Celebrating Art From Our Shared Walls Partners

We love receiving artwork from our Shared Walls partners across the city, showing us what they’re up to! Art teachers at participating schools are provided with a copy of our Art Lesson Plan Book, as well as an art installation for their schools featuring a working artist. 

Teachers use the artwork in the art gallery installation as well as featured artists in their Art Lesson Plan Book to inspire student creativity. 

Jean Michel Basquiat-Inspired Masterpieces

Stephany Jimenez’s class at Seward Elementary in Back of the Yards created some incredible art inspired by Jean Michel Basquiat! Using a lesson plan from her copy of the Art Lesson Plan Book, Stephany guided the class through learning about Basquiat’s art and life. They discussed visual elements of his work and unique aspects of his style, before setting out to create their own Basquiat-inspired masterpieces. The results are pretty stunning! 

Text-Based Art Inspired by Nick Cave’s Soundsuits 

Meanwhile, Aoko Omwony-Hope’s class used the Soundsuits of textile artist Nick Cave to influence text-based art pieces. This lesson plan helps students to think about themes, motifs, and emotions contained within a piece of art, working on their visual analysis skills. We love to see the expressive and thoughtful words and phrases that students selected, from “fantasy” to “artistic frontier.” My personal favorite is “I love hair!”

If you’re a CPS art teacher or classroom teacher covering art, or an administrator looking for programs to support the arts in your school, consider applying for Shared Walls in the 2023-24 school year. 

Shared Walls is totally free for participating schools in the first year, with subsequent years paid for with a variety of fundraising options. You can apply for the program here. The deadline to apply is fast approaching on March 31st!