Letting Them Share: Community Art

I am not an artist...nor do I claim to be.  But I try my hardest because I know that the kiddos in my school need it more than ever.  Being a high poverty, extremely diverse school that serves a large number of refugee families; I think it would be safe to say that 99% of them do not have the luxury of being able to attend art classes of any kind (music included).  When they get a taste of it, they absolutely come alive! We have been lucky enough over the last two years to have received funding for an art teacher to be at our school two weeks each month.  That means that we get to visit her room twice a month for art lessons. And to add to this benefit...she is AMAZING! 
At the beginning of the school year she spoke with our upper grade classes and introduced an artist named Candy Chang.  Chang is a unique, current, community artist that has her art set up all over the world.  Her work started on the wall of an abandoned New Orleans warehouse where she invited passers-by to complete a statement in chalk, "Before I die..."  The responses are amazing and if you'd like to know more about her work click here.

  Our wonderful art teacher decided to try this project at our school using a bulletin board that is in a high traffic area.  She showed our students an example of Candy Chang's work, gave them a prompt, and asked them to create cards, using both language and drawing, to place on the board.  Even though this board has been up for a couple months, kids, parents, and staff are still stopping to read all of the responses.  It is an incredible community builder.  Some of them are humorous, some heartbreaking, and all showcasing just how honest and brave these students are.

My class is going to lend our art teacher a hand and become stewards of the next board.  The kids are thinking, "If I could spend a day with anyone..." as the prompt.  Any other ideas?
Love, Abby, Katelyn, & Liesel