This was a year of challenges and experimentation in Art Class at Main Street Scholars. Covid took us into a different learning environment, where all lessons were taught over Zoom. We decided to focus on inspiration, and our own styles and interests, rather than technique, reflecting upon the work of well-known artists, then incorporating aspects of that artist’s work into our own.

The general idea was to broaden each student’s experience creating art, and to have them become thriving, contributing members of an art-based learning community. Here are some of the topics we studied together

• Maps (as art and in art)
• Gee’s Bend quilts
• Macrame (imagine teaching knots over zoom!)
• The works of Basquiat (which inspired all kinds of discussions about primary colors, words and symbols, body parts, using discards and garbage to create art, and the well-liked “GO BIG”)
• Joseph Cornell and Louise Nevelson’s ground-breaking work creating Art-Boxes in full color (Cornell) and Monotone (Nevelson) which play with light, story and dimension.
• Even though we were stuck indoors, we explored the outdoor art of Christo and Andy Goldsworthy, which led to a discussion about Planning versus Spontaneity in the art-creation process.
• Our last artist is a personal favorite, Chuck Close. His use of grids to create photorealistic portraits led to a beautiful and fruitful year end.

It was an honor and a pleasure to work with our students throughout this challenging year. All of my biases about on-line learning, connections and creation shifted as each student took on the unit-based challenges and shared their lovely art. For those who elected to participate, the last part of the process was to create language for an Art Show, including personal introductions, materials lists and inspiration. I am pleased to share their work with you.