Stowe Elementary, VT: Winds of Change
In April 2017, I conducted an arts-integrated residency at Stowe Elementary School through the VT Creative Schools Initiative. Students in the 1st, 4th and 5th grades explored the science of sound, the effect of non-verbal communication, and the power of words. Throughout the ‘Winds of Change’ residency, students understood how voices and facial expressions convey different responses, building instruments and wind-chimes to mimic human emotions. Selected students participated in a call and response with the John Jorgenson Quintet at a culminating performance at the Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center in Stowe VT. The teaching team consisted of Susan Meagle, Maddy Hulbert, Tamara North and Jen Volansky (art teacher).
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- 1st graders shop for materials
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- 4th graders play their instruments for an orchestra of emotion
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- Expressing the emotion of ‘soothing calm’
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- Students use junk and recycled materials
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- Creating the final windchimes
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- Experiments in printmaking, to explore non-verbal communication
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- All students wrote positive affirmations for a ‘whisper chime’ to be installed later in the spring
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- Chime of Irritation (left) and Chime of Thoughtfulness (right)
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- Chime of Joy
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- Chime of Surprise
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- Chime of Wonder
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- Students play their chimes on stage with the John Jorgenson Quintet