hear: about our morals? Are we supposed to No one can blame Mrs Johnson for not chuck them?" (Connecticut Western, March having grown up in a black ghetto, or 8). On March 9, about 20 parents met for not having to lace the human indignities with English teachers at the High School that emerge from such social catastrophies, to view a video tape of the reading and but is she being lair to young adults by discuss the issues involved. Most of thepar- denying them the opportunity to consider ents, according to the March 16 Lakeville and perhaps begin to understand the Journal report, protested the language of outrage of such an experience in the Major's "American Set-Up," a poem language of the experience and per- about living in a black ghetto. Some of the haps even to feel the uplift when that won- teachers defended the poet and a stu- derful thing sometimes happens, "a sig- dent protested.'I feel it is important that nificant experience, intrinsically human. I should see this aspect of life," An emerges9 And if some obscene mat editorial in the Journal stated that thepar- ter should slip by us, is our children's moral fabric so flimsy that they would become so easily corrupted? I think we are all dam- aged much more by the things we have not heard. But the controversy wouldn't die. A teacher at the Salisbury School, a private Connecticut preparatory school, complained about children having to "listen to this type of garbage! , I know we are

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7..4. S. 4 .41411. I1 Aa ents wish to shield their children Waterbury Republican reported (April 11) from sordid or unpleasant situations Van Doren as deferiing a poet whose ... was exaggerated," and thatif poetry he did not particularly like, saying anything is to be done effectively to coun- that "I love dirty words myself, I've teract such evils [as slums) corroding loved them all my lifeI think they're won- our society, it will be partly because today s derful No self-respecting poet will young people know and care." ever come here again, on the assumption A Housatonic Valley sophomore, Laura he's being screened The meeting, Berland, Joined the battle of letters according to the reporter, ended and wrote. Most parents want their chil- amicably with praise for the board dren to grow up and act tn a mature, It was suggested that the English teac. er. responsible way by the time they reach high William DeVoti, should not have the school, yet at the same time they try to sole responsibility for choosing poets shelter them from the real world and keep DeVoti welcomed the idea of assistance in them like infants." She felt lucky to have administering the program contact with poets of diverse experience The controversy had its useful side through the program, as it helped her and Teachers and students united in defense of her fellow students from remaining their civil liberties. For many students it ... isolated from the outside worldand was an important learning experience The provincial in our attitudes." question remains, however, whether In April, parents and school board mem- future Valley boards of education, looking bers in the region met to discuss the for places to cut budgets, will remem- incident. Present was poet Mark Van Doren, ber the furious indignation of some parents a member of the Arts Commission. The and quietly omit special funds for such programs

96 '3 The Artist In the School It is important for artists to be clear about the personal consequences of their work in the schools. Some artists can handle the physical strain of high intensity programs with kids more easily than others. The amount of energy required depends to some extent on the art form. One artist prepared himself for a 15-day VAP involving movement by running two miles a day for a few weeks before its beginning. Many artists find that their energies are so depleted and diverted during their stay in schools that their own work has to be put aside for the duration. Other artists gain new inspiration. Painter Randy Timmons felt that the children at the Sprague School in Waterbury helped him with certain basic elements in his painting. The simplicity of their work and their uninhibited approach were a welcome relief from the intellectualizing about painting he had encountered in graduate school the year before. The spontaneity and enthusiasm of students learning by doing can be contagious. In a report to the Arts Commis- sion, David Rosenberg, who taught during the spring semester at Central Connec- ticut State College and Newington High School, reassured his fellow poets who might be worried about the energy drain from their writing. On the contrary, seeing the energy poetry releases in others is a great turn-on and I often couldn't wait to get home and settle into a comfortable poem of my own." The rewards for artists can be real and important, not just in a monetary sense during a time when they are struggling to survive, but as a stimulus to their own work. More than this, the sharing of an artists vision with others can produce a collective vision, a creative act with its own unique dynamic. Here, in the schools, is an opportunity to establish a sense that everyone may share in the ownership of the creative process.

S.R.S.

97 li a Poets in the Colleges Program

Project Organization at the College Level ing, Al directly supervised six student Forgot to be excited about a shipwreck that teachers in four Bridgeport inner-city happened again. schools and taught extensively in classes himself. His book of poetry, Prophecy Left hurt but it soon would be all right. The wound helped me think to find in Bridgeport, was recently published by Scribner's. tomorrow. Could use his mind as a boat. Writer Verta Mae Grosvenor, of New York City, visited classes in three New Haven He was willing to breeze through the clouds high schools where student-teachers from in the east. Southern Connecticut State College had People gazed and thought it too rough for been placed. A prominent black writer and small craft. author of a culinary anthropology, Vi- Headed to sea kept my eyes on the bration Cooking (Doubleday), Ms. Grosven- shoreline. or introduced students to a variety of Come too far yet too close in. writers and themes. One of the authors brought into the classes was Kali Grosvenor, the writer's 11-year-old daugh- Grasped to hold position getting signals from the mind ter and creator of Poems by Kali (Double- Pillar of nylon cord cut ideas at the surface day) Ms. Grosvenor also appeared occasionally in college methods seminars Moments broke terrain changed Sand shifted and covered the wreck again. taught by Dr. Elizabeth Hahn and Dr. Wil- liam Gustafson. Feople were right couldn't make it through the storm The two "Poets in Colleges" projects Gave the boat back try it on my own. with which this narrative is concerned pro- ("Inside and Out", Chuck, 11th Grade, ceeded along divergent organizational Newington High School) and operational lines. With college student volunteers from the University of Hart- ford, poet Terry Stokes succeeded in com- The Connecticut Commission on the Arts municating a method of teaching poetry administered four "Poets in Colleges" to Bloomfield High School students and projects during 1971-72 Supported by a teachers. The experiences of poet David $15,000 grant from the National En- Rosenberg, with pre-selected student- dowment for the Arts, the projects called teachers from Central Connecticut State for participating colleges to join with College (CCSC) in New Britain, on the Commission in selecting the visiting the other hand, was much less successful. poets and in providing matching funds. Together, these case studies offer a The Commission's primary goal in each project was to encourage student- model for the fulfillment of program objectives. teachers to arrive at new attitudes in the In 1971-72, Terry Stokes was on leave teaching of writing and literature in from Western Michigan University, where public schools Through workshops at the he had been teaching English for four colleges and practice teaching in second- years. His work has been published in some ary schools, student-teachers were sup- eighty magazines and anthologies, and posed to be helped by the pools to explore his most recent book of poems, Crimes of r;ew ways of motivating children to write Passion, will be published by Alfred A. and think creatively. Knopf. As visiting poet at the University of Poet Al Levine of New York City, con- Hartford, he taught two courses in the ducted two methods courses at the Department of English; an introductory cre- University of Bridgeport's Department of ative writing and teaching methods Teacher Training during the 1972 course with 20 freshmen enrolled in the spring semester. Working closely with Dr. school of education and a creative Sidney Clark, the head of teacher train-

98 0 -' writing workshop with a smaller group of ferred to the problem as "simply one of advanced students. getting the right students registered A contract between the Arts Commission for the right course." and Bloomfield High School for a 50- Although the absence of student-teaching day VAP over a full school year facilitated course credit may explain the hesitancy the field experience necessary to the proj- of students to become involved, Terrysaw ect This arrangement, which supplemented their reluctance as his fault. "I didn't the income of the poet, allowed him to instill enough confidence in some of the recruit college students from his course to college students. Too often they would work in the high school classrooms. Un- defer to me in the classroom. I hadn't given fortunately, students participating with Ter- them the courage to believe I was 'obso- ry at Bloomfield High were unable co re- lete,"' he wrote. ceive student-teaching credit from the For the University of Hartford a testing School of Education. The poet's classes with the college students emphasized the unique experience created by each poem. Form was to be seen as an extension of content; each individual piece deserved to beseen as its own model. Terry hoped that college students, "with this understanding," would be "less likely to impose pre- ordained forms on the high school students." The most important technique to be applied by those students planning to teach in the high school had to do with the personal assignments one gave oneself. To teach teachers of writing to write themselves, Terry asked students to keep journals of images, memories, dreams and surroundings. Through reading aloud, noticing differences between one's writing and speaking voices, a student might pursue a "Voice Print" or "distinctive voice" with which to announce oneself. For Terry, who had viewed his college teaching "as something I did in order to have the money and time to write," the integration of teaching with writing was a revelation. "The experience showed me that the writing-teaching role could be unified," he wrote. "If I moved into the situation of the student writing a piece, if I was actually writing the piece myself, the writer-teacher became one person." The poet's analysis of the program confronted the difficulty of fulfilling project objectives with voluntary student teachers. "Some of the students in the writers' workshop simply did not want to go into the high school," Terry wrote. He re-

100 of project objectives had been achieved. Dr. Lee Yosha, chairman of the department of English, anticipated the university's response to this year's "Poets in Colleges" projects when he wrote: By working with both lower division and upper division students, it is our hope that by the end of the year, Mr. Stokes will be able to prepare a series of sugges- tions which will enable us to construct an effective curriculum for the preparation of teachers of writing. (Letter to Commission Consultant Martin Kushner, August 27, 1971) As visiting poet at CCSC, David Rosen- berg taught in a six-week methods course conducted by Assistant Professor Diane Shugert. This workshop, in the Department of English, was to be followed L, 10 weeks in the field at Newington High School. With the cooperation of CCSC's school of education, Ms. Shugert was to supervise the four student teachers who had volunteered to work with the poet at the high school.

