It’s that time of year when we gather our list of every single Right Brain classroom artist residency that took place during the 2012-13 school year. This year, our grand total was 206, involving nearly 11,500 students. Please read on to learn more about each and every one and how it uniquely connected to school curriculum, as collaboratively designed by the Right Brain teaching artist and school staff.
Where applicable, we have also given links to complete photo sets for a particular classroom experience.
Prepare for Right Brain overload!
CORBETT SCHOOL DISTRICT
Corbett Arts Program with Spanish (CAPS) with Oregon Ballet Theatre
Oregon Ballet Theatre worked closely with the teachers in grades K-8 to create residencies that would meet grade level content areas while developing critical thinking skills by pushing a greater understanding of discipline and revision in the creative process. Through movement and choreography, students explored curriculum ranging from ecosystem/food web to simple machines to the modeling of electron energy.
GRESHAM-BARLOW SCHOOL DISTRICT
East Gresham with Oregon Ballet Theatre
While collaborating with Oregon Ballet Theatre, students at East Gresham began to personalize movement and control and understand how to internalize the targeted life skills of patience, problem-solving, perseverance, and friendship. Students also attended an OBT production of Swan Lake.
East Orient with Jan Abramovitz
Kindergarten and 1st grade students experienced how to use creativity through movement and a better awareness of their body with teaching artist Jan Abramovitz. Teachers also gained strategies to apply the art of dance and movement into instruction. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
East Orient with Julie Keefe
2nd and 5th grade students explored the connection between math and photography with teaching artist Julie Keefe. They photographed geometrical shapes discovered in nature and in man-made objects found in their local environment. Students then used descriptive language and literary devices to describe their photos.
East Orient with Addie Boswell
3rd grade students worked with visual artist Addie Boswell to create a mural using silhouette poses to represent character traits made from pellon fabric. They created flowers, birds, and butterflies using painted paper to add detail to the mural. 4th grade students used observational drawing skills to connect realistic drawings of natural elements such as animals, plants, and landforms to learn about the importance of perspective as it applies to informational drawings and increase their knowledge of the journey taken by Lewis and Clark.
Hollydale with Portland Taiko
Hollydale Kindergarten through 5th grade students worked with Portland Taiko on a Japanese drumming residency incorporating the three main principles of Taiko: respect, perseverance, and cooperation. Students learned about the techniques of Taiko, Japanese culture, and the importance of being a part of an ensemble and in turn, the importance of being part of a community. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Powell Valley with Julie Keefe
Powell Valley 1st, 2nd and 5th graders worked with photographer Julie Keefe to combine compelling photographs with descriptive writing. Special emphasis was placed on learning the elements of composition, shooting techniques, collaboration, and figurative language. In addition, each classroom worked with Julie to determine a specific focus: first grade – understanding and using metaphor; the blended classroom – recognizing and understanding affect and facial expressions; and fifth grade – self-reflection, compassion and interviewing techniques.
HILLSBORO SCHOOL DISTRICT
Free Orchards with Karie Oakes
Each student in this school-wide residency with ceramic artist Karie Oakes explored self-identity by creating an original relief self-portrait out of clay. Along the way, students were asked to describe their process and communicate their thinking using appropriate vocabulary. Each student’s final clay piece was then attached to a schoolwide installation. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Free Orchards with Julie Keefe
5th and 6th graders at Free Orchards worked with Julie Keefe to explore photography and writing with the idea, “HOW I SEE MYSELF/ HOW OTHERS SEE ME”. Student took photos of each other, and wrote about their self-perception and understanding of their “image” to others.
Jackson with Oregon Ballet Theatre
While working with Oregon Ballet Theatre, students throughout the entire school explored science and social studies concepts through movement. They developed their ballet and dance vocabulary and skills, while exploring cycles of nature or history. For example, 1st graders learned about life cycles through movement and dance. Students gained a better understanding of spatial relationships, and actively created movement sequences, putting themselves in a role. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Jackson with Nicole Penoncello
With visual artist Nicole Penoncello, 1st grade students learned techniques to print in multiples and then used these to share their understanding of the water cycle. This is an example of a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) residency connected to informational text and Common Core curriculum standards. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Jackson with Portland Art Museum
Jackson 6th graders participated in the Portland Art Museum’s Object Stories project. Using narrative writing and storytelling, students explored objects of personal significance as well as objects of art during two visits to the museum. While at the museum, students recorded oral stories about their personal objects in the museum’s Object Stories’ booth.
