Creativity Explored hosts San Francisco Friends School for field trip
Students from San Francisco Friends School gathered outside the Creativity Explored gallery. Photo by SFFS parent Maren Caruso
This November, Creativity Explored was thrilled to work with the 7th grade art class from San Francisco Friends School, a K-8 school in the Mission District.
Creativity Explored has worked with SFFS in previous years, and we were excited to reinvigorate this partnership with new ways to engage both CE artists and SFFS students in art practice. CE staff worked with SFFS to plan two field trips: first, for the 7th grade art students to visit our gallery, and second, for Creativity Explored artists to visit the SFFS campus and join an art class.
On November 7th, students came to the CE gallery to view our exhibit Fabricave, which showcased artists’ work in needlecraft and fiber art. The gallery was decorated with elaborately embroidered quilts by artists such as Ada Chow, and stylish fashion pieces by Vincent Jackson and Maribel Guzman. Intricate tapestries by artists including Ethel Revita, Kevin Roach, and Katherine Finn-Gamino also adorned the walls. Victor Molina, exhibition co-curator and teaching artist, welcomed the class and spoke about the inspiration behind Fabricave. Ethel Revita, whose tapestry designs were on display, came out of the CE art studio where she was working on a new project to meet the class and talk about her artistic process.
“I used to think that artworks had to be perfect. After working with Creativity Explored artists, I understand that working from the heart is just as important.”
SFFS parent Rachel Levin, who joined the field trip, watched as students entering the gallery “stood in awe” studying a large multimedia sculpture by Tranesha Smith-Kilgore that hung in the exhibit and “looked like the world’s most colorful chandelier.” One student, studying how Tranesha’s work wove together textiles and found objects in intricate braided patterns, said that it looked “like seaweed after a storm.”
Students worked on their own embroidery projects inspired by art on display in the Fabricave exhibition. Photo by SFFS parent Maren Caruso
SFFS art teacher Gabby Miller had given students embroidery hoops to make their own textile designs, and they sat in the gallery among the quilts and sculptures creating their own colorful patterns. Victor, admiring students' needlework, observed that he sees a kinship between artists and youth because “you never know what they’re going to come up with.”
On November 15th, two weeks after students came to the gallery, Creativity Explored artists Isaias Gomez, Ricardo Estella, and Peter Cordova, along with teaching artist and studio director Paul Moshammer, visited SFFS to join the 7th grade art class. Isaias showed the class his detailed illustrations of his dog, taking time to explain the significance of details such as the dog’s jaunty hat. Ricardo brought one of his own in-progress drawings, a large dragon, which the class loved.
The group had time to make art together, and had creative freedom to choose what they wanted to draw. Many of them were inspired by Ricardo’s work and drew their own imaginative dragons using colored markers and pens. Others, including CE artist Peter, chose to go in their own direction and created illustrations of everything from a dramatic Batman signal to an intricate close-up of a blue eyeball.
Creativity Explored artists visited an art class at San Francisco Friends School.
Paul, watching the artists at work, was excited about the opportunity for CE artists to share their skilled technique and unique artistic styles with the SFFS students. He loved to see how the students connected with Isaias, Ricardo, and Peter and were clearly excited about their drawings.
After the field trips Ms. Miller, the art teacher from SFFS, said "We love working alongside and learning from artists at Creativity Explored. The students could drop into a different register of focus by just being in the Fabricave exhibition. They got a taste of how to approach their work with a greater sense of freedom by following Peter Cordova's sage advice to ‘Make anything you want!’”
CE artists who had worked with SFFS all expressed their enthusiasm for working with the students, and the feeling was mutual. Reflecting on the experience, one SFFS student said "I used to think that artworks had to be perfect. After working with Creativity Explored artists, I understand that working from the heart is just as important."