101 David possessed impressive credentials get the students to write, using methods for working in a college situation with that could be applied later to high student teachers In addition to four years school classrooms. Workshop participants of teaching experience as a lecturer in tried making headlines into poetry, English, he had taught courses with future writing collaborative poems, or creating a high school teachers in the department quick piece from rarely-used words. of education at York University in Toronto. Both the students and the poet seemed frus- Project organizers had assumed that trated by the inability of these "begin- one aim of the methods class was to de- ning poets" to express "native imagery." velop a curriculum, or technique, that Ms. Sullo described herself as "too could be applied to tc_ching high school experienced in ways of structure and order students. Presumably, the book David to respond easily" to the poet's assign- is currently writing will explai, his methods ments. Althot.gh the poet made an attempt in some detail. For the purposes this to develop students' "imagery quotients," study, however, the failure of thepc... and the student teachers could not accept what student teachers to arrive at the antici- they considered to be a random introduc- pated techniques must be noted. After the tion to the writing of poetry. conclusion of the project, David wrote: The poet discouraged students in the "I had not understood that their goalswere workshop from defining the "rules of different from mine and had very little poetry" too closely. Ms. Su'lo's journal to do with poets and literature, or art." described David as interested in "pro- The feeling of the poet that he was work- gression of imagery," the compression of ing in a pre-determined and limiting spontaneous observations and "half situation reflected the inability of nearly day-dreams." Writing a poem could everyone concerned to agree upon be a lot like writing a song. For the students, specif.7. objectives. Originally, the Arts some of whom spent their time demand- Commission expected that poets ing to know what a poem was, the flip in- participating in the project would function formality of the poet was unnerving. A as para-professionals, with considerable poem had to have specific intentions, the flexibility in meeting with classes andcon- poet informed them. The only definition ducting seminars and workshops. Proj- of a poem students could wring out of him, ect participants a' college felt the poet however, defied the rationality of a les- was ,-nisusing this ility when, in, son plan. A poem was "something with Shugert's words, "He neither set a regu- more kinds of unity than just unity lar schedule nor kept to the one he did of pure logic." set." David's attitude was that he would David felt the ability of student teachers have quit at the start, had he known the to learn new methods was hindered by student-teachers were to be "the most important part of the program." their unwillingness to discard an authori- David asked the college students to begin their study of poetry by understanding individuals. Creating poetry demanded that the writer express "uninhibited feelings" for language and imagery and, for the moment, stop thinking about oneself. Through "humanizing or deflating the stereotyped identities and roles they were familiar with," students of writing might begin to deal with "their private Iden- tities as people." A journal kept by student teacher Eleanor Sullo referred to the poet's attempts to

102 0 J 1,=11. tarian teaching role. "What they wanted tention "to show teachers at a disad- from me and the program," he wrote, "was vantage." a way to modify this role so as to better For Ms. Shugert, the program had engage and relate to the students." He be- re&ched a point of making participants lieved that working on applied "new more rigid. She described the stu- methods," emphasized by project organi- dent-teachers under her supervision as re- zers, was not nearly as important as jecting "anything that reminds them of effecting changes in "classroom attitudes." the poet's methods." She felt David's teach- He would show everyone concerned ing had been "foreign" to the high how creative expression could change a school and believed that David had used teaching and learning environment by her presence in the workshop to illus- taking control of the high school classes trate his antagonism to authoritarian teach- for a while. ing roles. Ms. Su llo described this decision, which Dr. Bailey seconded David's complaint came on the final day of the college "that no one seemed much interested workshop, as a "really crushing blow." in poetry, even though the program was "Here we were, al; keyed up with ostensibly a poetry program." He at- several lessons planned using the poet's tributed the failure of project participants techniques, ... when the bottom fell to arrive at agreed-upon objectives to out," she wrote. "We had been fed to be- the haste with which the program was con- lieve we should be preparing to begin ceived. A "further complication" had been teaching with the poet at once." When she "a change in representation from the Arts expressed her "disbelief and disappoint- Commission (a new consultant), which ment" to the poet, she was told "not to came at the time the poet was being inter- worry." viewed." After being introduced as the poet's Dr. Bailey had observed the poet's "helper" and relegated to sitting in the back "strangely optimistic" attitude, "even though of the room, Ms. Sullo gave up trying to everyone else was pessimistic." After assist in classes when David was present. getting little response from either the poet Her greatest frustration, she said, came or student teachers as to why this dis- when she attempted to help students with- crepancy existed, Bailey concluded. "Every- out knowing what the poet was trying one seemed peculiarly incapable of self- to do. Student teacher Gil Moon found his criticism." For his own part, Bailey allowed major function to be "typing and repro- that he, along with Commission Con- ducing all student writings." Calling the sultant Steve Shapiro, had given the pcet classes "aimless and confused," he "little guidance." The poet had "asked found David to be "inadequate to the posi- for none," he added. tion he accepted." Student-teachers were relieved of responsibility in classes taught by the poet after a meeting with Ms. Shugert and Dr. James Bailey, chairman of the college's department of English, on March 24. They continued with their other student teaching assignments at the high school. David's explanation of "these ridiculous hassles" was that the student teachers had rebelled at his denunciation of authoritarian teaching roles. Ms. Sullo felt, on the other hand, that David's unwillingness to prepare student-teachers demonstrated his in-

103 o 1- David Rosenberg at Newington High School final products as the moment students 1 pledge my brain to the exit of the highest "encountered the school as a whole." propaganda of education, and to the First (he wrote), posters were being bovine fecal matter for which it stands,one ripped down by a couple of fanatic teach- thumbtack, under Bork, invisible, with ers. When I later went to talk with one mushrooms and pepperoni to go. of them, a biology teacher, he told me that Amen. he thought they were representing some (Composed by eleventh grade Newington subversive literature from outside the school. High School students) He particularly mentioned one ninth Newington High School, a sprawling grade poetry magazine, "Steal This Maga- brick facility in a residential, middle-class zine," as one he thought was subver- community of nearly 20,000, served sive. Later, I had a talk with the vice-princi- 1,875 students during 1971-72. The pre- pals, who in true committee fashion ruled dominantly white student body, many that the posters could only go on bulletin of whose parents commute to Hartford, has boards, of which there were three in the benefit of extensive art and music this three-story school. programs since five full-time faculty in these The students' response was to find two disciplines work at the high school. places to hang the posters that were "se- Grade 11 English teacher Diana May de- cret", like on ceilings, inside staircase scribed the school's teaching staff and doors, etc. They used their imaginations general curriculum as traditional. and came up with dozens of secret Little support was forthcoming for the places. Along with this development, their poet within the high school, who seemed posters became more special. One day to thrive in a polarized environment. they showed me a map they had made to Consultant Shapiro described Principal 10 posters hidden around the school, Warren Bourque as "anxious for the The whole school became like a concep- program to go without difficulty." Reported Shapiro, "He feels himself to be of limited use in administering theprogram since he is not trained to implement new teaching techniques and methods." David's contacts with high school administrative personnel during the program was limited primarily to a triumvirate of vice-principals and the English department chairman, Frank Murphy. The poet used a host of conflicts with school officials to generate student interest in creative writing. When David had students in Grade 9 write "A Sex Manual for Teachers," the department chairman asked to see the poet's "lesson plans"a week in advance. David refused the request and reduced the tension by inviting the chairman to witness a class compose "A New Morality for Teachers." Even more threatening for some of the school's staff were the attempts of students to hang posters of word and picture collages to advertise their poetry magazines. David described this distribution of