Lincoln Street with Nicole Penoncello
With visual artist Nicole Penoncello, students built their own 3D paper-mache and mixed media sculptures which demonstrated their understanding of their chosen subject area. Kindergarten and 1st grade studied animals and habitats, 4th grade Oregon Trail land formations, 5th grade wire sculptures. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Lincoln Street with Sarah Nagy
2nd, 3rd and 6th grades at Lincoln Street worked with teaching artist Sarah Nagy of Young Audiences to make short claymation films in which they created characters out of clay, built dioramas and filmed a sequence that conveyed appropriate knowledge of their subject matter (2nd & 3rd grades studied animal habitats, while 6th grade learned about narrative creative writing).
Quatama with Caitlin Shelman
Visual artist Caitlin Shelman worked with Kindergarten students to learn the life cycle of frogs through printmaking. She started with a non-fiction book and each week the students made a print depicting part of the life cycle, culminating with a book that illustrated the steps. Student writing and reflection gave teachers authentic assessment of growth for these emerging writers. High level scientific vocabulary was used and remembered through this hands-on residency. Showing her ability to tailor the art form to the grade level content, Caitlin did kinetic sculptures with 1st graders studying the weather and its effects. This STEM to STEAM residency brought students and teachers the art of using collagraph prints to depict landforms, architecture, and products of Oregon to the 3rd grade. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Quatama with Nicole Penoncello
Artist Nicole Penoncello brought circuits and electricity to life for 2nd graders with wire sculptures that actually lit up as the final product of this STEAM integrated residency. In 4th, 5th and 6th grades, Nicole worked with student and used clay to integrate with content studies such as the study of soil erosion, trees, and fossils for 4th graders, who then created a mosaic tree out of ceramic clay. 5th grade made wind chimes representing objects in the sky and 6th grade made pottery as part of a plant (and bulb) study as well as linking it to social studies (ancient civilizations.)
Rigler with Julie Keefe
In this school-wide residency with photographer Julie Keefe, students explored their own identity through taking photographs and through writing using the model of The Best Part of Me (K-2) and I Am Portraits (3-5). Students learned to be curators of each other’s work, using artistic criteria, and photography language.
North Clackamas Schools
Ardenwald with Jan Abramovitz
Kindergarten and 3rd grade students at Ardenwald explored movement with Jan Abramovitz. Students and teachers learned strategies for kinesthetic learning and focus. Students also learned to value the connections between emotions, thinking and their bodies.
Ardenwald with Beth Bundy
Ardenwald 1st graders worked with Beth Bundy exploring culture and self-identity through visual art. Each child brainstormed in a drawing journal to choose symbols or objects that would represent what was important to them and their family, which were then crafted out of clay, arranged on a colorful mask and displayed with an accompanying “map”, detailing a key to understanding the objects on each child’s mask. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Ardenwald with Earth Arts NW
Ardenwald 4th graders worked with EarthArts NW to design masks that visually represent animal adaptations within a particular NW habitat they researched. Students confronted a design challenge to translate their ideas into 3D reality, developing their masks through drafts, collaboration, and experimentation. Students also wrote I AM poems that reflected their understanding of “clan” relationships and practiced speaking aloud from the point of view of their species while wearing the mask.
Ardenwald with Diane Jacobs
Ardenwald 5th grade students worked with visual artist Diane Jacobs to collaboratively design a mobile that visually represented a healthy Northwest biome, synthesizing their understanding of food web, life cycle, and ecosystem relationships. In small groups, students experimented with a variety of materials (paint, drawing, paper, sewing, found objects), researched and troubleshooted different types of mobiles, and gave a “tour” of finished mobiles to other classrooms.
Concord with Oregon Ballet Theatre
Concord K-5th grade students participated in a whole school residency with Oregon Ballet Theater that focused on a “Stand Tall” theme — confidence, focus, collaboration and joy in community. Students explored kinesphere, locomotion, remembering patterns of steps, staying focused and working together in small groups, as well as connecting to stories in some classrooms. Students gained kinesthetic awareness of what confidence/focus looks like and feels like. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Happy Valley with Julie Keefe
Happy Valley 3rd/4th/5th grade students as well as English Language Learning 1st grade students worked with photographer Julie Keefe to create compelling photos and poems that reflected on “How I See Myself”, with the goal of drawing out students’ deeper aspirations or versions of themselves. Students worked collaboratively to take photos of each other, give feedback, self-reflect and revise their writing, which was handwritten on final photo posters.
