Exhibition Dates
April 4 – 30, 2011
About the Exhibit...
This exhibit features selected prints and collages by students from Trexler Middle School, Allentown School District, Allentown Pennsylvania, and Southern Lehigh Middle School.
The Urban/Suburban Connection is an on-going innovative, community-building educational program that fosters multi-cultural understanding through the arts. It connects students from urban and suburban schools while enriching standards-based curriculum.
Fifteen students from each school worked with poet Michael Barnett and visual artist Claire Marcus to address the theme Making My Mark. Faculty participants at Southern Lehigh included art specialist Lynn Yocum and language art specialists Krista Sterner and Holly Walker. Consumer science teacher Linda Anderson and science teacher Karen Shaffer taught with the artists at Trexler. Subject matter focused on young people’s unique strengths and contributions to the world around them. Mr. Barnett and Ms. Marcus encouraged students to examine and employ the common elements of gesture and texture in their writing and visual art.
Poetry, narrative writing and journal entries became subject matter for collages, found object assemblages, and collograph prints, some of which were hand-colored and embellished with original texts. Students compared experiences throughout the program by handwritten and illustrated journal exchange. The reception is an opportunity for them to meet in person and collaborate on new art works.