104 tual art work (via the map) or an art gallery. Teachers resented the unwillingness of the poet to involve them in the classroom, as well as the inability of all parties to anticipate project difficulties. Diana May charged David with "a tremendous lack of consideration of the students." After three weeks of classroom instruction, the poet continued to work with only those students who showed special interest and talent. "I was told to do something with the remainder of the students," Ms. May wrote. The poet's "method" here, which excluded many students, tended toward a kind of reverse elitism. David's analysis of the creative writing taught in colleges and high schools opposed the concept of poetry as "an elite activity that involves learning the discipline of craft for special talents." Rather than attempting to reach a general audience, however, the noet chose to develop the skills of those students defined by the school as difficult. Exhibit- ing what teacher Chris Napolitan called

105 a "cynicism about teachers," David headed that even though an improvement has for the bored and disinterested students, occurred in the attitude of my students to- even volunteering to teach a Special Edu- ward poetry ... it could have been ac- cation class. complished in a much shorter period of For eight boys from Grade 9 who wanted time than 10 weeks." to play cards rather than work, David Teachers were not brought to an under- proposed betting with lines. "To call you standing that the writing of poetry had to have just as good a line as the could be taught through the playing of previous one and to raise, you had to have games. Student teacher Gil Moon wrote. one better." This collaborative poem Poetry became for the students] a became a play with dialogue that demon- spontaneous spree of whatever came off strated the invention of images offered the top of one's mind, an easy explora- by the technique: tion of clever word to thing relationships Grandma Moses is shuffling the cards. which sought not to probe their inner Then she deals. In the back, Bugsy though,3, but only to stimulate an imagina- and Babyface Nelson are guarding the tive symbolization of the everyday door in case of a teacher raid. Grand- world. ... To leave them with this narrow ma Moses turns a card dealing to Phyllis introduction to the world of creative Diller who says I oughta sew your writing, without a map for further inquiry, hands together for that. seems rather thoughtless. Steve McQueen opens with 10 g's and a For the few students who wrote evalua- slightly used helmet. tions, David had introduced an informal Phyllis calls with 36-22-36. environment completely unique and at odds Racquel [Welch] calls with a divorce with school as usual. "The worst thing suit against Steve McQueen. will be when he leaves and things will re- Mae West calls with fifty years of real veil back to the old ways," wrote an experience. eleventh grader. "I honestly hope that his Grandma Moses folds with a sigh. being here will effect change in some- Alice Cooper calls with a silver-lined way." More realistically, the student con- lung. tinued: "After the poet leaves, if we re- Steve bats a left-over tinker toy German turn to the 'old ways', everything will have war camp. been lost, except for a few." Phyllis calls with a two-legged horse thru Given the failure of project objectives her forest of hair, and raises with a giant described above, the alternatives suggested redwood. by this student's response most likely Exercises similar to the play, which will not be sustained. The poetry produced ended with teachers arresting the partici- by students suggests that the ability of pants for cheating, were seen by some the young to create spontaneous images teachers as rather shallow games involving of everyday realities could be used to gimmicks rather than new methods. develop the expression of inner thoughts. Teachers recognized the interest displayed Again, the poet was unable to translate by some students, who ordinarily would the logic of this approach into the language not have become involved. Diana May noted of an orderly method that teachers the "excellent" and "conscientious writ- could accept or use. For all the difficulties ing" of many students that continued long in the program, however, some students after the poet's instruction. What Ms. May were able to write intensely expressive could not accept, however, was the view of- poetry: fered to students "that anything written is poetry." "There was no differentiation between writing through whim or contem- plation," she wrote. Chris Napolitan felt

106 I fell to the floor It's still interesting like a mirror seeming to be. You know, which I picked up in a cobweb I've been wondering, to watch myself shatter. Everybody seems to be wondering, That's interesting. Far stretched hand reaches into nothingness A MACK Truck Full of Gold wandering into oblivion. A better world is where Loneliness is the key you put your car in a boat which opens the bleeding heart; and go to Europe vast edges of shape. to drive around any old where fishing for goldfish I seem to be touched by your innocence But really I am without fear. You can have a middle size tv & one as big as this room I seem to be up tight, You can work & love 24 hours a day But really I am bent metal. you can adopt kids (from a piece written after viewing a metal you can put a baby buggy in the back of sculpture) your truck you can bike to Alaska Two people embracing you can mind your own business or are they wrestling maybe they are in love No more test-tube parents all tangled into one forever No more institutional schools no more freaked-out principals Maybe they are trying to pull away no more badly paid teachers To avoid hurt, the,' are not looking at each no more taxes (too high) other no more crooked unions like the pot-smok- They are looking down ing union Thinking of ways to untie themselves no more gas insurance painlessly. no more lazy pigs no more old guys with foggy brains Special no more witchcraft Her quick look surprised her smile no more wars a wild thing a young rose no more jumping nerves all things sing with her no more frogs in your veins the leaves the flowers no more governments with Captain the grass the sky Kangeroo for president but when she was sad no more religions like heathens she was bitterly unreachable no more crimes like suicide like a natLre image no more alcoholic cars limp and damp. no more rainbow permission slips (a collaborative poem composed by the My Mother Special Ed. class and shared with other She is a procession students) Seismic with laughter like a mountain only faith can move.

The Idea would be better bargaining, inside and outside. Some see it anyway that's interesting,

107 03 Terry Stokes at Bloomfield High School these exercises is the fact that anyone I am waiting for my fate to be shown to me can design his own," Terry wrote. We and what I will become and what I will worked using the notion that if a class coma to be... . couldn't tell who had written a particular and I am waiting for Jack to stop falling piece, the writer had not been successful." for Jill In starting a class, the use of collabora- because she's not worth it... tive poems proved to be an effective I am waiting for creative writing class to let technique. Terry explained. "Students feel me be creative as though you've backed them up where I can be what my mind wants me against the wall if you ask them to make to be a poem. If, on the other hand, you ask and where I can tell you and myself what them to make a single line, the action, mak- I know ing the line, takes over." The following and I am waiting for a time when I dono "Foldover" poem was used to illustrate the need an hour to be creative, freedom of "open field composition, but where I can exist continually on my where point of view takes place in the creativity. evolution of the piece itself." In com- (from a student's poetry) posing a line, the writer sees only the line For Terry Stokes, Bloomfield High School which is above his own. proved to be a supportive and open en- A little leaf fell off a tree vironment Bloomfield, an economically slipped into a puddle and sailed away diverse town bordering Hartford, is an like a popsicle stick in the gutter "All American City" by virtue of success- it attracted many flies fully implementing a voluntary plan to and it smells funny integrate its schools several years ago. In and tastes like a dead rat 1971-72, Bloomfield High School a little white one with enough grass to kill served 1,000 students, 17% of whom were a horse keep it illegal black. To Bloomfield, Terry represented to keep it illegal, keep it illegal another innovative personality, which would add to the school's developing programming. What Terry encountered were five regular teachers open to someone helping them "un-teacher our vision," as Betsy Ann Bartash put it. "Terry really un-stran- gered us, both to each other and to poetry." Teachers, along with English department chairman Jim Shaw, seemed to be aware of the demands imposed on those talking about "community". Ms. Bartash, who led a composition workshop, wrote: "I think that in a real community everyone has to participate or else there is no unity. Terry always wrote with us and in his absence I always wrote what the students wrote." The poet's methods a collection of possibilities rather than lesson plans were aimed at announcing oneself, finding and articulating a unique voice. "I guess the most important notion about

10$ 0 ) for it will harm you by turning on for letting out my frustrations all at once. the hot fiery stove with the burners made of for the hardships of being the oldest in the biggest iron things you ever saw the family. Man the life boats for listening to people who don't get Man the life boats? How can you? listened to much. You may be abandoned for telling off my Biology teacher, but good. But it's just as well for putting up with eating pork chops it probably wouldn't have worked out every Monday night. anyway (I like pork chops, but not every Monday So I asked the Red Queen to MacDonald's night) strictly off the chessboard for getting through 17 years without a which is strictly off from anywhere nervous breakdown or boils. One student at Newington High School An exercise on the "Great Toad Mother" had complained that in writing the col- of the Ojibwa Indians asked students laborative class poems, "my feelings were to state the myth of another culture. lost among 20 others." At Bloomfield, She stood up on her green hind legs, Terry emphasized the "voiceless" quality The jewels on her slimy skin were dim in of the collective endeavor. "We had to the smog. find a way to announce ourselves, even in She said to no one in particular, a collaborative poem," he wrote. "it's iime to tear it down The poet, who described himself as and start all over again." "always looking for new, 'accurate' forms And the Great Toad Mother raised her for my materials," had students attempt great hand, the precise language of directions, rules And all was nothing any more. and recipes. "How to Make a Peanut "Looking out at things made us think Butter and Jelly Sandwich", "Thirteen about those things in relation to us," wrote Ways of Looking at Something Other Ms. Bartash. "There was, in the outward than a Blackbird", "Take Two Flat Tires". view, a reflection back in." The poet, after "Everyone's a problem solver," wrote Terry. When he asked a class to concoct a recipe for making a poem, a student wrote, "Kidnap a prominent poet." A group of assignments derived from Pablo Neruda's Elemental Odes was used to get the students to re-look at the things right before their eyes." "Ode to My Feet", "I Love My Hair Because ...", "Steam", "Public Myths", "Soap Operas", writing "a piece including a monster who was very much like themselves" these were attempts to structure in a movement from essential to non-essential facts. An "Advertisement For Myself' elicited the following poem: Prize Poem I would like to give myself a prize for thinking I'm better than anyone for sticking around when the going gets rough for going two and a half weeks without fighting with my boyfriend.

