It’s that time of the year again! Students and teachers are heading back to the classroom, for the first full year of in-person instruction since the outbreak of Covid-19. In many cases, electives like art, music, and drama fell by the wayside during the pandemic, as core classes became...
Aug 23, 2021When you think of Surrealism, do you visualize melting clocks and a pencil-thin mustache? Many of us see Salvador Dali as the face and spirit of Surrealism. Although his strange, melancholy, and dream-like scenes certainly fit the bill, to stop there would be a tragedy. The Surrealist movement was...
Aug 16, 2021So what do Michelangelo, Leonardo Davinci, Vincent Van Gogh, and Pablo Picasso all have in common? Well, apparently, they’re the only artists anyone wants to talk about. Oh, and they’re all (long) dead white guys. If you go by the art curriculums in most classrooms, artists are mostly old,...
Aug 13, 2021Last year, we launched the First Edition of the IPMM Arts Education Curriculum. Informed by our work in and out of art classrooms all over the City of Chicago and the gaps that we saw within existing arts education frameworks, the curriculum was a labor of love and a...
Aug 02, 2021After a year of remote schooling, glowing screens, and few opportunities to get outdoors, many Chicago students and their families are finally regaining some semblance of normalcy this summer. This means a return to beloved pastimes, like days at the beach, visits with family, and the opportunity to see...
Jul 05, 2021The Covid-19 pandemic has shown us a great deal about ourselves. We know now, more than we did a year ago, that global calamities have the potential to exacerbate already existing inequities in all of our systems. Our educational systems are no exception, as we’ve watched remote learning shine...
Jun 14, 2021Art education is often overlooked by teachers and administrators who are constantly being told that they should be more focused on their students’ progress in “real world” subjects like math and science. However, a great art curriculum has the power to transcend art class and positively affect a child’s...
Jun 07, 2021Janani Nathan is a Chicago-based multimedia artist, CPS art teacher, and tattoo artist. Her art is colorful, organic, and full of vivid dream-scenes and fantastical imagery. Janani’s experiences span a wide swath of the art world, from being a practicing artist, going to art school, becoming a high school...
May 05, 2021Although prehistoric humans developed in different ways and on different timelines throughout the world, they share a common moment. That moment is the first piece of art created by a community of these ancient people. It’s usually something that occurs when people start living in larger groups, and is...
Apr 19, 2021Although funding for arts education has been decreasing en masse in public and private schools across the country for decades, numerous scientific studies have shown time and time again that art education is a transformative force in schools. Meaningful access to art education has a deep impact on almost...
Mar 22, 2021