Part of the KidsArt exhibition, Recreating the Art Lab is the visual culmination of the collaboration between BRIC and the students at Juan Morel Campos Secondary School in Williamsburg. This collaboration was made possible through an Empire State Partnership Grant (ESP), funded by NYSCA. Since launching our ESP with Campos in 2006, we have created a sustained learning community that integrates the visual arts into the school’s broader curriculum and mission. In 2007 we inaugurated a gallery to showcase student art created in residencies. In the past year we transformed the gallery into an Art Lab, welcoming all of Campos to visit.
A view of the Art Lab
The works on display are the re- creation of this spring’s English Language Arts exhibition at the Art Lab at the school, addressing different themes through various projects. One such project is entitled Finding Active Change through Diagram and Design. Students worked with artist teacher Angela Early and classroom teacher Adam Davidson to create accordion books using simple and colorful materials. These books documented a process of personal investigation of changes in their lives, using tools such as Venn diagrams to project the positive aspects over the negative ones. On the back of accordion books, students wrote statements about these changes, and how they would accomplish them.
A visitor engages with the accordion books- photo by Campos student Cody Castro
The resulting art work demonstrates the diverse array of concerns that the students face on an every day basis. These issues range from thinking about science or math in a more positive light to expressing the desire to eradicate gang violence in their neighborhoods. These thoughts challenge us to consider the lives of not only these students in Brooklyn, but also youths throughout the country.
