March 2020
by Ashley Lodato Education Director, Methow Arts Alliance Third graders at Methow Valley Elementary School learned about the use of texture in art by creating engraved trees and soil. Scratch art is a type of direct engraving, which means cutting or incising an image into a surface. Scratchboards are a means of creating an… [Read More]
February 2020
by Ashley Lodato, Education Director for Methow Arts What do you get when you mix a winter day, trailside art, a park that honors salmon and the Methow People, and an outdoor ice rink? You get 78 happy second graders, that’s what! A field trip to the Methow Valley for Okanogan School District second graders… [Read More]
February 2020
By Ashley Lodato, Arts Education Director – Methow Arts Alliance If you’ve ever read an essay inspired by a painting, or listened to a song prompted by a poem, or watched a dance influenced by a sculpture, then you’ve experienced ekphrasis. Ekphrasis is the practice of exploring a piece of art through the lens of a different medium, to… [Read More]
Spring 2020
by Ashley Lodato, Education Director for Methow Arts Although none of the members of the Liberty Bell Drama Company (LBDC) in the Methow Valley School District were alive during the heyday of the Swedish pop music supergroup ABBA, they’re as familiar with the band’s songs as any 1970s disco fan on the club circuit—and perhaps… [Read More]
Dec 2019
Methow Valley School District staff and local community members received custom portrait painting sessions last week, courtesy of kindergarten students. First, the students learned observation and life drawing skills, working with Methow Arts teaching artist Judith Robertson. They sketched outlines, then filled them in with watercolor paints, initially using prints of famous portraits by Picasso,… [Read More]
Fall 2019
by Ashley Lodato Education Director, Methow Arts Alliance Every good farmer knows that selling your products requires proper marketing. You want to attract people to your booth, provide them with a visual representation of what you’re selling, and demonstrate that you’re knowledgeable about your produce. In a recent Methow Arts residency with teaching artist Judith… [Read More]
Arts Education Spotlight
by Ashley Lodato Education Director, Methow Arts A parliament of owls seems to have nested at East Omak Elementary School, in the waning weeks of the school year. This recent art residency with 5th grade students integrated visual art with animal science. Working with Methow Arts teaching artists Annie Venable, Bruce Morrison, and Bethany Wray… [Read More]
Spring 2019
Each winter, Brewster 5th graders participate in a 5-week poetry residency, working with Methow Arts teaching poet Kelleigh McMillan. Students become familiar with “painting pictures with words” and with relating their emotions to the natural world. Each week they experiment with a different poetic concept: simile, metaphor, free verse, stanza, etc. Students write poems about their bedrooms,… [Read More]