109 focussing on the perception of objects, The dreams of yesterday introduced students to the process of image- are as depressing making in dreams: Making lists of things as a winter snow. they rememoered; writing down the first The memories of the past dream they could remember; or fabri- remind me of cating a dream. Ms. Bartash remembered what I should have done. this process as "pretty complicated The pencil of my mind stuff." Terry found that one memory led to has broken another. He described "seeing how the and the paper has been torn. language itself engendered new language" My ideas for the future as "the most important part of the proj- have ceased and I ect for me." remember nothing Excerpts from one example read: My pad is blank I remember liking my baby boots and my boyfriend is out to lunch. that were leather and white and I didn't If all else failed, students could give want to let then go, but they went anyway, themselves "Directions to a Place where with memories of small feet and small You've Never Been." Although some childhood. found their travels had been aimless, some I remember my pajamas with the feet, and arrived at a vivid description of fantasy: the escape hole in the back, my white I dreamed of a huge house that changed shirt and shorts with suspenders that I used rooms all the time. for slingshots I dreamed of a huge vat of chocolate and ...I remember these chocolate eclairs someone trying to push me in. that my mother would buy all the time. They I dreamed that the whole world was red. were frozen and my big brother and me I dreamed the world was a giant swimming would sit and watch and wait for them to pool ringed with cabins. thaw. I remember I was sitting in my mother'scar playing race cars by myself. I let the brake go and I rolled into my neighbor's house and went home and said my brother had done it. That night I got beat up by everybody. I remember I was in my reading group holding a pencil in my hand. A girl came to sit next to me and my pencil shot her to nover-never-land. I remember a kid next door who inces- santly swung baseball bats at anything. One day half way through a swing he hit my brother's head, so I, being no less cruel than he, rapped him with a hockey stick. To get students into themselves, Terry had them write directions "to your feelings," descriptions of how they would do over their rooms, what they would do "up early while everyone sleeps," etc. When asked to write what was on "The Big Pad that is Inside of You," a student wrote:

,) t 110 I dreamed that Nixon had dropped out of book contain:. Terry's exercises in writing the race. poetry, sample student poetry, and I dreamed that Mickey and Minnie Mouse teacher journals. It Is available through had me over for a cheese dinner. Jim Shaw, chairman of the English I dreamed my skin was purple, that my department, or through the Arts Commis- hair was baby blue. sion office. I dreamed of sleep. Ms. Bartash's assessment of Terry's I dreamed of death, I never dreamed again. success was. He never tried too hard to I dreamed I was a ballerina. be anything." Having a poet who shared I dreamed I was a bird. his own personal assignments with others I dreamed of a gigantic castle in the school had created an opportunity with doors like dungeons for talking about fantasies, about each with secret passages others' poetry, about each other. While leading to opposite rooms setting down some organization, including I dreamed all this was mine. a controlling theme or line to be re- I dreamed eggplant fire hydrants were in peated, Terry allowed the general and un- the ears of the cars. even creativity of the students to I dreamed fourteen women were in love emerge. In listening to what a vacant house with me and I was not unhappy or blue. or an attic was saying, imagining how one I dreamed you had found a way into the would leave home in the early morning, night without your feet. saying what one was waiting for the stu- I dreamed of being a washing machine to dents' poetry suggests a strong sense wash all the clothes I dreamed. of lyrical imagination and a willingness to I dreamed I was a wig, engage oneself, however tentatively, in I dreamed I was a warn, patient, personal struggle. I dreamed I was a wig warn. I dreamed I was a Thanksgiving turkey on my way to the chopping block. I dreamed ... I dream of my self falling off a cliff which couldn't miss frightening me I said to myself this could not happen. The poet's methods, along with his personal informality, led to "a mighty good time," in the words of Ms. Bartash. Teachers learned to create their own exercises in facilitating the writing of poetry. English teacher Pete Doe experimented with a variety of paper sizes and shapes to touch off creative themes. On one occasion, his students were given a large roll of computer paper. It was promptly transformed into a collaborative poem on ecology and waste. This "alternative book" was displayed, briefly, in the hallways of Bloomfield High. During the spring, Commission Con- sultant Richard Place urged the Bloomfield teachers to collaborate with Terry in producing a book that might encourage others to experiment with new ways to teach creative writing. The

111 d 2 Up early pigeons in my attic and a dead dog lying while everyone sleeps I around. leave. Children probing, breaking, stealing, A note, and my leaving smashing. will say what I have Kid to say to them. I can tell you what dignity is They will say "What did we I've known what it is to be wanted do wrong?" "We gave him and I also know what it's like to be everything he wanted," miserable, "Where did we fail?" raped, robbed of pride, dragged down And they won't realize subjected to the indignities of snotty kids that you and thieves prying into locked chests can't buy love with tearing one's precious photographs, ripping a car and an allowance. open diaries, I'm as good as dead now Hey, vacant house, Nothing of value left within. what can you tell me? Hey, kid, I can tell you if you rally want to hear something kid go talk to the barn. more than you'll ever have to know, I know about loneliness, sadness, I am waiting for the sun to burst into a and grief, death, twice over, and ghosts multitude of soothing, slamming doors, broken windows, torn swift awakening rays curtains I want hundreds of prickly sword-sharp and noises strange, eerie noises, and points to burn my skin a tramp that stayed one summer. and shrinkle the childhood wnnkles, to Cats, always cats, bolt me down so that my and eighty generations of kittens heart will burst open and a multitude of tinsley rays will shoot toward all of my people and I will be waiting for my burning skin to sink into the earth while my mind will be lifted by Eros towards the cold moon I am waiting for Brigadoon to appear and become the whole world and for Bill Callahan to be the minister for Alice in Wonderland to stop popping pills and Suzanne to realize that china tea is really grass for the thunderbird to go back to the Indians and Phoenix Mutual to ignite itself and rise again ... And I am waiting for a storm to blow the ocean home forever To embrace the babies dancing on the shore For childhoGd to come back For innocence to find itself Alive with new found wisdom.

112 9 3 And I am waiting to open a door, and lights Plans for Future Programs will flash and laughter The Commission on the Arts will be will splash forth, voices rejoice, "You've involved with four "Poets in Colleges" made it! You've projects during 1972-73. Terry Stokes finally made it! This is it! "... has been appointed poet-in-residence at And I am waiting for trees to sprout from the University of Hartford and will be the cracks in the sidewalk taking student teachers into the Bloomfield and for skinny children to pour out of School System for the entire year. At their houses the University of Hartford, he will be teach- and shinny up the trunks ing courses in the Department of English. and never have to come down again Eastern, Southern and Central Connecticut And I am waiting for the wrinkled old blind State Colleges are planning second woman semester projects emphasizing the train- to suddenly see herself as beautiful and ing of student-teachers. for the gentleness In developing program expectations, the to float with the wind to stay recommendations of Central Connecticut And I am waiting for the three musicians Supervisor Diane Shugert for clear divisions over the piano to tune of program responsibilities seem particu- their instruments and play larly useful. In setting up field experiences, for Jesus Christ to marry Miss America planners should anticipate the attitudes and of participating public schools toward in- for the fat old generals to be trapped in novative techniques and materials. Sup- a room with babies port from each school's English Depart- crying for enough to eat ment is necessary for a successful And I am waiting for a slow satori project. Further, Ms. Shugert suggests that For long lost brothers and sisters visiting poets "know that this program For the silence of myself, and I am concentrates not on teaching high school waiting students, but rather on teaching student- for an end to teachers to teach high school students." waiting The training of student-teachers should not depend on college "methods" workshops that introduce abstract methods to be applied. If workshops are to be held prior to experiences in the field, the best use of a visiting poet's talents would appear to be in L./eloping the collaborative and personal writing skills of the college students. In any event, student-teacher workshops should continue throughout the project. Finally, no description of responsibilities, goals and authority can provide the creative leadership which is the essence of these experimental programs. The poet is finally responsible for what he teaches and for his attitude towards participating teachers and student-teachers. If usable methods are to be identified, they will be developed and tested through theex- periences of poets and the student- teachers in high school classes.