Linwood with Jan Abramovitz
Linwood Kindergarten through 5th grade students worked with movement artist Jan Abramovitz on heightening their kinesthetic awareness and ability to focus, especially around the theme of “how to set yourself up for success”. Some classrooms primarily learned Brain Gym movements, other classrooms connected with math, reading, or writing. Linwood students also attended a whole school assembly with BodyVox to extend their residency experience. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Milwaukie & El Puente with Julie Keefe
Milwaukie and El Puente 4th and 5th grade students worked with photographer Julie Keefe to learn about what makes a powerful portrait and compelling poem, encouraging students to express their personal beliefs through both written and visual means. Students interviewed each other, took portraits of one another in their favorite place in school, as well as a portrait of an object that is important to them, using the photographs as catalysts for “Shout Out” poems to their partner, which were handwritten on posters.
Oak Grove with Ben Popp
Animation artist Ben Popp with Young Audiences did a school-wide residency at Oak Grove Elementary in which each classrooms produced a video that portrayed past, present and future aspects of their community. Students learned about the history of their local communities and they took time to analyze and evaluate the condition of their present day communities. They were then asked to imagine what their communities could be like in the future. Students learned about various forms of video animation such as stop motion, and were also taught to use various video production and editing tools to produce segments for the larger production. The end product was a 28 minute video that was shared with parents and students at an art night and various assemblies. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Scouters Mountain with BodyVox
Scouters Mountain Kindergarten and 1st grade students worked with dance artists from BodyVox to explore cultural folktales through movement. Students paid particular attention to elements of story, a deeper understanding of a particular culture, and working together as a team to rehearse and perform their choreography for families and buddy classrooms.
Scouters Mountain with Earth Arts NW
Scouters Mountain 2nd and 3rd grade students worked with visual/theater/writing artist Earth Arts NW to collaboratively develop and bring an original story to life with puppets — a story that reflects interests and values of animal tribes. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Scouters Mountain with Acts of Wonder
Scouters Mountain 4th and 5th grade students worked with theater artist Acts of Wonder to explore methods of dramatic storytelling and create an original scenes based on their understand of Oregon Trail history. Students also paid special attention to honor one another’s contributions, teamwork, and giving each other respectful feedback.
Spring Mountain with Greta Pedersen
To help gain an understanding of music, rhythm and movement from various cultures, Kindergartners and SLCB (students with disabilities) worked with Young Audiences and Wordstock‘s Greta Pedersen. Throughout the residency, students learned that we are all part of the global community but also individuals, and they learned how to express their understanding of themselves as individuals within the whole group. Students demonstrated their understanding by verbal discussion, playing instruments and singing correct lyrics, and by creating their own movement and body shapes following directed criteria. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Spring Mountain with Addie Boswell
2nd grade students worked with visual artist Addie Boswell to create acrylic paintings recognizably connected to the theme of community and the life cycle of those plants and animals who live in this community.
Spring Mountain with Portland Art Museum
This residency with 3rd and 4th graders allowed students to experience local Native American culture in a very hands-on way. The students not only saw visuals and heard information from experts on the subject, but also created art pieces inspired by Native American creations (both from the past and present) which helped to develop an understanding of our local Native American culture.
Spring Mountain with Lisa Wilcke
5th graders at Spring Mountain worked with glass artist Lisa Wilcke on a residency designed to help students come away with an understanding of the physical process glass goes through from beginning to final product. Concepts of symmetry, and spatial understanding of percentages were also integrated into the creative process.
Sunnyside with Earth Arts NW
In this residency with Earth Arts NW, Kindergarteners created animal puppets based on their study of forest creatures, and told oral stories with a beginning, middle and end which were then performed for their peers. 1st graders created frog puppets and wrote their own Frog and Toad stories after studying the elements of a story. These works of art were shared with other grade levels to enjoy. 2nd and 3rd grade students from six different classrooms created a story that solved a group mystery message from a wise owl in the forest. Each student and group created a habitat and characters that lived within the habitat along with a creative storyline that culminated in a solution to their mystery. Student jointly created visual maps of the habitats that they created for their story. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Sunnyside with Northwest Children’s Theater and School
4th graders worked with Northwest Children’s Theater and School to strengthen their speaking and leadership skills by acting out fictional stories. Students engaged in theater games and techniques that gave them the tools they needed to deepen their understanding of stories and develop a sense of teamwork as they worked as an ensemble, culminating in a performance for their school community.
