• • Introduction • •The primary mission of City Lore’s arts-in-education programs is to strengthen the ties between school and community. We do this by integrating the culture of the community into the curriculum and by taking students outside the school to investigate and then create theater, dance, music, or visual artwork about their communities. Our goal is to bring students to a deeper understanding of community and to a greater awareness of their own potential as active citizens of their neighborhoods and city. Since the events of September 11, we are reminded that children’s artwork has been a defining feature of the New York City streetscape and City Lore’s in-school programs.
In the streets On September 12, when City Lore photographer Martha Cooper began documenting the new New York, she was looking for a wide variety of creative expressions in response to the attacks. "I was looking for art directly relating to the Twin Towers, and the children’s drawings were the most graphic and explicit–picturing the awful events in detail: the airplanes hitting, the buildings burning, the people jumping from them, and the towers collapsing. Children’s drawings also were the most expressive of feelings; some depicted anthropomorphic towers crying or holding hands." In addition to creating an overwhelming amount of art in response to the attacks, children were also witnesses to public memorials. "I was surprised," Martha said, "to see so many children from toddlers on up, always accompanied by adults, visiting the various memorials and firehouses throughout the city. Parents seemed to want their children to see the memorials first hand and to understand, as imperfectly as any of us could, what had happened." "Judging from the messages written on many of the drawings, the children seemed to grasp the overwhelming sadness of the events. A few tried to comfort adults through their artwork, sometimes with brutal honesty. ‘…a lot of people died, but you did a great job,’ wrote one child to a police officer." In the schools Several times during the year, teachers’ and students’ understandings of local and world affairs altered the content of City Lore’s programs. An example of this change occurred in early December. In a 4th grade classroom in Astoria, Queens, Iroquois artist Rita Chrisjohn-Bensen was explaining pre-and post-Contact materials used to make Iroquois medicine bags. When she finished her lecture, she told the children to begin beading their own medicine bags. She explained that she had drawn a thunderbolt symbol for them to bead on one side but had left the other side blank–so they could sketch and bead the image of their choice. Although several children chose to bead Iroquois symbols they had studied, one child announced that he was going to bead the Twin Towers on his medicine bag. Another followed, saying he would bead the American flag on his.
The same week, in Woodside, Queens, visual artist George Zavala had to postpone construction of the school entryway project he was working on with a 6th grade class in order to facilitate a dialogue about the attacks. Tensions had risen over the development of the design, which included a pop-out sculpture of the Statue of Liberty and a long flowing American flag. Between the stripes were the children’s (70% new immigrant) interpretations of Emma Lazurus’ poem, The New Colossus: Inscription for the Statue of Liberty. "Why were we focusing on immigrants?" some demanded. "We should focus on America and Americans" A literacy and immigration exploration activity had turned into a loaded political issue. Art is an articulation of the senses, intellect, and emotions; teaching is an exploration of the same. Before September 11, teachers and students participating in City Lore residencies eagerly embraced the vibrancy and dynamism of their multiethnic communities as a valid topic of study. This year our programs have absorbed and begun to reflect the outpouring of feelings that New York City students and teachers have about their brave neighbors and their damaged yet resilient city.
Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that, "the ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: Only love can do that." We salute the students and teachers in New York City and around the world for the love and light they’ve shown us all. Thank you. |
• • Enter The Exhibit • •
• • Enter The Exhibit • •
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