R.S.

113 j Artist-in-Residence Program

An artist is an experience, not only a the Arts Commission had high hopes for the teacher or technician, but a moving motiva- success of the program, but was under tional source for others. An artist might pressure to allocate the available funds even be referred to as a sometime fascina- quickly. In this situation, coupled with the tion, and his acceptance into the womb agency's concern for innovative program- of the faculty and administration should try ming, the Commission was overly aggressive to be projected with a tone of trust on in its initial stages of setting up the AIR. one hand, and simple inquisitory wonder This created gaps in communication that on the other. were never completely closed. (Jeff London, artist-in-residence, Another factor which complicated North Haven High School, 1970-71) matters came from the Commission's desire For the past two years, the Commission to administer the program in a way which on the Arts, through a grant from the mandated close consultant supervision, National Endowment for the Arts, has ad- while at the same time, not providing ade- ministered an Artist-in-Residence Pro- quate staff to supervise the work. As gram at the large predominantly white subur- outlined by the National Endowment for ban North Haven High School and at the Arts and the Central Midwestern Bridgeport's Whittier School, a small inner- Regional Education Laboratory (CEMREL), city school serving primarily black chil- the AIR focusses on artists doing their dren in Grades 5-8. The "trust" and "wonder" own work in a school, which is required to (to use Jeff London's words) that might provide studio space. The Arts Commis- have created the "fascination" for the pro- sion was already involved in successful grams to enter into the "womb" of the VAP's on a short-term basis in schools and faculty and administration did not material- assumed that the VAP format and metho- ize during the AIR period of 1970-72. dology could be transferred to the more or- Seed money from the federal agency has ganic requirements of a long-term resi- generated many short-term gains, but an dency. In a VAP, the artist functions as an honest appraisal of its influence on future development and change in the two schools is rather discouraging. The reasons for the relative failure in North Haven and Bridgeport differ, but one factor is common to both: Neither school has considered the program of sufficient priority to seek funding necessary to continue the AIR as part of its 1972-73 curriculum. The two schools received a combined total of $24,400 over two years on a non- matching basis, with the understanding that in the third year (if tho program worked for them during the first two), the schools would pick it up on a matching-fund basis. This has not happened. Why? Two factors involving administration are particularly important to evaluate. First, the schools were inconsistent in accepting the AIR. There was initial strong support from some people, but resistance from crucial administrators was never resolved. Thus faculty and administrators were divided on the worth of the program. Secondly,

North Haven High School by of the auditorium with large wood In August of 1970, Commission Consultant constructions and painted inflatables. Jeff Martin Kushner began to set up the made himself visible. He inspired affec- program at North Haven High School. His tion and loyalty from the students. He be- basic idea was to flood the school with came a familiar figure to students and artists during the course of the year and his role did not separate him from students, give North Haven the experience of as many of the other adult roles in the many diverse artistic personalities. As he school did. put it "We wanted to initiate activities But the plan was too grand and the founda- and structures, huge sculptures, traveling tion was too weak. By the end of the video-taping and filming crews, an year, Martin Kushner was in a good position itinerant student improvisation theatre to describe the Commission's miscal- troup, writers who wanted to work on culation: releasing nonlinear thinking, and an assort- Artists had been dropped into the school ment of specialists in mime, music, and like paratroopers onto a strange terrain. gymnastics who could attract widespread Few instructions were given. They had to attention, who would draw people into scout teachers, seek allies and do the spaces they never thought of using, who best they could without a great deal of ex- would attract one roomful of people perience. We had many meetings early into the next door roomful of people where in the year with teachers, but these talks something exciting was happening. We were perfunctory. Each artist was simply wanted to face the reality of the school en- present in the school to turn kids on, to do vironment by opening up the lines of his thing, to involve teachers. Indeed, we communication between students who had selected artists who fancied themselves viewed life in completely different ways and aesthetic paratroopers and so made their who had never been able to express lumps enthusiastically. But how much more themselves to each other We wanted the we could have achieved with more knowl- school to take itself seriously and not edge of school life and adequately prepared just continue this divisive game of educa- welcome mats manned by school and tion." community people who knew a lot more This objective, which was endorsed by about what was dropping out of the sky the school administration in principle, and into their laps! We had oblectives but was to be accomplished by hiring Jeff Lon- they were abstractions. Since no artist don as the central artist for 53 days and can ever really be adequately prepared for surrounding his activities with the work of a school situation unless he is directly many other artists from various disci- from the community, we know we must be plines In total, 11 artists participated with more thoughtful, "up front" and honest the featured sculptor Two poets for 24 about ourselves early with all school per- days, a theatre director, 25 days, four musi- sonnel. We must state clearly what we cians, five days, a mime, seven days, a are attempting to do what we believe in. writer, five days, a film maker, 36 days, and If the administration's point of view dif- a classical gymnast, two days They were fers greatly from ours, then we must either all excellent people and each made a t.cn- determine whether the difference should tribution to the school. exist in the schools and be important tools To some extent, the Commission con- for learning, or, we have to find another sultant's plan worked Jeff, for example, ac- school more willing to experiment. cording to Martin Kushner. The signs of trouble were there from the . was able to involve many of the start. In October, a few artists met for isolated, often very creative, loner students the first time with members of the school's in adding great masses of co/or to the dimly lit corridors, a courtyard and the lob-

