LTA

Through the generosity of the Joe Barnhart Foundation and the collaboration of the Beeville Independent School District (BISD), the Beeville Art Museum (BAM), the Joe Barnhart Bee County Library (JBBCL), and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH), children in BISD have an excellent art program. The program provides an appreciation of art for children and teachers, as well as guidance in using art to enhance the regular school curriculum. BISD offers art classes with certified art teachers in grades 7 through 12 through regular funding.

Each year for the past several years, personnel from BISD, BAM and MFAH have worked together to come up with an art proposal, which is then presented to the Joe Barnhart Foundation for approval. This year the $34,143 grant provides a variety of activities to students and teachers of all grade levels in BISD.

All of the students in BISD travel to BAM one or more times during the year to tour exhibits. Crystal Farris, Education Coordinator of the Beeville Art Museum, facilitates the tours and uses various techniques appropriate to the age of the children to help them appreciate the art being exhibited. Crystal also works with the docents at the museum who help with the tours. All tours are coordinated to work with specific aspects of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), which is the state curriculum, in fine arts, English language arts, mathematics, social studies, and/or science.

Each year, staff from Beeville ISD, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the Beeville Art Museum collaborate to plan for the following year's program.

Building positive student self-esteem and working with parents are two goals that have always been targeted on the Hampton-Moreno-Dugat Early Childhood Center School campus. To assist with this, artists from MFAH came to Hampton-Moreno-Dugat Early Childhood Center School to work with students in grades PreK and Kindergarten to produce art works, such as self-portraits. This experience has proven to be very valuable to the students and parents. It strengthens student, parent and school relationships and enables the students to grow in self-confidence. It also broadens their awareness of fine arts and in the career of a professional artist.

In these pictures, Diana Muniz and Maria McGregor from MFAH are working with the children of Hampton-Moreno-Dugat Early Childhood Center. They worked with the children in January 2006 to create landscapes.

All kindergarten students will travel to the Beeville Art Museum to view the fall exhibit. Crystal Farris, Education Coordinator of the Beeville Art Museum, will facilitate the tours and encourage the use of storytelling with these dynamic works. The pictures below show students at tours of the museum December 2006.

In 2009-2010, Beeville ISD first through sixth grade students will tour the Beeville Art Museum during the museum’s fall exhibit. Following the tour, the students will participate in an art workshop with Crystal Farris. The tours and projects will be related to the TEKS in fine arts, English language arts and/or social studies. Crystal Farris, Education Coordinator of the Beeville Art Museum, will facilitate the art projects done by the students and will use components of the MFAH Learning Through Art kits.

The videos below are of Crystal Farris working with the elementary students in the fall of 2009.

Shown below are pictures of the 1st grade students from Mrs. Bankston's class (FMC Elementary) at the museum and working with Crystal Farris.

Shown below are students from Kim Contreras' second grade class at RA Hall Elementary School in front of one of Kermit Oliver's paintings. This was taken in October 2008.

In the pictures below are students in grades 1 and 2 working with the artist from Rockport, Texas, Mary Beth Orison, during the fall of 2008. Ms. Orison conducted some of the art tours and worked with all of the students during the art classes at the museum.

The pictures below are from Kathy Besancon's class at FMC Elementary in school year 2007-2008. The first picture is of students in the gallery with pictures by O'Conor. The other pictures are of students at the Beeville Art Museum Gallery preparing to do their own prints. The last picture shows Judith DeShong, an artist from Corpus Christi, working with the students.

Below are additional pictures of Beeville ISD third graders at the Remington Exhibit in 2006-2007 at the Beeville Art Museum.

Shown below is some of the art work created by students in grades 1 and 2 during the Remington exhibit.

These pictures below are from Susan Crumrine's class at RA Hall. The Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks is the topic of this lesson. Susan has attended training from MFAH in Houston and through videoconferencing.

The Nidhika and Pershant Mehta Arts of India Permanent Installation is an exhibit coming to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston in 2009-2010. This new gallery will be the only space in Houston devoted to Indian arts and culture. Approximately 100 artworks will be on view at any time in the new gallery, representing diverse subject matter and media from India’s unique regions and historic eras. The design concepts reflected in the gallery will further convey the art and aesthetic of India, from the selection of color, to the material for the floor, walls and vitrines, to the configuration of the sculptures and columns in the space. The rich and diverse genres of Indian painting are also represented, showcasing works from a number of different regions and depicting varied scenes, from the daily life of the Mughal court to depictions of tales from the ancient, epic books of the Ramayana and Mahabharata. A great range of modern and contemporary works on view in the gallery explore the current art scene in India, which is informed by the political, economic, social, and physical landscape. As part of their world history studies, students in 6^th grade gifted and talented program would like to travel to Houston to visit this exhibit. Students and sponsors will travel to Houston one evening, view the exhibit the following day and return home that day. MFAH will waive the fees for the exhibit for the participants. Approximately 30 students and 10 sponsors will travel to Houston.

