“It’s ugly.”
“It’s not ugly, it’s great. Trust the guy who has been doing art for 38 years.”
On an October morning in Ryan Miller’s art room at Logan Elementary School, K-2 students stretched one arm with fingers wide out onto white paper, then carefully traced it with their other hand using a well-sharpened pencil.
It was the first sketch in a multi-week, school-wide interdisciplinary project, led by library information specialist Bethany Adame. After she collaborated with Mr. Miller on a school-wide art project for Manito Art Fest this past June, the school community was invited to create an art installation for a gallery at Gonzaga Family Haven, a Catholic Charities Eastern Washington affordable housing community with wraparound support services for families experiencing homelessness.
Simple symbols, significant meaning
The project “Appreciation of Ourselves, Our Community & Our World” invited students to decorate their traced hand and arm with representative symbols.
For his K-2 students, Mr. Miller provided a brief lesson about symbols with familiar shapes – a heart, a sun, flags from the United States and the Marshall Islands – to demonstrate the definition of a symbol: a simple picture that has meaning. Students quickly recognized logos for Nike and Minecraft as well.
He also recorded a video demonstration as he created his own tracing, which featured a Logan Lion for his school community, mountains and trees along a river for our Spokane community, and a paintbrush and palette for his love of art and work as an artist and art teacher. The video tutorial supported 3-5 grade teachers who were leading this project in their classrooms.
Mrs. Adame provided a worksheet and book recommendations – “My City Speaks,” “My Powerful Hair,” “Just Ask,” “Dreamers,” and “I Am Enough” – to guide classroom learning.
“It’s an opportunity for self-expression for students,” Mrs. Adame explained. She noted that there are Logan students who live at Gonzaga Family Haven. “It’s an impactful school-to-home collaboration project.”
“Think about the things that matter to you,” Mr. Miller said as he walked around the classroom to assist students. “And what’s the symbol that you need help?” he asked, and several students quickly demonstrated a raised hand.
Logan Art Project @ Gonzaga Family Haven slideshow
Reflection Space
On Late Start Mondays, school staff are usually gathered in classrooms to discuss curriculum and student supports. But the Logan specialists – librarian Mrs. Adame, art teacher Mr. Miller and science teacher Lisa Scott – spent their Nov. 4 collaboration time installing the students’ art at Gonzaga Family Haven.
All the colorful hands had been cut and the teachers arranged them on three, large black banners around an inspirational quote. The teachers joined Gonzaga Family Haven art intern Adeline Anderson on their knees, painting paste along fingers, hands, wrists, and arms to secure the student’s self-representations in a colorful collage.
“There are more than 29 of our kids at Logan, it’s a big part of our family here,” said Peg Haun-McEwen, director of community at Gonzaga Family Haven.
The housing community hosts adult programming in a mixed-used room called the Reflection Space, like essential skills classes for women and yoga, as well as mass and department retreats for Catholic Charities.
“One aspect of our mission is to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty through education,” Haun-McEwen explained. She sees the value of their youngest residents connecting what they’re learning and doing at school to creating something beautiful that they can be proud of during weekly community dinners.
Alongside the Logan original are other pieces of art by Native American artists. The art space is curated by artist Randall Schelefuer, whose work is also displayed.
Schelefuer’s vision was to see rotating installations feature different artists, said Haun-McEwen. Part of Anderson’s job is to identify local artists to display in the space.
Anderson, an art and art history student at Gonzaga University, was impressed with work the Logan community displayed at Manito Artfest. The project, “Legacy of the Lions,” was inspired by the 50th anniversary of Expo ’74 and included students designing a park and painting rocks. Anderson invited Mrs. Adame and Mr. Miller to create a work of art for the Reflection Space for the following school year.
When completed, two of the banners were hung at Gonzaga Family Haven, and one was displayed at Logan Elementary School.
And there’s still more to come. As they glued and arranged hands that morning, the three Logan teachers discussed how they could incorporate science into a spring project for Manito Artfest in 2025.