116 administrative and teaching staffs. After These initial difficulties mushroomed into this session, the school, under time pressure either large-scale conflicts or moods of to begin the program, agreed to the art- apathy and avoidance among teachers, ad- ists recommended by the Commission even ministrators and artists, which dissipated though some members of the faculty had opportunities for healthy confrontation One reservations. The artists got to know each important eruption did occur which fleet- other, joked confidently about backwards ingly gave focus to some basic issues education and closed-minded schools and Film maker Richard Place was working about how exciting it would be to get to with ten students on a video-tape project the kids. In his diary, film maker Richard attempting to document how students Place reflected. "Thinking back on the felt about the school. The group had taped initial meeting with school officials, a' seems discussions in a few classes and was in that not one person in the room had the process of editing the material when the enough experience with the new relation- principal, Richard Burrer, came into the ships (artists-teachers-administrators) editing room to take the unfinished tapes to face the tension that was developing and out in order to review them and deter- help direct the situation positively." mine their future distribution Mr Buffer's Despite the doubts and confusions, there action, prompted by the concern of a was enthusiasm for the program and few teachers over what students were say- the enthusiasm Non out. North Haven em- ing about life in the school, violated an braced the AIR. agreement between the artist and the prin- Director of Curriculum for North Haven cipal that once the video tape was fully Schools, Dave Shafer, sincerely took edited, Mr. Burrer would have an oppor- risk after risk in an attempt to get the AIR tunity to look at the completed project started and working, but many factors Prior to completion, however, it was to re- overwhelmed his high hopes. From his remain solely in the hands of its creators port to the National Endowment for the When Mr. Burrer attempted to take the ma- Arts at the conclusion of 1970-71, Martin terials from the room, Mr Place blocked Kushner listed the "initial difficulties" his way and forcefully took the unedited at North Haven: video-tape back, to the principal's surprise. Angry remarks were exchanged and Mr 1 The lack of promised studio space for Jeff London, a requirement of the school to Burrer left the room. Within two hours, with participate in the program. the help of an assistant principal who 2 Scheduling groups of students outside of very tactfully brought the two parties to- classes under the school's modular system gether, the issue was resolved and the has presented more obstacles than aids principal and film maker spent some produc- to this program. tive time cordially discussing the event 3 Phone calls from parents protesting Jeff and the project Eventually the video-tape London's smoking in class and use of the materials became a black and white 16 word "screw" to describe a work of his. m.m. film, which the school has used with Also, phone calls protesting Richard Place's parents and other community groups showing a film made in Cuba as part of a One older man, watching students talking comparison study, using NBC and U.S. about school life in the film, commented, State Department films on the same subject. "It's just like it was when I went there A vocal minority in the North Haven com- we kids felt the same way 30 years ago" munity, identified as "Concerned Citizens", Although in some respects it cleared the is against innovation in the schools, and air, the Burrer-Place confrontation was is hostile to the Artist-in-Residence Program. unfortunate as it added to an atmosphere 4 Aesthetic and personal differences between in which trust was difficult to re-estab- Jeff London and the chairman of the art department in the school, Jim Caudle. 90 117 lish. In their final evaluation report of the 1 Cafeteria re-design, whichcame about as 1970-71 program, New Haven's Educa- I suggested to people that something tional Research Services (outside profes- be done about the degrading environment. sional evaluators) commented: So far nothing has developed. Trouble The goals set for the Visiting Artists Pro- is with scheduling meetings after school. gram are ambitious ones. This is espe- [This project was finally completed.] cially true for those of the Connecticut 2 Urban Problems: Working withteachers, Commission on the Arts and some of Miff Flaherty, John Keogh and Bob the artists who see the programas a cata- Dodds. We have students researching, lyst for fundamental change in the gathering information, using cameras, character of public education. Given these tape-recorders, hunting down maps, records, great expectations, one can say that etc. They are going in each andevery the program has not been very successful. agency of the community and local But precisely because so much is antici- govern- ment so they can become familiaron a pated (or at least hoped for) andso little first-hand basis with the people whoare in time has elapsed, summary judgments positions to create or solve problems of seem ill-advised. It does seem to us that a social or environmental nature. enough good has come from thepro- Too often Jack found himself without the gram thus far to warrant its continuation. support he needed from the school However, we believe that the most sig- staff. Too much of his time was spent in nificant potential contributions of theprogram will not be realized without some meetings and discussions, with little response coming from the teachers. An ex- major changes in the program's adminis- ception was teacher Sally Casper and tration and in the ways the various her Latin V class. Over a period of five parties relate to each other particularly months, Jack visited her class some artists and school personnel. 20 times, primarily to discuss topicscover- With this perspective in mind, the Arts ing language and culture. In a ;aped Commission set out to find a visual interview, Sally and Jack discussed thepro- artist to work in residence at North Haven gram and the changes that occurred in for 1971-72. In the fall of 1971, Jim the class: Caudle, chairman of the art department, Sally: began interviewing candidates for the Jack has been coming in quite regularly position. After consultation with the Arts to my Virgil class and discussions with the Commission, sculptor Jack Marshall kids have completely changed. Before was engaged from January to June of 1972. it was lust a matter of them reactingto me. Jack's grandfather was a sculptor and And as much as I tried to get them to for as long as he can remember, Jack has express themselves, still they were inhibited been one too. Recently, he has been and only reacting to me... doing research into the use ofcontemporary Jack: technology in artistic expression. In 1964, he received the Ford Foundation I'm laughing because now they holler and Pur- shout. Now they don't have to be afraid, chase Award and in 1969. he received the their manners are not as importantnow ... Blanche Coleman Award. He hasalso writ- Sally: ten poetry. With North Haven moving What we have done is just involve Jack in toward more inter-departmental involve- whatever we might be discussing when ments, it was thought that Jack's presence might enhance this process. he comes in and in that process, they have become much freer in what they were As the program was initiated for the willing to talk about. Their emphasis second year, Jack was to function primarily up to this time had been a bad one as far in the classroom with teachers and as stu- the literature was concerned, because they dents. In his diary during March, Jack describes two projects he was developing: l had been trained to translate Latin and do nothing else, not do any creative thinking about the literature they were reading at all. I had been trying to change that direction, with some success, but Jack helped create an atmosphere where we could take a new direction. Despite the fact that the program ran more smoothly in 1971-72, with positive results and greater cooperation between the school, artists and teachers than had been in evidence the previous year, the chances of a continuation of an artist-in- residence program at North Haven seemed slim at year's end. After two years of experience with the program through federal and state support, the school was still unable to offer any significant fi- .19 nancial backing for a third year. The Com- mission, having conditioned its under- writing on a greater participation of the school in program costs, simply could not accept another year on the same financial footing as before. When no pledge was forthcoming from the school by the summer of 1972, the Commission transferred North Haven's allocation elsewhere. In retrospect, the Commission found the same reasons for the program's uneven re- ception at the school, as it did after the first year: 1 Contact between the school and the Com- mission was unsatisfactory. The Com- mission's view of the program was too unstructured and at times, too advanced. Generally, the agency provided insufficient consultant supervision. 2 Although Dave Shafer was an enthusiastic supporter of the program, he did not convince the Board of Education it was worth continued funding support. 3 Communication within the school tended to be weak, generally avoiding the principal entirely. In the light of this discouraging appraisal, the Commission staff was surprised to receive a copy of a petition, circulated on October 12, 1972, by members of the North Haven faculty and submitted to the school administration.

119 1J) From: Concerned Staff on a more modest level for the next year Subject: Artist-in-Residence in order to keep the AIR idea alive Date: October 12, 1972 and growing in hopes of a brighter future We are deeply concerned that the artist- for these programs. It is pleasing to see in-residence program continue. Last year such widespread faculty support foran AIR we saw and participated in an excitement in a situation where the history has been which affected many students. Jack as complicated as the one at North Haven. Marshall's influence on students and staff members Hopefully, the appropriate school of- from cafeteria workers to de- ficials will now respond more aggressively partment chairmen is not easy to define. and help develop the kind of program- It is the result of an experienced artist ming for 1973-74 that will meet the expressed who has given his time and many talents to needs and desires of the people who have a greater extent and in broader dimen- truly experienced the AIR, the faculty and sions than we had hoped or thought pos- students. sible. The specific products of the six months were many class visitations, poetry workshops, teacher and student rap sessions, the painting of the cafeteria. But the process which we experienced is what caused the change in us and in our students. We have realized a need which we did not know we had. A need for an unstructured coming together of different personalities to communicate and to share. We believe that this program mustcon- tinue, and that through the talents of Jack Marshall we must reach out into the community. We do not want to lose this opportunity to revitalize ourselves and to begin to affect our town. We are excited by what has happened and by what we know can happen. We urge that funds be made available to keep Jack Marshall and continue this program. The spirit of the memorandum and the number of teachers who signed it almost contradicts the feeling the Commission had about the school's involvement in the program when it came time to consider renewal. Had such a mandate been articulated in May of 1972 and had the Board of Education set aside matching funds, a program would have been possible in the new school year. But when, at that time, Commission representatives niet with officials from the North Haven schools, the North Haven educators saw no hope of Board of Education funding. The Arts Commission has committed funds to continue working with North Haven

120 .1 J i Whittler School/Bridgeport pg.IMIT The program at Whittier School was , structured much the same as the one in T North Haven by the Arts Commission. One important difference was that they had the same artist for the two years, while North Haven did not. But in Bridge- port too, there is no matching fund support from the school. Thus, Whittier will not be involved in the AIR for A. 1972-73 either. Artist Sam Serrano grew up in Puerto Rico. His mother is black and his father, a farmer, is of Puerto Rican descent. He is 21 years old, lives in New York City and works on sculpture as much as he can. His background in art includes work as a lithographer and printer, and teaming Ate painting and sculpture in neighborhood arts programs and in the Museo del Barrio in New York. Sam began working in Long- fellow School, Bridgeport during the fall of 1970. After a short time, the hostility toward the program from the school administration NMI made it necessary to terminate the program there. One incident is worthy of note, as children and 95 percent of them black. it characterizes the mood that existed at Housed in an old building, Whittier has no Longfellow and its effect on the AIR Sam special programs, no special stall aides, and the kids had built a series of con- no extra money for experimental education. structions colorfully dividing space and It's lust Oldham, a lot of young teachers giving them areas to crawl in and out and the kids in classrooms with desks still of and think of as their own. bolted to the floor. Open opposition came from the Brideport Sam s energy and devotion to the students art supervisor, creating an atmosphere of at Whittier resulted in the "Soul Shack" tension. It resulted in an order from the fire and accr ling to Martin Kushner it was marshal to dismantle everything, without quite a place: any warning or explanation The kids cried A disfunctional old metal shop with a 100 It was a negative confrontation, rather vises, rusty tools, broken cabinets, long than direct and honest negotiations between warped work benches it was perfect. adults, that robbed the kids of an import- Plunging into the supply money, Sam ant part of their world The situation was bought out a hardware storeful of plaster, similar to the North Haven incident paints, tools, torches, brushes and Martin Kushner writes of the move to buckets. The kids brought rags, T-shirts, Whittier School, where the program has beach sand and their enormous energy. been since: They repainted the room, splashed it with Whittier is a middle school (Grades 5-8) vivid bright colors and gave it a name lust across the empty lots where the on the blue door, the "Soul Shack." kids go alter they've been "messed up at The rest of the year went well at Whittier. Longfellow". according to cie observer It seemed that the AIR was providing a at Whittier It is a small c.nool, barely 300 much needed involvement there with the