Parents at the five schools serving grades PK to 8 in Beeville ISD will learn about making art with their children in these lively workshops. Each workshop is designed to introduce a different art activity, such as making books, clay pots, drawings, masks, potato stamps, or soft paper sculptures. Workshops are held at the schools, so parents can have fun with their neighbors while exploring art. This year there will be a workshop at each school in the fall and another one in the spring.

A friendly, welcoming atmosphere will characterize these workshops. All activities will use inexpensive, basic materials. Parents will receive a step-by-step description of the art activity. These workshops will be a valuable part of our parent and family involvement activities.

The workshops at each campus will be approximately 45 minutes long. Campus staff will facilitate the beginning and end of each session. The artists will work to connect the sessions to the current exhibit at the Beeville Art Museum, encouraging parents to visit the museum with their children. In the workshop, the child and parent(s) will work together. The workshop will teach the parent how to work with the child in art.

Pictures below are from the Family Art Night held at FMC Elementary in January 2009.

Pictures below are from the Family Art Night held at FMC Elementary in November 2009.

Pictures below are from the Family Art Night held at Hampton Moreno Dugat Early Childhood Center on November 6, 2006. Crystal Farris was the facilitator.

Pictures below are from the Family Art Night held at Madderra-Flournoy Elementary School on November 13, 2006. Crystal Farris was the facilitator.

Pictures below are from the the Family Art Nights held at Hampton Moreno Dugat Early Childrehood Center, and FMC, Madderra-Flournoy, and RA Hall Elementary Schools in January 2007.

· I really enjoyed the family art night project. Thank you so much for having us participate and for your time and effort in putting the whole event together. –Jennifer Garcia

· The art activity was fun. I wish that this event is going to happen again. Thank you. – Roxy

· My daughter really wanted to come to family fun night although my son really didn’t but in the end we all had a good time!

· Thank you for giving us this chance to express what we see and what we fell through colors.

· Enjoyed the night. It was nice. Thanks Roy Blevins (grandfather of Natalie Rivas)

· We enjoy coming to these classes. We see a different side of our child. She opens up differently at school functions.

· Wow! My dad said the class is fun, my mom said it was Great! I said it is wonderful.

· Thank you very much for art. My children had a great time. Art is very relaxing for children. I hope you continue art night year after year. – Melissa Rosas (Demisha’s mom)

· This was very fun! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. Thank you very much! It was a terrific idea. – Kathy Stone, Jennifer Pena, Amanda Stone, John Stone

· My nephews and I all had a very good time and I’m glad that the art museum takes its time to come to the school and have these activities for the families. Thank you. – Maria C. Gomez

· I enjoy bringing my children every year to the art night. We enjoy it and learn from it. Thanks for having it. – John Rodriguez and family

· We had fun, got dirty, and made something beautiful. We come every year and love it! Thank you, Crystal! – Wayne Evans’ family

· Again, it was a challenging class. I enjoy every time we do these projects. It’s very interesting how fast others come up with ideas. Great artists.

· We had a great time. I have an 8 year old and a 3 year old – it’s nice they can both participate.

During the spring semester, students in grades 7 through 12 in Beeville ISD will visit the Beeville Art Museum for the exhibit on display at that time. The students are very excited to visit the exhibit, which brings core curriculum and art together in a very appealing and exciting way. Parents are encouraged to visit the museum with their sons and daughters.

Shown in the picture are 7^th graders from Moreno Junior High in 2006-2007, with counselor Mary Joy.

Eighth grade classes will participate in a media literacy program called Screening America. The specific film used is “The Immigrant.” This experience was very effective the last several years and the campus will participate in the activity again.