Sunnyside with Ben Popp
5th graders worked with Ben Popp of Young Audiences to strengthen their knowledge of science as well as story line, stop motion and the passage of time. Students worked in collaborative groups to create an animated lesson on science concepts. These animations will be used with younger students to teach science concepts such as gravity, force of motion and life cycles.
View Acres with Portland Taiko
View Acres Kindergarten though 5th grade students worked with Portland Taiko in a schoolwide residency exploring Japanese Taiko drumming and character traits of respect, cooperation and perseverance. Some classrooms also explored Japanese American cultural heritage and history, while other classrooms connected their residency to building stronger self-expression and voice in student writing. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Oregon Trail School District
Oregon Trail Primary Academy with Oregon Ballet Theatre
Students in Kindergarten, 1st, 4th and 6th grades worked with Oregon Ballet Theatre to explore and represent natural systems (water, plants, electricity) with movement. The residency also connected with OTPA’s character trait of the month, “confidence”, as students developed their comfort level with risk-taking, persistence, and teamwork, eventually showing their choreography at the whole school “Confidence” assembly.
Oregon Trail Primary Academy with Beth Bundy
Teaching Artist Beth Bundy worked with 2nd, 3rd and 5th grade students to solve a “design challenge” related to a particular planner, such as Marketplace, Engineering, and Personal Growth/Wellness. Students worked in small groups to brainstorm, create, test, and refine prototypes that visually show their solution to their classroom’s design challenge.
Portland Public Schools
Beach with Obo Addy Legacy Project
PreK, Kindergarten and 2nd grade students explored pattern, rhythm and the meaning of stories while learning Ghanaian drumming with the Obo Addy Legacy Project. Students learned both traditional songs and also how to create their own solos.
Beach with Carla Wilson
Three 1st grade classrooms at Beach School worked with Carla Wilson of Young Audiences to create a musical score based on selections from Scott Foresman. All students participated in analyzing the literature, creating and performing a musical score.
Beach with Northwest Children’s Theater and School
3rd, 4th and 5th grade students worked with Northwest Children’s Theater and School to create plays, while focusing on the character development of each of their roles. Some plays explored imaginative worlds, while others explored various cultures around the world.
Beach with Earth Arts NW
Collaborating with Robin Chilstrom of Earth Arts NW, 5th grade students created 3D masks of Northwest animals (ravens, beavers, or salmon) from 2D materials using lines, shapes and patterns that they felt reflected them. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Beach with Portland Art Museum
Grades 6-8 participated in the Portland Art Museum’s Object Stories project. Using narrative writing and storytelling, students explored objects of personal significance as well as objects of art during two visits to the museum. While at the museum, students recorded oral stories about their personal objects in the museum’s Object Stories’ booth.
Beach with Caitlin Shelman
6th, 7th and 8th grade students in Beach’s language immersion program learned the art form of silk screening in a residency taught in Spanish by visual teaching artist Caitlin Shelman. Students learned about the use of visual messaging in creating propaganda and then created their own silk screen designs to represent these concepts.
Hayhurst with Tears of Joy
With Tears of Joy, Kindergarten-2nd grade students at Hayhurst created puppets based on a world folk tale, and then wrote an original line for their puppet based on their understanding of the story. They performed the adapted folk tale with their puppets in front of their peers and family members. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Hayhurst with BodyVox
Students from the 3rd-5th grades explored movement with BodyVox, and integrated dance with other core curriculum. Groups of students collaborated together to choreograph dances and perform an original dance expressing an idea or concept they were currently studying.