121 kids, through an artist to whom1 oy felt close and one who was truly committed to tham. Late in the fall of 1971, Martin Kushner encouraged Whittier School to begin experimenting with Sam and teachers in joint classroom work, for tworeasons. 1 It was in keeping with Arts Commission VAP concerns for more direct confron- tational experiments with classrooms and curriculum development. 2Whittier now had a full time art teacher and it seemed to make sense to start ina new direction, moving on from the 1970-71 experience. In November, following a few organizational meetings, Sam set to work with four teachers who were involvedin team- teaching in Grade 6. Unfortunately,a major scheduling change occurredin De- cember and the original idea had to be dropped. Sam then began working muchas he had done in the previous year, inde- k pendent of the rest of the teachers in the school. From January to June of 1972, Sam concentrated on teaching film and photography to students in Grades 7-8. The L kids experienced, many for the first time, the technology and art of film making. It was also a period when Sam himselfbegan to learn more about film and it has hadan impact on his work. There are now teachers involved in the teaching of photography and the school has a well stocked dark- ioom In a taped interview, Sam discussed his work this year at Whittier with Com- mission Consultant Stephen Shapiro. Sam: When I first came in this year, we started with drawing from some of the old slides we made last year. I was trying to find 10* out what they wanted to do, the kind of slides they wanted to deal with and from there we went into block printing with carved linoleum. From the prints we made more slides, then we started on the movies and photography, all this build-

122 13 ing up their understanding of film and Conclusion photography. Our purpose here has been to uncover Stephen: contradictions on an administrative level What was the atm of the Artist-in-Residence that hopefully will help us better under- Program at Whittier? stand both schools and artists and the prob- Sam: lems in bringing them together for ex- Expression. To have a chance to express tended periods of time. Often something as yourself, to see yourself from different simple as a room not being provided, a views. Images, slides, the characters, the fear unspoken, a tension avoided, differences masks, the films there were so many of opinion not communicated, or the taking things to do that everyone got a change to on of more than can be administered effec- get into something. tively, can kill a program and hurt the Stephen: people involved. In 1972-73, the Arts Com- Did you see any changes in the kids as mission will have AIR programs at the the year went on? Choate School, a private school in Walling- Sam: ford; at Shanti High School, an alternate Yes! Mostly with the drawing from the school in Hartford, and at the correctional slides Like they would start off a little shy schools in Cheshire and Somers. The les- and gradually get into it. The beginning sons of the first two years in North Haven slides show you this And, as they changed and Bridgeport will be carefully applied their attitude toward me, their work to these new opportunities. changed. They had to check me out first. In the movie you see the total control, R.P. /A.S.K. in the whole group, you see how they relate to each other. Like with Steve, he is very together, very fast, so in the film he is speeded up and with James, his type of funniness the kids got into the film. But in the beginning it was slow they had to see where I was coming from. The AIR was less turbulent and more successful at Whittier than at North Haven, with the exception of its beginning at Longfellow. But when the Brioyeport Board of Education had to make budget cuts, there was no possibility for continuing the program. Although the AIR at Whittier had its ups and downs, one factor should be noted, to contrast with North Haven. The principal at Whittier was not only supportive of the program and its ideology, but when problems did arise, he was always quick to confront and solve them with the help and advice of everyone involved. At North Haven, the problem was that the principal did not truly support the program. While it was having a variety of effects on many teachers in the school, this lack of support was a powerful statement. Things to Think About

A primary responsibility of the Commission's education consultants is to generate communication. Keeping lines of communication open, we believe, will help clear up reservations and dispel apprehension and possible confusion about the Visiting Artists Program, In the interest of time and happy relations, we suggest that educators and artists considering a VAP think about the following questions:

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124 14) ;) Artists: Can I talk clearly about what I am up to with teachers and administrators who might Do I really like kids, and particularly, the not have the same values and thought age group with which I will be working? processes as I do and probably will use different language? Do I care about the pressures and problems of being a public school teacher or ad- Can I plan my specific exercises with kids ministrator? and teachers to allow for creative involvement for everyone? How do I create a program that will relate to the teachers and students in such a Am I able to keep a log of my experiences, way that they will be able to grow with it to help myself, future VAPs in the school after I leave? and the Commission consultants in administering these programs? Do I have the energy to give to the VAP and am I willing to interrupt my own work?

Am I doing this just for the money and making up all those other nice-sounding reasons?

Do I have a clear idea of the process and direction of the work I will be doing with the kids and teachers?

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106 Teachers; Can I find a way of consulting the students to determine their feelings about taking Do I think there is something that the part in a VAP? children should be learning that they are presently not learning in the school and Do I really want to be Involved with this might a VAP help with that? program?

What constitutes "credentials" for an artist Can I relate my own creative process as a coming into the classroom? teacher to what the artist is doing? How do I feel about participating in the activities with the students and artist?

How do I feel about a room that becomes a little more disorganized and messy than I am uscd to?

Am I able to keep a log of my experiences in the VAP; to help future programs in other schools in this community; and to keep track of my own experiences as the program progresses?

126 I 0 7 Administrators: Am I able to help publicize the program, translating it into language that the parents Are my ideas on discipline and safety in and general community can understand? conflict with those of the artist? Can I schedule the VAP in a way that allows Do I think that any of the teachers are for the program's needs for space, time, saying they want the program only to please and energy? me or each other, when they really are uncomfortable with it?

Does this program relate to general curriculum changes that I might want to implement in the school?

What do I think the students should be learning? What are frills and what are es- sentials?

If regular classrooms are inappropriate, will I provide the artist and teachers with alternative space for the program?

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127 sub Visiting Artists 1971-72

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Abraham Adzenyah, 33, African drummer. Eric Breitbart, 32, film maker, attended five years training at the School of Columbia University, Yale University and Music, Dance and Drama, University of the Institute Des Hautes Etudes. He Ghana. He has taught drumming at helped organize and taught at. free school the Institute of African Studies, University in New London and has worked on some of Ghana, performed at the Negro Arts 30 films, including "Wishes, Lies, and Festival. Dakar in 1966, and traveled through- Dreams ,'All Fall Down", and "Columbia, out the world performing in major cities on Strike.' Visiting artist at Montville and arts institutions. Visiting artist at Mid- High School, 15-day program, winter and dletown High School. 15-day program. spring, 1971- 72, fall. 1971; and Woodrow Wilson High School, Middletown, 15-day program, spring, 1972.

126 .1, j d John Costa, 25, BM Welting, 24, and E3111 2/Mach, 25, folk-rock musicians, attended Connecticut public schools. Their group has performed in numerous concerts and they have traveled throughout this country and Canada playing their music in bars, night clubs, truck stops and at barn dances. Visiting artists at Manchester High School, 30-day program, winter and spring, 1972.

Worked as team of visiting artists

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Gretchen Davis, 30, and Lucy Men.26, body-movement and theatre improvisation, attended schools in various parts of the United States. Gretchen taught kindergarten for five years. The VAP was Lucy's first school experience. They both haveacted extensively and are founding members of "It's All Right to be Woman" theatrein New York. Visiting artists at Morris Street School, Danbury, part of 50-dayprogram, winter and spring, 1971-72.

Worked as team of visiting artists

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Emmanuel Ampofo Duodu, 34, African Charles Fldlar, 32, musician, attended dancer, attended school in London, where Cornell and the New England Conservatory he majored in journalism and dance. He He has taught at Brown University, M.I T , studied for six years at the School of Music, Kingswood and Gunnery schools Ai:liar has Dance and Drama, University of Ghana. a daughter, Marilyn, and a son, Will He has taught dance at the University of He has sung opera and oratorio throughout Ghana, performed at the Negro Arts New England. He was associate conductor Festival, Dakar in 1966, and traveled through- of the Rhode Island Philharmonic and direc- out the world performing in major cities tor of the Harford Theatre (Md )Visiting and arts institutions. Visiting artist at Mid- artist at Latimer Lane School, Simsbury, 10 dletown High School, 15-day program, day program, fall, 1971. fall, 1971; and Woodrow Wilson High School, Middletown, 15-day program, spring, 1972.