Screening America is a curriculum-based education program that focuses on the interpretation and analysis of films and television programs. Because motion pictures and television influence virtually all students, this multimedia program is a dynamic educational tool for incorporating new approaches into the middle school curriculum. The film screening is accompanied by teacher guides and student program guides, which were purchased two years ago, that engage students with challenging explorations in social studies, English and English as a second language. The teacher guides are aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills curriculum and they encourage reflective and creative thinking, provide information about American history and culture, and offer direct opportunities for the improvement of analytical reading, writing, and speaking skills. Developed by the American Museum of the Moving Image, Screening America allows students to learn methods of observation, formal analysis, interpretation of content, and to gain a new perspective on their study of history, literature, culture, and language.

In October, the art classes of Moreno Junior High will travel to the Beeville Art Museum to view the museum’s fall exhibit. Crystal Farris of the Beeville Art Museum will lead the tours and coordinate with the Moreno art teacher to make connections between the museum exhibit and the study of art in the classroom.

Pictures below are from seventh and eighth grade students visiting the Beeville Art Museum in spring 2009. The exhibition entitled The Great Texas Sculpture Roundup features works by 30 Texas sculptors, with some of the works on view outside on the museum grounds and other works on display inside the museum. The exhibit is a great way to bring core curriculum and art together in interesting and exciting ways. In the photos are various students with former Moreno Middle School student, Julie Arispe, working as a docent and leading the students through the museum.

Ninth through twelfth grade students, with their English teachers, will travel to the Beeville Art Museum to view the BAM spring exhibit. Crystal Farris of BAM will facilitate the tours and incorporate aspects from the fine arts and other TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, the state curriculum). Teachers will be encouraged to visit the museum prior to the student tours to prepare students for the tour.

Shown below are students from the high school at the museum in previous years. In the first picture, Crystal Farris is presenting information and in the second picture docent Jonnie Jordan is presenting the information to the students. The exhibition, A Portrait of the Artist, traces the changing perceptions about artists and art in Europe between the 16th and 19th centuries. The work of artists, previously viewed primarily as manual labor, came to be considered more of an intellectual and creative enterprise, elevating the social status of artists. The exhibition includes portraits of artists, self-portraits, scenes depicting artists at work or with their families, friends, models or patrons, allegories or art, and depictions of the viewing public. Works by Rembrandt, van Dyck, Hogarth and Goya are included.

For 2009-2010, the MFAH has suggested a focus on literacy and art, through a writing connection. This project will involve the 7^th grade and 10^th grade in Beeville ISD. Personnel from the MFAH will come to Beeville to help students learn to write about art, by providing a rubric on writing. Seventh graders will write a label for an art work that is presented to them. They will research the art, the artist, the time period of the art, etc., making this an art based on writing component. For 2008-2009, MFAH will work with the 7^th grade teachers and then will hopefully expand the program to work with teachers and students the following year. The purpose will be to not add anything to the teacher’s job, but to enhance it and the writing experience for students. For the 10^th grade component, see the description for AC Jones.

As part of the art/literacy connection for grades 7 and 10, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston will work with teachers and students at AC Jones High School and the Learning Resource Center. As envisioned, students will be given a writing prompt about a work of art from Japan. MFAH will locate a school in Japan to collaborate with the Beeville students in this project. A website will be developed for the collaboration. Japanese students may be introduced to pieces of Western art. Then the students from both Japan and Beeville will be able to find out more about each other’s culture and the art. The project will be designed to be completed within a week, with MFAH personnel on campus to work with the students and teachers. This will help with the 10th grade students’ writing for the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Students from the Learning Resource Center will join with students from AC Jones on the days this project occurs

AC Jones High School has expanded the art program to two enthusiastic art teachers. These teachers work with Crystal Farris of the Beeville Art Museum to have their students tour exhibits, work as volunteers in the museum, hold club meetings in the museum, and so on. During school year 2007-2008, the art teachers will select a workshop or conference being held for teachers at MFAH (one per semester) and will travel to Houston to attend these functions. The MFAH will waive the teacher training fees.

Students from AC Jones High School toured the spring 2009 exhibit at the Beeville Art Museum. The exhibit was entitled The Great Texas Sculpture Roundup. The exhibition featured works by 30 Texas sculptors, with some of the works on view outside on the museum grounds and other works on display inside the museum. The exhibit was a great way to bring core curriculum and art together in interesting and exciting ways. Shown in the picture below are students from Ms. Aoueille’s English class. The sculpture above them is by Scrap Daddy, also known as Mark Bradford.

