Art Club 2.0

Why Art?

According to NHNSCR₁, “[until the age of six] is critical in shaping a child’s physical, cognitive, and emotional development. During this time, the brain makes billions of new connections between neurons, creating the network that will support learning, memory, emotional regulation, and other essential skills. . . As we continue to learn more about the complexity of the brain’s growth and function, it is essential to provide young children with the experiences and resources they need to thrive.” 

And yet, many Liberty Lake area students are receiving maximum of three hours of free and accessible art education per school year.  

In the book Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us, authors Susan Magsamen₂ and Ivy Ross₃, explain how art is not an entertainment luxury, but that activities from painting and dancing to expressive writing, architecture, and more are essential to our lives. 

The book’s summary and reviews read “[Art] can deliver potent, accessible, and proven solutions for the well-being of everyone. Magsamen and Ross offer compelling research that shows how engaging in an art project for as little as forty-five minutes reduces the stress hormone cortisol, no matter your skill level, and just one art experience per month can extend your life by ten years. . . .playing music builds cognitive skills and enhances learning; the vibrations of a tuning fork create sound waves to counteract stress; virtual reality can provide cutting-edge therapeutic benefit; and interactive exhibits . . .  strengthen[ing] memory. Doctors have even been prescribing museum visits to address loneliness, dementia, and many other physical and mental health concerns. Your Brain on Art is a portal into . . . how the arts. . . build healthier communities . . .”

Our students deserve healthier communities. Art will help.

Goals & Partners

1. Is affordable and convenient
2. Meets regularly and has consistent membership
3. Student-centered
4. Connects an art discipline with non-arts curriculum
5. Has targeted age-appropriate and sequential curriculum
6. Meets WA State Arts Learning Standards   
7. Supports collaboration between early learning educators, schools, families, artists, and organizations
8. Increases culturally relevant student learning in and through the arts
9. Strategically increases public access to arts integration
10. Creates a foundation of art exposure, appreciation, and excitement that prepares students for art opportunities as they grow

Because art accessibility for all is paramount, the team is making real efforts to engage artists, educators, and families with specific expertise in or personal experience as Native/Alaskan Native, artists of color, LGBTQ+, of limited mobility, neurodivergent, deaf or hard of hearing, and/or blind so that we can be inclusive in providing art opportunities for all. 

You can find full partner bios here.

Philosophy

Art Club uses the expertise, philosophy, and books of esteemed art educator George Szekely₄: “By observing children at play and using props and situations familiar to them, teachers can build on children’s energy and self-initiated discoveries to inspire school art that comes from the child’s imagination. The foundation of this teaching approach is the belief that the essential goal of art teaching is to inspire children to behave like artists, that art comes from within themselves and not from the art teacher.”

In books, Play and Creativity in Art Teaching, Encouraging Creativity in Art Lessons, Teaching to Support Children’s Creativity and Artistic Independence, From Play to Art, and more Szekely’s “central premise is that art teachers are not only a source of knowledge about art but also a catalyst for creating conditions that encourage students to use their own ideas for making art. . . .Play and Creativity in Art Teaching offers plans for the study of children’s play and for discovering creative art teaching as a way to bring play into the art room. While it does not offer a teaching formula or a single set of techniques to be followed, it demystifies art and shows how teachers can help children find art in familiar and ordinary places, accessible to everyone. This book also speaks to parents and the important roles they can play in supporting school art programs and nourishing the creativity of their children.”