This Spring, the Sarah West Gallery of Fine Art debuted the Sarah West Artistic Mentoring Program in participating local Alabama schools, providing area school children with the opportunity of Fine Art Education and Cultural Arts Involvements beyond their school day.
As Smiths Station Alabama’s premiere fine art destination, the Sarah West Gallery of Fine Art has continually aspired to increase culturally relevant and educationally sustainable opportunities for our community and region. Understanding the needs of the people who comprise your community serves as a integral part of not only sustaining oneself but insuring quality of life for all. The Sarah West Gallery of Fine Art’s collaboration with area educators defines our mission to serve, and together not only survive but thrive.
In March and April of 2018, the Sarah West Artistic Mentoring Program took Fine Art Education into participating local schools for the first time. Reaching out to our most rural elementary schools, we discovered students and educators with desire and aspiration for more. Through the study of fine art disciplines paired with meditative practices, the positive influences transcend the fine art class and remain an element of strength in not only educating the student through creativity, but also in providing improving solutions for attention span, hand-eye-coordination, problem solving, independent intellectual growth, interaction with others and more. Through conversations with teachers and councilors, we have already seen vast improvement in class rooms.
“I’ve seen my students, who are involved in the Sarah West Artistic Mentoring Program, approach class assignments with more dedication and confidence. They have found their own identity, and they are doing better in school, and communicate more freely with their teachers and classmates”-a teacher expressed
Over the Summer, the Sarah West Gallery of Fine Art in collaboration with the City of Smiths Station will host two rotating exhibitions featuring art work created by students who studied within Spring | After School Art Classes from both
Wacoochee Elementary- Salem, Alabama
and
West Smiths Station Elementary- Smiths Station, Alabama
Exhibitions Open June 2018
Meditative Paintings & Fundamental Drawings
from Wacoochee Elementary [June 2018]
from West Smiths Station Elementary [July 2018]
The Sarah West Artistic Mentoring Program will return to our participating local schools for the next school year. We are proud to announce that we will host After School | Weekly Fine Art Classes at Wacoochee Elementary and West Smiths Station Elementary for the entire school year.
Classes begin August 2018.
New Classes will begin each season.
The Sarah West Gallery of Fine Art is now accepting Open Enrollment for school year 2018/2019.
Early Enrollment is advised due to increasing response- 334-480-2008
email: sarahwestgallery@att.net
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