What’s this Art Coach! thing?

While I was growing up with a younger sister and brother my dad was more our coach than a father. I came to know that in hindsight. Yes, I love him, but looking back I see that the time we spent playing baseball and football as a family of five was probably greater than any personal time I got with him. We’ll skip the next few chapters of that story.

In 1978, I found myself on the Utah Strip of the Navajo Reservation working at Montezuma Creek Elementary at first as the kindergarten teacher’s aid and for the last 7 of my 10 years there as a full-time Artist-in-Education through the Utah Arts Council.

A few years into my decade at Montezuma I visited the county hospital to have surgery on a broken ankle. I came home to welcoming children with a long, cotton pinstriped hospital gown that I immediately employed as my art apron. I felt it needed a logo or something on it. I’d been thinking about my upbringing, my dad’s focus on the sports of baseball and football and my non-interest in competitive sports. I did like basketball and had developed quite an interest in the practices of Phil Jackson, who, of course, led Michael Jordan and the Bulls to many NBA championships. He basically said that a great coach recognizes the (often hidden) individual talents of each individual player and through practice, practice and personal counseling molds each of them to perform at their finest in concert with their team members for the good of the team ….. and win!

I view myself as Art Coach in much the same way. All students have their individual talents and abilities. As humans we all also have right to arts education, to harness the principles and skills of the art form and use it to express oneself, whether that be a message of beauty, social commentary, anger or community. In the case of art, the team is all of humanity and so when one engages in art it’s a win for all!

It’s also a fun way to be heralded when kids come to class, in the halls and at the grocery store. I have a small wardrobe of shirts with Art Coach! printed on the back. I have a black apron with an extended title on the front: Master of Creativity, Jedi Color Warrior, etc. and ends with Art Coach Sir!!! A life-size painted wooden replica of me (converted from the mayors campaign figure sign) stands outside my room. He’s the other art coach who has random messages for kids and gets more high fives than I do! I make the job fun, but I am also firm. There is a body of art knowledge and creative processing that I want all of my students to own ….. in their hearts and in their minds.

Besides being the coach, I’m also their biggest cheerleader. I greet the kids daily. We exchange hugs, high fives and personal handshakes with each other. Kids bring their parents to my room just to meet me, as I want to meet them. I talk to their positive elements as most kids have plenty of negative ones in their lives.

We need to realize that as educators we are engaged in teaching the greatest art of all – the art of living.

SCHOOL & COMMUNITY IMPACT

The arts culture at HMK starts is visible as you enter, with an “art is valued here” ambience.

115-piece (and growing) Red Rock Art Collection,
ever-changing classroom art and student installations

Teacher Collaboration:

The collaborative BTSALP model has proven itself with teachers.

When the next year schedule is being planned, art time becomes a priority.
Established teachers now teach full art lessons learned from Art Coach or take on more of the current lesson.
New teachers have been selected who have an interest in art and have added to the school with their expertise in music, drama, and select forms of visual art.
HMK Arts Committee, chaired by Art Coach Bruce, guides much of school arts activity, including the annual ArtsXtravaganza

Principal Support:

There is great support at the administrative level as well.

School principal Taryn Kay has twice nominated Art Coach for the BTS Legacy Award and she enthusiastically approves such large scale projects as the Woven Whale (see photos in Colonial Days).

The current and two past superintendents have arts interests.

Margaret Hopkin launched the BTSALP program and signed art coach’s first contract.
Scott Crane took student work to the principals academy and as a musician was a regular performer at our annual arts Extravaganza.
Current superintendent JT Stroder is a taxidermist and makes a point of visiting the art room once a month.
School board members often visit class and HMK art adorns the boardroom.
New Chief of Police Winder visits the school once a month has formed the habit of visiting the kids in the art room for 20 minutes or more.

Community support runs wide and deep.

The School Community Council (there is no HMK PTA) provides funding.

Balance to the BTS grant for Art Coach’s salary.
They also created line item funding for the Look Where We Live Project so no more grant applications are necessary.
In addition they often fund materials requests.

Additional community funding and support:

For the past 5 years Friends of Arches and Canyonlands Parks has been the primary funder ($2500) for the Look Where We Live plein-air project.
Moab businesses have generously supported the Red Rock Art Collection that requires a $100 sponsor fee. Several of them exhibit student work.
HMK parents frequently “clock-in” to help with art projects (see Chihuly), donate supplies, and serve as field trip chaperones.
And not a week goes by when Art Coach does not receive a complement for the program from a parent at school, at the grocery store or when encountered on a local trail.

Outside of the school community,

The HMK arts program has had a positive ripple effect all across Moab.

Art Coach Bruce has led the creation of 5 community murals including ones at the MultiCultural Center, City Recreation Building and Skate Park.
He has served on the boards of the local art center and arts council and owns/operates an annual fine art photography event. Students from his pre-BTS high school radio course had work featured on KZMU (local) and KUER (Utah’s NP affiliate).
A current school-community project is designing a crosswalk with students to be painted by the city this spring. Being a small town, whatever impacts a part of town impacts all of town.

LETTERS FROM THE FANS

OUT OF THE CLASSROOM

Madison’s ARTdream

This piece documents 6th grade student Madison Alvey’s day of art making. Notice her concentration, constant attention to work and seamless intuitive approach. Keep in mind that she was in this state of being for 5 hours running. To me it’s a beautiful dance.

Amelia's ARTdream

Amelia's artDREAM was to create a large colorfully painted horse to honor the wild horses of the west who are being killed. She approached the work with characteristic passion, fluidity and confidence. She chose the music. It fits! Amelia has the confidence to give herself a challenge. Her 7' watercolor flamingo was carefully measure to fit the wall in her room while also showing off her love of pink! A sometimes cautious and always precise artist with the pencil, she gladly accepted letting the watercolor have a say in her success!

London ARTdream

London's artDREAM was to create a large colorfully painted horse to honor the wild horses of the west who are being killed. She approached the work with characteristic passion, fluidity and confidence. She chose the music. It fits! Amelia has the confidence to give herself a challenge. Her 7' watercolor flamingo was carefully measure to fit the wall in her room while also showing off her love of pink! A sometimes cautious and always precise artist with the pencil, she gladly accepted letting the watercolor have a say in her success!

HMK in Boston – Hamilton re-imagined our way

Two of our 5th grades take a trip to Boston as an extension of their US History core and our annual Colonial Days event. I was invited to go with them in May 2017 to document the trip. I suggested we ask teams of kids to prepare “Hamilton” like rhymes about the places we’d visit and perform them on site. Within 3 days at school they’d done their writing and added a few move. This is it!

SPED BOYS – You’ve Got to Move It!

A BTS art friend introduced me to the work of Tony Orrico who performs “whole body” drawings. My first thought was that this would be a great activity for our 5 Special Ed boys in grades 2-5. Besides being fun, they developed increased body awareness, calmness, focus and we also saw them being able to increase their left/right side coordination and perform increased arm extension. We’re going to repeat this a few more times this year. And wouldn’t it make for a fun staff meeting!

Drawing With Stone

Our first grade block made arrangements to use an abandoned gravel pit at the local cement business to extend the community/geology curriculum. Stations included sifting/sorting rocks by size and color (Math), Reading Byrd Baylor’s Everybody Needs a Rock (Language) and art, where we borrowed the “land art” idea from “Artist Andy” Goldsworthy to make an add-on installation that we then walked away from.