Educators from Beeville Independent School District traveled to Houston to participate in training at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston in summer 2009. The training is part of the grant for art activities provided by the Joe Barnhart Foundation. The training is part of the museum’s Learning Through Art program, which is an innovative, inter-disciplinary, art-centered curriculum for grades 1-6. The program connects the museum's collection of world art into the art, language arts, social studies, science, and math curriculum. Comments from the participants included, “I enjoyed this so much. Everyone was great and it made for a very pleasant experience!” and “I enjoyed the student art activities that are directly tied to the museum art.” The picture below is from the training in June 2009.

Pictures below are from the training in August 2007. The first two pictures show some of the participants with some of their art work. The third picture shows trainers Rita Whiteman and Luann Turley at the museum. The other pictures show teachers working on their art projects.

Teacher training at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston is probably the best way for teachers to receive training in the use of art to enhance learning. However, some teachers cannot take the time to travel to Houston in the summer for the training. Also, it would be helpful to offer follow up training during the school year for teachers who have received some training. To facilitate these ideas, we propose to use the AC Jones distance learning facility to train four days during school year 2009-2010. This combination of distance learning and MFAH art training was extremely effective in the past years, with many teachers immediately returning to the classroom to integrate art into their lessons. The following outlines the topics for the training.

Two days of training will be held. One day will be for all first grade teachers; one will be for all fourth grade teachers. These teachers have not had the opportunity to participate in distance learning. Two sessions (morning and afternoon) will be held each day. These sessions for each grade level will be identical, but will involve different teachers in each session. The sessions will be 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. This will be an introduction to the Learning through Art kits for teachers. These teachers will receive training in the art kits from the distance learning by MFAH staff and will also participate in at least one hands-on art activity, based on the kit. Materials will be provided for the teachers. BISD staff will facilitate the distance learning session. The sessions will be divided between teachers with previous training and novices.

Click on the link below for a video of pictures from the training in December 2009.

In the pictures below, Mina Patel from Thomas Jefferson Elementary, had her third grade class create a Thanksgiving Quilt from the ideas learning in the distance learning in October 2005. The quilt was displayed in the superintendent's office during the month of November 2005.

In the pictures below, PK and K teachers from Hampton-Moreno-Dugat are showing their creations from the distance learning sessions on February 7, 2006.

Pictures below were taken of Diane Kroen's class a few days after the kindergarten distance learning sessions in 2006. She implemented the training immediately!

The pictures below are from the distance learning for grades 5 and 6 in school year 2005-2006. This was the first time Beeville ISD used its own videoconferencing equipment at the AC Jones library. The sessions went extremely well and the training was excellent.

The pictures below are from the classes of Avis Powell, Lisa Johnson, Brenda Pittman, and Joan Chesshir. These teachers went back and implemented the activities they learned in the training.

On February 5 and 6, 2008, artist/teachers from the Museum of Fine Arts Houston came to Beeville ISD to provide training to teachers in grades K, 1 and 2. Using the award winning Learning Through Art kits and materials from MFAH, LuAnn Turley and Rita Whiteman shared ways the teachers can use art to enhance the teaching of other subjects, such as mathematics, science and social studies. This training was made possible through a grant from the Joe Barnhart Foundation. Two of the projects included self portraits and sand paper art. Shown in the picture are (left to right) LuAnn Turley and Rita Whiteman. BISD is very appreciative of the Barnhart Foundation and MFAH for bringing this excellent program to the district.

In an effort to assist teachers with planning for the integration of art into the school curriculum, professional resource centers were started at several campuses during school year 2002-2003. They are continued this year with Learning Through Art kits, teacher resource books, art materials, and so on.

A special relationship exists between personnel in BISD and the Beeville Art Museum. Teachers and instructional consultants on the campuses work closely with Crystal Farris at BAM to coordinate the curriculum at school throughout the year with the art experiences at the museum. This makes a good program even better.

The BISD faculty, staff, and students want to express appreciation to the Joe Barnhart Foundation for continuing to fund this art program. Without their funding, the children in Beeville would not have the richness in their lives that an appreciation of art provides.

For further information on the art program in Beeville ISD, please contact Nancy Jones, at 358-7111 or njones@beevilleisd.net.

If you wish to download the following, for best results, right click and Save Target As... Then, open the file from the saved location.

Office of Curriculum and Instruction

General Information

A friendly, welcoming atmosphere will characterize these workshops. All activities will use inexpensive, basic materials. Parents will receive a step-by-step description of the art activity. These workshops will be a valuable part of our parent and family involvement activities.