Texas Trends in Art Education, 2001-2002 Page: 20
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The Grace Museum's Marcus Project
By Angie Cook
Thanks to a three-year grant from
the Edward and Betty Marcus
Foundation awarded in 2001, The
Grace Museum is aspiring to facili-
tate visual art education in the West
Texas area amidst declining student
population and reduced school dis-
trict income. Despite the educational
woes of this area, administrators,
teachers, parents, and most impor-
tantly, children, have been exposed
to the advantages and opportunities
of the visual arts over the past year
through teacher workshops, presen-
tations to various educational
groups, art outreach lessons, artists-
in-residencies, museum tours, and
organizing exhibitions of student art.
At two times during the 2001-
2002 school year, Region XIV stu-
dents were introduced to practicing
artists and their skills through artist-
in-residency programs. In
September, New Mexican folk artist
Hector Rascon showed students his
art of hand-carved and chainsaw
wood animal sculpture. And in
April, New York sculptor and pho-
tographer Emily Jennings-Ivey
showed elementary students how to
sculpt boots out of self-hardening
clay thanks to a grant from the
Texas Commission on the Arts.
The Grace Museum's Marcus
Project has been instrumental in
hanging rotating student art exhibi-
tions in the Region XIV Education
Service Center. The long, once-bare
walls are now filled with art from
students across the region, complete
with labels that explain the rationale
behind each art project.
The art outreach program is
offered to all schools in the Region
XIV area. When teachers call to
schedule an outreach opportunity,
Marianne Wood, Grace Museum Art
Educator, asks teachers what TEKSor TAAS/TAKS objective or topic
the art activity can be centered
around. Word about this program
has spread through Marcus Project
efforts because the 2001-2002
school year saw a 47% increase in
the total number of students served
compared to the previous year.
Guided by the expertise of con-
sultant Dr. Bill McCarter, retired
Regents Professor of Art at the
University of North Texas, The
Grace Museum has been able to
introduce elementary educators par-
ticipating in professional develop-
ment workshops to the practice and
theory of Comprehensive Art
Education through two one-day
spring workshops. Additionally, in
June of 2002, a week-long institute
titled "The Art of Reading" intro-
duced classroom teachers and art
educators to ways they can use art
as an aid in teaching students to be
successful readers through a variety
of presentations.
The energy of the institute was
ignited with a presentation from
Tom Waggoner, TEA Director of
Fine Arts, who discussed the "State
of the Arts in Texas." During the
week, teachers heard from their
peers with presentations by Cynthia
Ladyman, Abilene ISD Ward
Elementary teacher, on how The
Grace Museum's upcoming art
reproduction print set can be used in
the reading classroom; Jana Bailey,
Abilene ISD Ortiz Elementary art
teacher, about how art has positive-
ly affected her students; Nancy
Roberts, Abilene ISD Alta Vista
Elementary School teacher and arts
advocate, on how to incorporate
weather-related prints in the reading
classroom; Emily Arnot, Abilene
ISD Elementary Art Specialist, on
the connection between autobiogra-
phy and reading that concluded with
teachers completing a Picasso-inspired art activity; and Jill
Maxwell, Abilene ISD art teacher,
on the teaching philosophy behind
the connection of art and reading
that centered around an art activity.
Throughout the institute, teachers
were introduced to the cultural
wealth of Abilene as they toured the
National Center for Children's
Illustrated Literature, the Abilene
Public Library, The Grace Museum
galleries, and participated in a dra-
matic performance on reading from
Young Audiences. They also heard a
presentation from Bill Wright, a fea-
tured artist in The Grace Museum's
upcoming art reproduction print set,
about the cultural and social history
behind his photograph from the
Kickapoo tribe of Texas. Mr. Wright
also discussed his role in research-
ing and photographing another
piece in our print project, the bronze
bust of Estebanico the Black.
Concluding the week, Anita
Hilborn, Piano West Senior High
School art teacher, co-author of
Experience Art, and art advocate,
delivered a speech on arts advocacy
as well as presented teaching ideas
and activities that incorporate print
sets in the reading classroom.
The Grace Museum's Marcus
Project plans to build upon the suc-
cess of its initial year in the next
two years. In the fall of 2002, an art
reproduction print set on the theme
of "Texas Heritage" featuring five
images from the museum's collec-
tions will be distributed free of
charge to each school library and
public library in the Abilene and
Wylie districts; schools outside of
these districts will be offered these
prints at cost. The goal of the print
set project is to make art readily
accessible to teachers and students
in rural West Texas. In addition, the
Marcus Project plans to offer
teacher workshops via distance20
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Texas Art Education Association. Texas Trends in Art Education, 2001-2002, periodical, 2001; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth279689/m1/22/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Art Education Association.