STREET ART

Sonoma Academy in California has 40 hour classes each year on a variety of non-academic topics to broaden their learning base. Everything from Urban Hiking, Trash to Treasure woodworking, macrobiotic cooking, Music and Acting, and the list goes on. I was asked to co-teach "Creating Community through Street Art". Throughout the world, cities and communities are "placemaking" by dedicating areas for people to add their street art messages, murals, and such. I visited many such developments before launching this class. We taught sticker making, stenciling, spray painting, and wheat pasting for a week, visited street art sites in San Francisco, had a lesson from street art artists in techniques, and then created a moveable art piece for the school that could be used on campus or at local art fairs, gatherings. This constantly changing art wall brings the school together much as the art venues bring communities together.