Art Around the World

ART AROUND THE WORLD AT PS88 QUEENS

Going on a journey without leaving home: CAW designed the Art Around the World program to teach young learners about arts and artists in under-represented cultures. Classes are a mix of social studies, humanities, and art theory and technique. When taught by an experienced CAW Teaching Artist, such as Fabio Puentes, a class can feel like a trip to a new country, an immersive experience filled with music, color, conversation, and new ideas.

A Saturday class at PS 88 Queens proved that remote learning could not only be effective in achieving educational objectives, it could also be joyful and provide a sense of community for this group of students in grades three to five.

Fabio has his Zoom setup down to a science, and he switches easily from video of himself to an overhead shot of his well-organized workspace, to sharing his computer screen with all his multimedia content. Slides with his lesson objectives and individual instructions for each task allow students to see and hear instructions. Lesson are divided into several short segments of five to ten minutes each with a single clear objective. Fabio combines related music, images, and video to keep things moving.

In one recent class, inspired by the work of Australian indigenous artist George Ward Tjungurrayi, students created birds-eye dream maps of their own neighborhood. Students listened to a sample of didgeridoo music, learned a bit about the artist and the desert landscape that informs his art. To introduce the concept of a bird’seye view, students were shown a video of the earth taken by a small camera attached to the back of an eagle. Afterwards, they viewed samples of colorful maps and debated questions such as, “Are these maps or art?” To which one student responded, “Maybe they could be both?”

George Ward Tjungurrayi at work

Clear concise instructions to keep things moving A bird’s-eye view

This Creative Art Works program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural After-School Adventures (CASA) Initiative in partnership with the City Council and Council Member Robert F. Holden.

“My philosophy has always been that, if I am having fun as a teacher, my students will automatically catch that enthusiasm, and therefore they will naturally learn with passion. I add a lot of interactive resources, poll questions, virtual field trips, and soundscapes.”

— Fabio Puentes, CAW Teaching Artist

Community Scenes Inspired by Tigua Folk Art from Ecuador

Decoupage Inspired by the Quilts of Gee’s Bend