The ABC’s of Contemporary Art

Palisades Elementary Offers Unique Art Cadre Program

W henever public school budgets are cut, one of the first casualties is art because it is considered a ‘non-essential’ academic subject. Palisades Charter Elementary not only provides art classes on a sustaining basis, but also offers an additional program, Art Cadre, which began six years ago. ‘The students are exposed to artists they might not study in a regular curriculum,’ said parent and Art Cadre co-chair Saliann Kelly. ‘For example, Alexander Calder is not on the list of artists to study, but he invented the mobile.’ The theme for last year’s school’s auction was Cirque du Palisades, so Kelly and her co-chair, Evelyn Wendel, chose a circus theme for the mobile. To start the project, Wendel and Kelly took students to view a mural painted on the school’s kindergarten wall in 2007 by the famous children’s illustrator, Cooper Edens, who employs whimsical, magical figures. The pair also exposed them to illustrations from his many books including ‘If You’re Afraid of the Dark, Remember the Night Rainbow,’ ‘Caretakers of Wonders’ and ‘Santa Cows.’ From there, the children went into the ‘studio’ to create separate pieces that would ultimately become part of a mobile. First graders cut out, then decorated stars, moons and balls with sparkles and glitter. The second graders designed masks and crowns, and third graders learned how to make acrobats. All were strung together and then attached to antique wooden tire rims, creating a dangling ceiling of color. In addition to Calder and illustrator Edens, students in first through third grade modeled the art stylings of contemporary artists Roy Lichtenstein, Ed Ruscha, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Barbara Kruger, George Rodrigue, Louise Nevelson and Robert Rauschenberg. Although there is no art studio on campus, an extra room off the cafeteria functions as a location where the children gather once a month. ‘The kids are so excited when they come to work with us,’ Kelly said. ‘The art project provides the structure, but there’s a freedom in it for individual creativity.’ The program was a brainchild of former Palisades Elementary parent Nancy Cassaro-Fracchiolla, who told the Palisadian-Post, ‘I felt the need for children to express themselves outside of the box. ‘Art is controlled in some classes. Children are taught, These are Monet’s lilies and this is how we draw them. I wanted students to do something without a right or wrong way to do it, just create,’ Cassaro-Fracchiolla said. ‘I wanted them to learn about artists ‘off the beaten path.” She took her ideas, which included all grade levels working collectively to make a piece of art, to the school’s curriculum committee. The committee approved it, as did the governing council. When Palisades Elementary was chosen as a California Distinguished School in 2006, the recommending visitation team wrote: ‘Support for student learning is evident in the amazing amount of parent participation and initiative to devise and implement enrichment programs of fine arts.’ ‘Art is problem-solving,’ Kelly said. ‘There are so many parts of the brain it works; it encourages students to look at the world in a different way.’ One example of that is using words in art, which is a specialty of artists Ruscha, Basquiat and Kruger. Using a vinyl billboard as their canvas, students chose one of six words’ courage, wisdom, honesty, trust, kindness and respect’and then wrote the word as many times and in as many ways as they chose. Kelly points out that being able to work on a large piece of art gives students a much different feel from being confined to a desk with a piece of paper. One of Kelly’s favorite projects last year was working with New Orleans Cajun artist Rodrigue, who is known for his paintings of a blue dog based on a long-deceased childhood pet Tiffany. The spaniel/terrier has a blue-hued ghostly look based on the Cajun legend of loup-garou (ghost dog). ‘I loved this blue dog and I thought it would be so much fun to have the kids do the loup-garou,’ Kelly said. The students were shown Rodrigue’s work and listened to a story about the artist as well as the legend of the ghost dog. They were then given paper copies of a blue dog and allowed to glue it anywhere they chose on a 9′ by 12′ canvas. They used acrylic paint to make a background of their choosing. ‘My dream was to have all of them hung together,’ Kelly said. At the school’s open house, the handball court became an art gallery wall featuring all of the students’ paintings.   A fourth project revolved around ‘green’ art, with artist Rauschenberg as a model. The artist uses non-traditional materials, like trash from the streets of New York City, which he places in innovative combinations. ‘We had students looking at objects in a different way, by using recycled objects to create art,’ said Kelly, who received her fine arts degree from the University of Arizona and teaches printmaking during the summer in Michigan. One of the final projects was an introduction to printing using wood stamps from India. Kelly explained to students that formerly only the wealthy could afford textiles with prints, because of the cost of having it woven on looms. Once people started using blocks, even peasants could afford prints. Incorporating patterns, shapes and repetition, students made 12 tablecloths and 36 napkins, which are used at the school for special occasions. This year, seven projects will revolve around Art Cadre’s theme ‘World Change.’ (Last year the theme was ‘Risk: Going Further Than You Think You Can.’). The first project is scheduled for the end of October, and has a green theme. A large installation will consist of plastic bottles hanging from a school fence. Cassaro-Fracchiolla has promised to come back and lead one of the art sessions and Kelly is planning a project revolving around artist Red Grooms, best-known for his paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings and enormous ‘sculpto-pictoramas’ from ‘The City of Chicago’ to ‘Ruckus Manhattan.’ ‘I read that ‘making art is a viable and valuable part of the education of the mind and the soul,” Kelly said. Students at Pali Elementary are fortunate to be part of a program like Art Cadre.