WSD: Visual Arts
Current Projects & Programs
"We know that it can be difficult to know what’s going on in your own lives some of the time, but it’s truly important to stay abreast of current events." -April Leavenworth
So, please, set aside a few minutes a week to stay up-to-date on Westbrook School Department's art education and art education around the State of Maine.
K-4: School Art Shows
Youth Art Month
GFWC Maine Westbrook Woman's Club: High School Art Show
We are so excited to begin our journey with the "Inside Out Project" at WHS.
The project, at WHS, is a collaborative effort, driven by students. The project works to integrate and form connections between Art & French!
Please check back for more information.
More information on JR and the “Inside out Project” can be found here!
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE CITY
Photography Exhibition
Central Office
On display through April
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE CITY
Photography Exhibition
Westbrook High School
November 7th 2014- December 5th, 2014
Please take a look at:
This fall the Visual Arts Department, in conjunction with Westbrook High School, hosted 5 Russian guests from School N21, Arkhangelsk Russia (3 students, a teacher, and their Principal.) As a department, we acted as the foundation for the exchange by embracing the opportunity to use art a method for integrating global education. As we feel it is essential for K-12 students to develop the skills, knowledge, and dispositions needed for responsible participation in a democratic society and in a twenty-first century global community. Our labors ranged from the overall coordination of all exchange programing (Sarah Ritz Swain, Art Director K-12); Art- engaged learning activities for students and teachers (Debra Bickford, Teacher), and “A Day in the Life of the City” Photography Exhibition (Matthew Johnson, Teacher.)
“ A Day in the Life of the City” is a joint, traveling exhibition of Arkhangelsk Russia and Greater Portland featuring 40 Photographs from 15 artists. Sponsored by the Archangel Committee Photography Exchange; a community partnership that has been supported in Westbrook for over 25 years. “A Day in the Life of the City” project engages visual art practice that confront the challenges of 21st century learning: including emerging technologies, new social formations, and new forms of cultural expression, identify, and community engagement. The exhibition considers the identity of the Greater Portland Community in a global context. Extending beyond the walls of our schools and homes in search of imagery that describes not only our own community but the broader relationship between community and visual identity. The collected photographs allow for a unique opportunity to form a collected response to the questions: What is community? What is identity? How are they connected? How do artist support and embrace this connection? We hope the results of this photojournalistic project inspires you to look at the people and places in our community through a new more global lens. Next on the list of places the exhibition will travel: Walker Memorial Library, Westbrook Maine; Arkangelsk, Russia.
JURY PROCESS
Photographs for this exhibition were capture during September of 2014. Each participant was asked to submit 20 photographs for review by jury, resulting in over 350+ images. To make the process as fair as possible, the identities of artists were not disclosed to jurors. All images were anonymous and did not include identification marks. In October of 2014 photographs were reviewed by an artist panel in a blind jury process with multiple rounds of elimination. As a results of each round, the 350 photos were reduced to this set of 40 exhibition photographs. Final award winners for Westbrook High School students were selected from the set of 20 exhibition photograph, through a competitive jury elimination process. The top three students, and photography instructor Matt Johnson, have been invited to visit Arkhangelsk, Russia in the Spring of 2015 to continue their exploration of Art-education’s connection to visual identity and community development.
Westbrook High School Photographers
1st place: Kaitlynn Hutchins (Class of 2015)
Location: Riverbank Park, Westbrook
2nd place: Jamal Gava (Class of 2015)
Location: Fort Williams Park, Cape Elizabeth
3rd place: Elizabeth Stalling (Class of 2015)
Location: Old Port, Portland