James John with Amy Steel and Alice Hill
Kindergarten through 5th grade students worked with Amy Steel and Alice Hill to create a mixed-media mural and installation that reflected social studies content appropriate for each grade level. For example, 3rd graders connected visual art to the study of their neighborhood. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
King with Julie Keefe
King Kindergarten through 5th grade students explored photography with teaching artist Julie Keefe. Kindergartners used photography to share personal comparisons to animals, using the text Quick as a Cricket as an inspiration. The 1st and 2nd graders expanded upon their IB unit about neighborhoods, exploring the roles they each play in their neighborhood, what they enjoy in their neighborhood and through interviews with local community members (including former King students) a better sense of the dynamic make-up of their own local neighborhood. The 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students used photography as a springboard to figurative writing. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
King with Portland Art Museum
Grades 6-8 participated in the Portland Art Museum’s Object Stories project. Using narrative writing and storytelling, students explored objects of personal significance as well as objects of art during two visits to the museum. While at the museum, students recorded oral stories about their personal objects in the museum’s Object Stories’ booth.
Lewis with Jan Abramovitz
At Lewis, Kindergarten-2nd graders worked with movement specialist Jan Abramovitz on a residency designed to give students and teachers strategies for focus.
Lewis with Northwest Children’s Theater and School
Grades 3rd-5th worked with Northwest Children’s Theatre to integrate literacy and social studies content with theater games and the dramatic arts. Each grade level had a different focus: third graders wrote and performed their own myths; fourth grade focused on specific Pacific Northwest Native American legends; and fifth grade wrote scripts that coincided with their study of Early America. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Markham with Oregon Ballet Theatre
While working with Oregon Ballet Theatre, Kindergarten through 2nd grade students at Markham explored body control, space, time/musicality, communication, collaboration and problem solving through dance movement.
Markham with Oregon Children’s Theatre: Read, Write and Act
3rd-5th grade students worked with Oregon Children’s Theatre and their Read, Write and Act program to write a script based on their understanding of a story and then performed a staged reading of their script for their peers.
Sitton with Sarah Ferguson
All Sitton students worked with Young Audiences teaching artist Sarah Ferguson to explore using clay and collaborating to create a mural that reflects their study of geography, world cultures and flora/fauna. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Vestal with Karie Oakes
Karie Oakes, of Young Audiences, worked with Vestal’s Kindergarten through 4th grade classes, a multi-age Lifeskills classroom, and an 8th grade to create various ceramics projects that were linked to core subjects throughout the various levels. Students also used writing to help connect the dots between their individual clay pieces and their integrated curriculum. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Vestal with Sarah Nagy
4th through 8th grade students worked with Young Audiences media artist Sarah Nagy to create group claymation films that reflected their sense of identity and personal interests. Through this process, students learned about themselves as individuals, but also how they fit into the larger community of their classroom and school.
Whitman with Portland Taiko
Whitman’s Kindergarten through 3rd grade students learned about Japanese Taiko drumming and the three core values of Portland Taiko—respect, cooperation, and perseverance. Students reflected in journals throughout the residency, furthering their understanding of the concepts and context learned while drumming.
Whitman with Northwest Film Center
4th and 5th grade students worked with Art Specialist Keri Piehl and the NW Film Center on a filming project entitled “Mapping Me, Mapping You.” This semester-long, innovative residency began with students considering their personal histories and how to represent them in all 2-D forms: pencil drawings, watercolor, and ink. From there, students created “personal geographies” and filmed their history as a short film. Students learned stop-animation techniques and worked in pairs to create their own films. The project concluded with students learning interviewing techniques and interviewing each other about their hopes and dreams. See more images from this residency on Flickr.
Woodlawn with Oregon Symphony
Woodlawn Pre-Kindergarten through 2nd grade students attended four performances by Oregon Symphony musicians and then participated in storytime back in the classroom with musicians from the orchestra. Students learned musical skills such as rhythm, melody and pattern, gained a greater exposure to music and connected their musical understanding to math, reading, writing and other cultural experiences.
Woodlawn with Portland Taiko
3rd and 5th grade students built on the skills they learned last year during this second year of a residency with Portland Taiko. Their learning this year was focused on developing students’ confidence and ability to perform in front of an audience.
Woodlawn with Rick Meyers
4th grade students learned resourcefulness and creativity while experimenting with string, music and dance with Rick Meyers of Young Audiences. Connecting with their study of the Oregon Trail, students demonstrated an understanding of the different experience of recreation while on the trail vs. recreation and entertainment option available to them today.
Woodlawn with Oregon Children’s Theatre
The 6th, 7th and 8th graders at Woodlawn learned about theatrical speaking skills through Oregon Children’s Theatre’s Loud and Clear program. Students took these presentation skills and used them to enhance the speeches that are part of their language arts work samples. See more images from this residency on Flickr.