MANAGING THE ART ROOM

Lauren Nels and Heather McCutcheon

The Humans of Herkimer photo exhibit, inspired by the Humans of New York photo series.

Creating lessons in which students work with their community to showcase their art creates pride. Students take ownership of their learning, learn to collaborate with others, and most importantly, create a sense of belonging. 

Lauren is an educator at Homer Junior High School, and Heather teaches at Herkimer Junior and Senior High School. Our districts are more than an hour’s drive apart, but we often bounce ideas off each other and share how we collaborate with our local and school communities to create that sense of pride among our students. The following projects are some of our favorites:

Coffee Sleeves (Local Project)
Lauren: This project started with an idea from my art teacher friend and artist, Molly Reagan (@goodneighborart). The idea was to have schools in our county partner with Coffeemania, a local coffee shop that has been giving back to our community for years, and who provided hundreds of blank coffee sleeves to our school.

In class, I talked about what customers might want to see on the sleeves. Positive messages, humor, themes about coffee, drinks, and morning caffeine were all discussed. Students brainstormed and created thumbnail designs of what they wanted to paint or draw on the sleeves. Acrylic paint and permanent markers worked best on this material.

Students take ownership of their learning, learn to collaborate with others, and most importantly, create a sense of belonging. 

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