2021.2022 school year
In a collaboration among Methow Arts, the Public School Funding Alliance, and the Methow Valley School District, 9th graders at Liberty Bell High School explored the meaning of justice and how it could be enhanced in their lives, school, community, and country. Activist Darcy Ottey helped freshman English teacher Dani Golden launch the unit, in… [Read More]
Spring 2021
Using poetry and quilting as avenues for exploration, fourth grade students at East Omak Elementary School journeyed into ancestry and heritage. Spearheaded by fourth grade teacher Kara Thornton, the project includes fiber arts, poetry writing, a walking field trip, and Indigenous studies. Mrs. Thornton learned to quilt from her grandmother when she was in third… [Read More]
Spring/Summer 2021
In a school year with so much change and uncertainty, art provided students with a sense of stability and a creative outlet for self-expression. Methow Arts education programs, which serve about 5000 students and 350 teachers in Brewster, the Methow Valley, Okanogan, Omak, Pateros, and at the Paschal Sherman Indian School, gave elementary students across… [Read More]
Spring 2021
Historically underrepresented in arts education curricula, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) artists took center stage in Methow Arts’ art lessons during the winter and spring of 2021. Studying art from the past is an effective and time-honored tradition. Art from different eras in history helps us learn about the cultures it comes from.… [Read More]
Spring/Summer 2021
Four new exhibits of student artwork are displayed at Three Rivers Hospital in Brewster. Sponsored by the hospital in partnership with Methow Arts, the exhibits feature work by Brewster Elementary and Methow Valley Elementary students and include block prints, chalk pastel landscapes, mixed-media self-portraits, and watercolor salmon paintings. Methow Valley sixth graders completed an interdisciplinary… [Read More]
Spring 2021
Kehinde Wiley (b. 1977) is one of the foremost portraitists of the 21st century, redefining a genre rooted in privilege. Historically, only those with means could afford to have their portrait painted, leaving museum visitors staring into the faces of primarily the upper-crust of European society. Wiley, too, was educated in this tradition. “I was… [Read More]
Summer 2021
Dan Nanamkin, k’oup?lus enim kl’a (Thunder and Lightning), is from the Chief Joseph Band Of Wallowa, Nez Perce, and Colville Confederated Tribes of Washington State and has been an advocate/teacher for indigenous culture, community unity, youth empowerment, racial equality, and peace for several decades. Nanamkin is committed to the preservation of Indigenous culture and sees… [Read More]
2021
In 2019, Methow Arts received a grant from Icicle Fund to support a Youth Arts Initiative (YAI) for students in grades K-3 in the Methow Valley Elementary School. The Initiative is a three-year pilot grant that has a goal of increasing the dosage of professional arts education specifically in sequential art learning and basics and… [Read More]