Continued Support in 2009 for Para los Ninos

At the January meeting the board voted to once again send funds to The Para los Ninos Charter Elementary School in order to support their art program.  The Principal, Norma Silva, was thrilledd to receive the check and will use it for supplies needed when their visiting art instructor comes to the campus this spring.  Art educator Malcolm Wray had already been emailing the teachers in order to develop projects that will tie directly into the class curriculum.  One project that the students will be working on is "patchwork Heritage" celebrations that showcase our didversity - the school is looking for donations of fabric, lace, thin yarn, shells buttons, etc. for this project.

The staff has discussed the schools art supply needs, and in addition to acrylic paint, they would like to purchase a sketchbook for each student.  The sketchbooks will serve as a journal of the student's progress and be a very nice keepsake for each student.

 

Para los Ninos Students Display Art at Membership Luncheon

At the Membership Luncheon on June 11, 2008, members and their guests were in awe of the creativity, imagination, and skills of the art showns by the students of Para los Ninos Charter School.

Para los Ninos Charter School Education Project

Last fall, the SCC NMWA Board approved a proposal to provide support to the art program at Para los Ninos Charter School located downtown near the garment district.  On March 5, 2008, the SCCNMWA Board toured this amazing school and President Beverly Haas presented a second check to the school.

 

The charter school is part of the umbrella organization Para los Ninos (For the Children) which started in 1980 as a social service agency in response to the plight of children living in Skid Row hotels.  The agency provides assistance to 3,500 low-income children and youth each week and 5,000 families every year from 24 sites in some of the poorest neighborhoods in Southern California.  Its services include after-school enrichment, delinquency prevention, mental health services, and family counseling.  In 2002, Para los Ninos opened a Charter School (K-5) in downtown Los Angeles at 7th and Alameda.  The first graduating class of 5th graders took place in June 2007.

 

Para los Ninos Charter School  ...strives to cultivate and celebrate the potential within each child and equips students with the skills, knowledge and confidence necessary to pursue excellence...in a nurturing, safe environment that inspires critical thinking, imagination, self-reliance and respect for others.   Toward that end, the school curriculum includes art as a vital component that develops knowledge and understanding in other studies.  The school brought in a noted art educator from England to provide staff development for the teachers and help them integrate art into all facets of the curriculum.  For example, kindergarten children studying seeds and plants learned to observe shapes and patterns in cut fruit and vegetables, sketched what they saw, and created large scale paintings using oil pastels, tempera paints, torn paper, and other materials. 

 

In some classes, students used the ocean habitat as a theme for their art work.  In others, their study of the desert inspired relief sculptures of bats, snakes, and other animals.  As children studied parts of a flower, they learned about the work of Georgia O Keeffe and created desert flower paintings.  Others compared the architecture of a Spanish colonial town in Mexico with the architecture of Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles and included cupolas, bells, crosses, cobblestones in their architectural drawings.  Some students created paper mache busts of Abraham Lincoln, Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez, and Mother Teresa.  Still other students made Chumash weavings, creating texture and pattern on cotton cloth.

 

SCCNMWA is proud to support such a tremendous art program and   celebrate the potential within each of these children!

 

Nan Yoshida

Education

 

 

 

 

Summer Intern Program

SCC NMWA has set up a grant for Southern California college art students to intern at NMWA.  The sponsorship provides a stipend for any student accepted as a summer intern at the museum.  The Education cochairs work with NMWA to coordinate the program and provide information to colleges and universities in Southern California.

SCC NMWA Hosts Studio Visit for At Risk Girls

Girls from the Aviva Family and Children's Services, a home and treatment facility in the Hollywood area, made their first visit to an art studio.

In a continued effort to encourage girls to develop their artistic talent, the Southern California Council of the National Museum of Women in the Arts was host to six girls at the studio of Santa Monica sculptor Maddy LeMel. The girls, ages 12 thru 16, were shown through the studio and discussed each completed work of art and those in progress.

"They were fascinated," said Kathy Todd, a former volunteer in the Aviva program who spearheaded the visit. "Since the NMWA is dedicated to improving the arts for women, this was a good opportunity for the girls who are currently in the facility."