Class. Race. Identity. Middle and high school art classes are not often seen as a forum to examine such serious topics. An exhibition hosted by the Center for Art and Visual Culture (CAVC), however, shows how young people explore these issues using art as an expressive medium.
On December 8, the CAVC opened an exhibition featuring the work of students involved in its educational outreach program. Approximately 100 middle and high school students from four schools and two after-school programs in Baltimore City and Baltimore County participated in this year's program.
The exhibition is the culmination of over two months of hard work by the participating students. They began with visits to the Center's current exhibition, "White: Whiteness and Race in Contemporary Art," and then worked with their teachers and the CAVC's five interns to discuss what they saw and produce their own work. Inspired by the art and by their own life experiences, the students created art that explores their own ideas about whiteness and race.
Preparation for the educational outreach program is a yearlong affair for the CAVC staff. In choosing shows for its gallery, the CAVC considers topics that would be relevant for the students they work with, many of whom have little or no experience with art. Using ideas inspired by their attendance at a conference hosted by Arts Education in Maryland Schools (AEMS), this year the Center's staff created curriculum packets to help teachers incorporate program participation into their classroom teaching. In addition to working with the students on a weekly basis, the Center's interns also do all the preparation leading up to the exhibition, hanging the student art work and generating accompanying wall text.
While working with students in the program, the CAVC staff is often confronted with the everyday realities of class and race. "Many of the students we work with are in schools with very limited resources where they have had no exposure to art and there is little emphasis on pursuing a college education," says Renee van der Stelt, projects coordinator, who is now leading the program for the fifth year. "We help these students learn that art isn't just a pursuit for rich, white people; they can understand it and create their own art to communicate with others. We hope that the students become more engaged in their education through these types of opportunities and will begin to think about the possibility of going to college."
With the new gallery space in The Commons, this year's Educational Outreach Exhibition will be larger and more accessible to the general public than ever before. The CAVC began the program in the mid-1990s and it has grown gradually ever since, thanks to the continuing support of the UMBC community. "We can't thank Vice Provost for Undergraduate and Professional Education Diane Lee enough for her support of the program," says van der Stelt. "Without the funding from her office and the Maryland State Arts Council, much of what we do in the educational outreach program would be impossible."
The Educational Outreach Exhibition will be on display at The Commons and in the Hallway Gallery of the Fine Arts Building through January 31. A reception for the UMBC community will be held on December 17 from 4 to 6 p.m. on the Mezzanine Level of The Commons. For more information, please call (410) 455-3188.
