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SMoCA’s Visions program, now in its ninth year, brings together ca. 40 high-school art students from five to seven diverse (ethnically, economically and culturally) Phoenix metropolitan-area high schools. The program was founded in 1999 by associate curator of education, Sally Lindsay (named museum art educator of the year in 2005 by the Arizona Art Education Association), and is based on a strong community partnership between the Museum and participating schools. Students are specially chosen by their visual-art teachers at the start of the school year to participate. During the course of the school year, participating students, teachers and professional guest artists and speakers work side by side as they undertake engaging activities, hear lectures and discussions. Students have the rare opportunity to interact with prominent visiting artists from around the world. Visions increases students’ understanding of modern and contemporary art, architecture and design and fosters cultural diversity, teamwork and interpersonal communication.
above image: group photo of 2006-07 students at the fall retreat
At the start of the year, the students participate in a three-day retreat that includes team-building exercises, diversity training and artist-led workshops. The retreat sets the tone for the coming year and gives the teens the confidence they need to explore and freely share their ideas. Throughout the year, in various programs and workshops, they learn new techniques, acquire an understanding of the visual arts in relation to history and culture, learn how to recognize the merits of others’ work and develop an understanding of the function of art in society. They collaborate on projects with community-service organizations such as Free Arts Arizona (for younger children, many of whom are victims of abuse). The end result of Visionsis a three-month long exhibition in SMoCA’s young@art gallery of the students’ work. In addition to experiencing close contact with professional artists, students develop special friendships with students from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. A primary goal of the program is to break down stereotypes and create an environment where respect, communication and a healthy exchange of ideas are the norm.
above image: workshop with artist Willie Birch (pictured on the left)
For 2006-07, the 42 participating students explored the theme of Visions and Viewpoints. Today’s teens have been called the “communication generation.” They have grown up immersed in a high-tech world and surrounded by the latest electronic devices—computers, cell phones, personal digital-music players, video games and the Internet. These tools are as familiar to them as the telephone was to past generations. Their communities are virtual as well as real: Their values are shaped by multiple and global sources. For the youth of the 21st century, communicating is easy and fast, but also far less personal. The technological miracle of remote, rapid communication challenges us to find ways to sustain meaningful, interpersonal interchange that is deep as well as broad.
When this year’s class of Visions students first met last September, they faced this vital question: How can art be used as a method of communication today? The students delved into this topic in ongoing discussions and hands-on workshops. Each month, they met with a different artist. They visited studios, learned new techniques and debated ideas in the Museum’s galleries. The success of Visions is based on such intimate access, cumulative expertise, communal focus and one-on-one dialog.
For SMoCA’s exhibition The Border Film Project: El Proyecto Fronterizo Fotográfico, students examined two very different perspectives on immigration—that of migrants crossing the border illegally into the United States and that of the Minutemen, volunteers who monitor the border. The Visions students studied the exhibition and engaged in conversation with one of the artists in the Border Film Project collaborative. They learned about the true complexities of immigration issues from the perspective of economics, public policy and humanitarianism. Students explored many points of view on this prescient subject and, in the process, became citizens better informed about a subject of such importance to Arizona.
above image: students relaxing in the young@art gallery after installation of Visions and Viewpoints
In the culminating exhibition, each student chose to focus on a topic of personal import or to examine an important issue in a very unique way. As you explore the artwork and read the artists’ statements, we hope you will stop to see the world anew through the eyes of these bright, young artists.
The teachers who particpated in Visions in 2006-07 were Judy Mariahazy, Central High School, and Dyan Cavalli, Coronado High School for photography; Stacy Marko, McClintock High School, and Laressa Manning, Saguaro High School for painting; and
Sue Manning, Saguaro High School, and Sue Raymond, Horizon High School for sculpture.
The artists who worked with Visions 2006-2007 students were Rudy Adler, Willie Birch, David Birchfield, Dick George, Brett Huneycutt, Linda Ingrahm, Byron Kim, Mayme Kratz, Carolyn Lavendar, Laurie Lundquist, Melissa Martinez, Emily Matyas, Jarvis Rockwell, Becky Ross, Henry Schoebel, Jim Waid and Steve Yazzi.
above image: student diligently drawing while riding the go kart during a workshop with artist Steve Yazzi
Photographs of the 2006-2007 Visions students and their work can be found here.
Visions is organized by the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. Sponsored by Nationwide Insurance, Scottsdale Charros, John F. Long Foundation and Greenberg Traurig. Exhibitions in the young@art gallery are supported by the Scottsdale Charros and Wells Fargo.
2006-07 Visions Students
2005-06 Visions Students
2004-05 Visions Students
2003-04
Visions Students
2002-03
Visions Students
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