• Curriculum Overview
• After School
• Events and Celebrations
• Service Learning and Partnerships
• Special Assemblies
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By Annie Suchecki

There have been so many new things happening in the art room that I don't know where to begin, so I would like to tell you about some of them and hope to peak your interest so that you come all the way downstairs to see more.

Kathy McCarren, our artist in residence, has been felting with all the classes. She has explained the how-to and history behind felting. This is a wonderful project for SRV, as we do have those wooly sheep right outside. We have been using their fleece in our creations. Sheering the sheep at May Fair will hold new meaning for the children. The Oldest Group has begun a large felting project to hang in the Main Building. Kathy's help in the art room is subsidized by all of your donations to High Spirits.

We have expanded our use of materials. The Clay Studio has become the Art Room. All age groups have been experimenting with new materials, including scratch board and water color pastels. The children have eagerly embraced these tools and have been experimenting with color and line, patterns and textures. We will be offering clay again as a choice in the spring.

My dear friend, Elisabeth "Rickey" Wolfe, has donated a circus to the art room. Rickey has taught children for years in her studio in Swarthmore, and the circus is the collaboration of many years of children's work in clay. It has also inspired our children to make different kinds of clay creatures. Rickey's own children went to SRV and she remembers "driving down the lane" very fondly.

Check out the art room web site. There you will find pictures of our field trip to the Community Arts Center, and learn how the oldest group fired their clay masks. Come visit the art room!

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