Area Professional Artists Lend Talents to BGCMA
March 8, 2010
Eight BGCMA Clubs have become home to four professional teaching artists through the support of the National Endowment for the Arts and Fulton County Arts Council. Through recent funding from these agencies, BGCMA is providing in-depth arts education to Club members who receive little or no visual arts in their homes, school or communities.
Under the Visiting Teaching Artist Initiative, professional artists Lisa Davis, Catherine Driskell, Daniel Hoover and Lynn Marshall-Linnemeier regularly visit and teach at the following Clubs: A. Worley Brown, Anderson, Brookhaven, Draper, Douglas, Grant, Harland and Woolfolk Clubs.
The artists host age-specific workshops within the Clubs each week, based on the standards outlined in BGCMA’s Visual Arts Curriculum Guide. Through projects using different techniques and materials with drawing, painting, mixed media and photography, they involve children and teens in the process of developing their own creativity and the skills of visual literacy. The program enhances the arts and cultural enrichment programs offered at BGCMA and gives Club Arts Instructors a higher level of resources and hands-on experience. The kids benefit from the additional exposure, education and tools the professional artists provide.
The program also makes it possible for the Clubs to visit the High Museum of Art for a guided tour of an exhibition – a first for many of the Club members.
Kids who have benefited from learning from the artists have been able to work on challenging and innovative projects. The program has not only enhanced the arts knowledge and self-confidence of the participating kids, but it has also helped develop that of the Arts Instructors. This opportunity has given our members the chance to be self-expressive and find creative talents that they never knew existed. As their confidence in their own creative abilities grows, so does their enthusiasm and understanding for the arts. BGCMA is grateful to the National Endowment for the Arts and Fulton County Arts Council for enabling these four artists to teach in its eight Clubs and hopes the opportunity grows to include more Clubs in the future.
