There is a persistent and unfortunate myth that art is a solitary activity and that most artists are “loners”. In reality art is (and always has been) about relationships. One well known example from art history is the relationship between the two friends and co-creators of Cubism, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braques. At one point during the most productive and creative period of their friendship, Braques stated that the two were working “like mountain climbers roped together”.
th!NK is a collaborative drawing project created by the community encompassing and surrounding the Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union. It’s hard to visualize but go ahead and try to picture it--six art teachers, nine hundred students, the board of the Compass Foundation, and over one hundred bus drivers, administrators, classroom teachers, parents, volunteers from the community, administrators and staff--all roped together climbing the side of a mountain. That vision might be a little dramatic but it’s something like what it took to make this project happen.
The project started as an idea in the summer of 2016. By March of 2017, we had a three week schedule which included thirty-two bus trips divided between seven schools traveling back and forth to the Compass Center every day. As each group of students visited Compass to draw on the walls, they brought along parents and classroom teachers, they relied upon volunteers to have the space ready for them and help clean up after they left, and they were prepared by their teachers in the preceding weeks to ensure that they had the skills needed to enjoy their trip. Each group spent about an hour and fifteen minutes at Compass looking, talking, and drawing with each other. Students were encouraged and challenged to work in and around the work of those who came before them, knowing that when they left the next group of students would do the same.
Adults nowadays are well aware of the challenges that public schools face but sometimes we forget the power of the most basic idea of public school--the opportunity for every child in the community to spend time working and playing together within a community of supportive adults. This project could never have been accomplished without all the supports and connectivity that the public schools in our area offer the students, teachers, and community. It was a challenging yet rewarding climb for all of us. Come in and enjoy the view!
RNESU Art Teachers
Jennifer Hogan - Barstow Elementary
John Brodowski - Neshobe Elementary
Todd Houston - Lothrop Elementary
Cassandra Gengras - Leicester, Sudbury, and Whiting Elementary
Dasha Kalisz - Otter Valley Middle School
Frannie Willard - Otter Valley High School