UMaine Offers ArtWorks Program to Community Children
Contact: Constant Albertson, (207) 581-3251, Department of Art, (207) 581-3245, George Manlove, (207) 581-3756
ORONO — The University of Maine’s ArtWorks after school art program, offering art instruction for area children, is accepting applications for the spring session.
Registration is on a first come, first served basis.
ArtWorks is a creative opportunity for the university’s art education majors to share their art expertise with children from kindergarten through sixth grade and gain essential practical teaching experience, says art Professor Constant Albertson, who directs the program.
It also gives children an opportunity to explore different art media, including paints, pencils, pastels, clay, wire or paper mache.
“Last semester, second- and third-graders created Claymation movies — writing stories based on their own original myths, making the clay figures, designing sets, doing the camera work, picking out music and even doing their own editing,” Albertson says. “The children were very proud and the parents were amazed.”
In another group, the children wrote poems about rain and made musical instruments that sounded like rain. Another group worked on large murals and learned about cave paintings.
“The university students work hard to create interesting and educational art experiences for the children that expand their ideas of what art is and why people participate in making and appreciating works of visual culture,” she says. “It’s more than decorating the refrigerator.”
The curriculum changes each semester. Students teaching the classes under Albertson’s supervision are art students studying to become state-certified art teachers.
“ArtWorks is part of the art education program’s curriculum courses. Writing curriculum for lessons that they will teach to the children during the course is a powerful a learning experience for our students,” Albertson says. “This makes the learning that they do practical, immediately relevant and serves a community need. The lessons tend to be innovative, fresh and lively.”
ArtWorks classes meet at Carnegie Hall and at a universally accessible classroom in Deering Hall on the UMaine campus. The spring session runs March 25 through April 22, meeting Friday afternoons from 3:30-5 p.m. A $25 course fee covers the costs of materials. A limited number of scholarships are available.
Applications may be requested from and submitted to ArtWorks, Department of Art, 5712 Carnegie Hall, University of Maine, Orono, 04469-5712. More information is available by calling Albertson at 581-3251 or the UMaine Department of Art, 581-3245.