COLLEGE PARK, MD (February, 2016) Works of art created by students in Dr. Margaret Walkers course Building Community through Visual Literacy and Narrative were exhibited during December 2015 at the art gallery housed at the Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC), located in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
Students from the University of Maryland and The George Washington University’s Corcoran School of the Arts & Design, as well as Anacostia community members, were participants in the showing. These students studied theories of transformative and service learning as it applies to community based art education. This is the second exhibition of works created in collaboration between Dr. Walker, her colleague Dr. Pamela Lawton (formerly of the Corcoran, now an associate professor of art education at Virginia Commonwealth University), and Melissa Green, director of ArtReach at THEARC.
“Community-based art education is a valuable tool for bringing together communities and artists, and for opening dialogue between various groups,” Dr. Walker says. “When all interested parties participate in the discussion, planning, and creation of community art pieces, conversations ensue, various perspectives are shared, and friendships are built. This, in turn, helps to build trust and understanding amongst members of the community and the broader society.”
Operated by Building Bridges Across the River, a nonprofit 501-c-3 organization, and officially opened in 2005, THEARC is a state-of-the-art campus with a mission of working to improve the quality of life for residents of D.C.’s Ward 8. Home to eleven nonprofits which share the goal of helping children and adults reach their full potential, THEARC is a home away from home for many underserved children and adults, enabling them to participate in dance classes, music instruction, fine arts, academics, continuing education, mentoring, tutoring, recreation, medical and dental care, and other services at a substantially reduced cost or no cost at all.
Click here to learn more about THEARC.
Dr. Margaret Walker is a clinical assistant professor of art education in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership, where she coordinates the master’s program in Teacher Leadership in Arts Integration. She was recently named to the board of directors of the Art Gallery at UMD. Her research interests include the influence of artmaking on critical and creative thinking skills, maintaining relevancy in art curriculum and teaching, understanding the artist as teacher and student as artist, and art education in out-of-school settings. She earned her Ed.D. in Art Education at Teachers College of Columbia University.
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