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f- t 1 Dorothea Fox, 58, writer and illustrator, Dick Gallup, 32, poet, attended Tulane attended Birmingham Southern, Alabama. University and Columbia University. He She worked with Project CREATE at participated in the St. Marks Poetry Project the RESCUE Center in Bridgewater andat and worked with Teachers and Writers various schools in western Connecticut Collaborative in New York. He is the author as a visiting artist. She is both author and of a play, The Bingo, and a book of illustrator of two books for children, Miss poetry, "Where I Hang My Hat," Harper and Twtggley's Tree and Follow Me the Leader. Row. Visiting artist at Stratford High Visiting artist at Morris-Street School, School, part of 15-day program, fall, 1971. Danbury, part of 50-day program, winter and spring, 1971 -72.

132 Veda Mae Grosvenor, 34, writer and mother, A. Jonna Kay, 23, painter and graphic has had little formal education. She has artist, attended Pratt Institute and University worked with the Teachers and Writers Col- of Hartford. She has team-taught at the laborative in New York and has two New School for Social Research and indivi- books published by Doubleday. Vibration dually in her own studio Ms Kay has Cooking, or The Travel Notes of a won awards at the ConnecticutWater Color Geechee Girl, and Thursdays and Every Society annual show and the Hartford Other Sunday Off. She will soon publish Constitution Plaza juried art show Visiting her children's book, Sir, You are a Huckle- artist at Shanti High School, Hartford, berry beyond my Persimmon. Resident part of 50-day program, winter and spring, poet, Poets in the Colleges Program, South- 1971-72. ern Connecticut State College, winter and spring, 1971-72.

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Al Levine, 32, poet, attended New York Jeff London, 30, sculptor, University and Columbia University.He attended the Philadelphia Museum College ofArt. He has taught in elementary and highschools for been both a visiting artist the past ten years and recentlypublished (Edgewood his first book, Prophesy School, New Haven) andan artist-in-resi- in Bridgeport, dence, (North Haven High School). Scribner and Sons. Residentpoet, Poets in He the Colleges Program, University is the creator of "Caustic Merriment"and of his work has appeared in Bridgeport, winter andspring, 1971-72. many group shows throughout New England.Visiting artist at Edgewood School, NewHaven, 15-day program, winter and spring,1971-72.

134 Jack Marshall, 40, sculptor, writer, designer Alice Martin, 34, dancer, attended Skidmore and environmentalist, attended Yale Uni- College and studied with Martha Graham versity. He taught at Manhattan College, and Jose Limon She worked with Project New School for Social Research and the CREATE as a visiting artist and is direc- Yale School of Architecture. His work has tor of movement education at the Pomfret been represented in numerous group Community School. Visiting artist at and individual shows. In 1964 he received Glastonbury High School and Gideon the Ford Foundation Purchase Award Welles Junior High School, Glastonbury, and, in 1969, the Blanche Coleman Award. 15-day program, spring, 1972 Resident artist, Artist-in-Residence Pro- gram, North Haven High School, winter and spring, 1971-72.

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Clarence Major, 36, poet, novelist and editor, Bucky Milan 34, musician, composerand Attended public schools in Chicago. He painter, attended North Texas University has been a resident poet at Connecticut and the Chicago Art Institute. He has College, Brooklyn College and Wisconsin worked as a visiting artist and teachesat State University He is author of the Western Connecticut State College. His novel Dictionary of Afro-American Slang, travels include the Far East, the North Pole and three books of poetry, Swallow the and Rome, where he studied painting. Lake, Private Line, and The Cotton Club, Visiting artist at Morris Street School, Dan- and edited The New Black Poetry. In bury, part of a 15-day program, winter 1970, he won a National Endowment for the and spring, 1971-72. Arts poetry prize. Visiting artist with the Northwest Poetry Project; visited Housa- tonic Valley Regional High School; Westledge School, West Simsbury; and Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, winter, 1972.

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AA. Douglas Mitchell, 26, Navajo Indian dancing Ron Padgett, 30, poet, attended schools in and singing, attended Arizona State Co,- New York, He has worked with Teachers lege and Clovis Community College. He has and Writers Collaborative in New York City been an artist-in-residence and teacher schools He has published Bean Spasms at Wesleyan University's World Music F ro- with Ted Berrigan, co-edited the Anthology gram from 1970 to present, and has of New York Poets with David Shapiro, traveled and performed extensively in he and written two books of poetry, Great Balls United States Visiting artist at Center of Fire and The Adventures of Mr. and School, East Hampton, part of 15-day pro- Mrs Jim and Ron, published by Grossman, gram, winter, 1971-72. with illustrations by Jim Dine. Visiting artist at Stratford High School, part of 15- day program, fall, 1971.

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Sandy Paton, 43, and Caroline Paton, 40, John Perpener, 28, dancer, attended the folk singers Caroline attended University University of Colorado, Connecticut of Chicago Sandy attended schools in College School of Dance and Southern Connecticut. They have both worked as Methodist University. He has taught visiting artists before and have toured the dance in many schools and community country working in schools and performing centers and choreographed for other danc- They have recorded for Folk-Legacy ers. He has studied with Martha Graham, Records and have produced records for Nikita Talin, and Paul Draper. He is current- other folk singers with their own com- ly a member of the Hartford Ballet Com- pany Visiting artists at Memorial School, pany. Visiting artist at West Middle School, East Hampton, part of 10-day program, Hartford, 50-day program, winter and spring, 1972, and Middle Hadoam School, spring, 1971-72. Middle Haddam, spring, 1972.

' Worked as team of visiting artists

138 i3 Jane Phelan, 26, crafts and dance move- Richard Place, 29, director, film maker and ment, attended Skidmore and American Aca- photographer, attended University of demy of Dramatic Arts. She taught dance Redlands and Yale University School of at the Hartford YWCA and the Farmington Drama. He was a member of New York Recreation Center and has traveled ex- Newsreel for three years aid has worked tensively in Europe and South America. with the visiting artists program at North Visiting artist at Booth Free School, Haven High School and at the Hill Arts Co- Roxbury, part of 15-day program, spring, op in New Haven He has directed three 1972, and New Hartford Elementary plays off-off-Broadway in New York City, School, 15-day program, spring, 1972. produced and directed three fiction films; and worked on some 15 documentary films between 1967 and 1971. Visiting artist at Shanti School, part of 50-day program, fall, 1971.

139 Mike Posnick. 30, director, attended Yeshiva David Rosenberg, 28, poet, attended and Yale University School of Drama. He Syracuse University and the University of teaches at the Yale Repertory School of Essex in England. He taught English at Drama and has directed plays at various uni- York University, Toronto, Canada, and has versities and regional theatres. He is resi- published numerous books of poetry. dent-director of the Yale Theatre Ccinpany, Some of his own works are Disappearing Yale University. Visiting artist at Wash- Horses, 1969, Headlights, 1970, Night ington Middle School, Washington, 15-day School, 1970, and A Star in My Hair, 1971. program, spring, 1972. Resident poet, Poets in Colleges Pro- gram, Central Connecticut State College, winter and spring, 1971-72.

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Sam Sorrimo, 92, ci.lillptor and lithographer, Imes Sheerwood, 31, director and actor attended Franklin K. Lane High School attended Amh rst College and Smith in New York City. He has worked in neigh- College. He has taught high school dra- borhood programs with thr.; Museo del matics, worked with Project CREATE Barrio. His work has been represented in and is a member of the faculty of the New a number of group shows in New York School for Social Research, where he and Connecticut. Resident artist, Artist-in- serves as instructor in Children's Theatre Residence Program, Whittier School, Visiting artist. Booth Free School, Rox- Bridgeport, 1970-72. bury, part of15-day program, spring, 1972.

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Terry Stokes, 28, poet, attended the Uni- Randall Timmons, 26, painter and designer, versity of Hartford and the Universityof Iowa. He has taught at Western Michi- attended the Memphis Academy of Arts gan University and the University of Hart- and Syracuse University. He has taught painting and drawing at both the high ford. His poems have been publishedin school and college level. Hismany gallery many magazines and anthologies. Hismost recent publications of poetry include showings include a one-man show at the Natural Disasters, (New York Wolfe River Club, Memphis, 1969; anda show University at the Pakucka Arts Center, Kentucky, Press, 1971) A Season of Lost Voices, 1969 Visiting artist, Sprague School, (1972) and Crimes of Passion, Water- (Alfred A. bury, 15-day program, spring, 1972, Knopf, 1972) Resident poet, Poets and in the Center School, East Hampton, part of Colleges Program, University of Hart- a 15- ford, 1971-73. day program, spring, 1972.

142 LLi3 Sonya Walton, 27, painter, writer, attended Silvermine Institute, Rhode Island School of Design and the San Francisco Art Insti- tute. She has taught in her own school while living in Tennessee and at various times in her studio. Her work has been shown internationally in galleries and shows. Visiting artist, Bingham School, Bristol, 15-day program, spring, 1972.

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