Welcome to our Visual Arts Club website! The work here is by artists enrolled at North Grand High School in Chicago. All the artwork and statements were made in response to this question: How does art help us feel less isolated? 

During a VERY difficult year of remote learning and quarantine, we came together twice per week to make art, listen to music, play games, chit chat, have philosophical conversations, and celebrate the power of art: how it helps us feel connected, even while we are physically apart.

The story behind our club:

Big Idea: Making connections while isolated

Inquiry Question: How can art help us feel less isolated?

Tell us the story of your project.

The club struggled to have members for most of the school year. Jojo and Edwin were the backbone of the program, often the only teens showing up each week. They created a strong foundation of mutual respect and support, declaring each other best friends despite never having met in person and relying on Google Translate to communicate. When Ms. Cuevas stepped in to co-teach, she recruited some of her algebra students who were profound, poetic, and driven to create, just like Jojo and Edwin! We created a new inquiry question to guide the re-birth of the club. Given the heartbreaking circumstances of the pandemic and remote learning, we chose to focus on isolation and how art helps us when cut off from other people. As more students joined, we slowly got to know each other, through sharing stories, listening to music, asking each other fun and strange questions, meeting each other's pets, looking at old childhood pictures of each other, wishing each other happy birthday, celebrating each other's successes, expressing support for each other through losses, playing online games together, and of course, through their artwork. We experimented with different drawing prompts - including attempting to draw the feeling of boredom (which we curated a boring playlist on YoutTube for.) We also attempted drawing while playing the game Among Us - alternating drawing without looking at the paper, and drawing with our nondominant hand. After about a month of getting to know each other in this larger group, we then set about focusing on our final projects, which were to respond to (or ask) the question: how does art help us feel less isolated? We surveyed the group about what materials they wanted to experiment with other than drawing in pencil, and people requested paper mache and charcoal. Over the remaining months, teens shared what they had completed so far, interspersed with games and generally hanging out. As they finished their art pieces, they wrote artist statements to communicate how their artwork related to the inquiry question.

What was your approach to online teaching?

We had a very laid back approach. We prioritized checking in with each student, chatting about the day, and following through with any idea or topic they brought to us. If conversation lagged, or it got to be about 15 minutes into the hour, we would start asking what they were interested in doing during that session - though we were always ready with ideas if students didn't take the lead. During the final two months, we began each session checking in with each person about where they were at with their final project. We noticed that teens often initiated showing their artwork to each other, and as one would initiate, another (maybe more shy) student would ask to also share. We ended every session with Rose/Bud/Thorn, a ritual that prompted waves of support and celebration of each other in the chat.

Tell us about how cultural capital played a part in your class.

Navigating the Spanish/English translation process, and connecting through Latinx cultures, were a significant part of the cultural capital in our club. Most, if not all, of the teens in our program were of Latinx heritage, and there was a consistent communal effort of making sure one of our students understood what was going on, as he's learning English.  In general, a sharing of knowledge of Mexican, El Salvadorean, Cuban, and Puerto Rican musicians, celebration traditions, and cuisine were important parts of connection within the group - especially music artists. Often students would be happily surprised that another student also listened to a certain musician. Knowing certain teachers, especially Ms. Cuevas, was another aspect of the cultural capital present. Experiences in Ms. Cuevas' classes were often a point of connection, laughing about events that occurred earlier in the day. And certainly the shared experience of loneliness during remote learning was another form of cultural capital - everyone found common ground through our isolation, vocalizing their frustration and sorrow.

Tell us about how family learning played a part in your class.

For the most part, students worked solo on their projects. However, family members became more involved when we started experimenting with paper mache - for example, Daniela's mom helped Daniela choose found objects for her sculptures. Family was often a topic of conversation - Jojo in particular brought a focus to the beautiful and tragic patterns, traditions, and events within her family, which sometimes prompted others to make connections to their immediate family members and ancestors.

Tell us how you used Academic Standards/SEL Standards. 

"1C: Demonstrate skills related to achieving personal and academic goals" and "2A: Recognize the feelings and perspectives of others" were the primary SEL standards that were regularly a part of our club. The students all brought an inherent drive to create, and we often had conversations about what needed to happen for them to follow through on their project ideas. This involved sharing artwork in progress, teens asking their peers for feedback, and talking through scheduled plans for completing steps of their project. The second standard was inherent to every moment of the club - everyone was so receptive to each others' feelings, quick to vocalize support for each other, as well as encourage each other to speak and show what was on their mind. There was a strong culture of acceptance in the program - existential questions, expressions of self-doubt, and drawings depicting vulnerability were present everyday, and everyone responded to each other with kindness and acceptance.