Recycling for art – local students’ work hangs at the Guggenheim
by Corinne Ramey The difference between garbage and art is a decidedly blurry line. After all, Jackson Pollack is known for mixing nails and used cigarette butts in his paint, and artist Damien Hirst put a dead shark in a tank, which subsequently sold for $12 million at an auction.  Even the second graders at P.S. 28 in Washington Heights agree that separating garbage from art can be complicated. “Sometimes when you use garbage, you can clean it and make it into art,” said Jorge De La Cruz, 8. “Instead of using new things, we can use old things to make something new,” added his classmate Noelia Wassaff, 7. These students attend one of two schools in Washington Heights that participated in the Guggenheim Museum’s Learning Through Art program, which brings “teaching artists” from the Guggenheim into the public schools. During the 10-week program, the Guggenheim artists go into the classrooms for 90 minutes each week and teach students how to look at art and show them how to make their own. Currently, students from both schools have work displayed in the esteemed Upper East Side museum. Kristin Ann Melin, a sculptor, taught the second graders at P.S. 28 about how so-called garbage could be used to make art. The students studied American artist Robert Rauschenberg’s piece called “Gold Standard,” a large gold Japanese screen covered with everything from Coke bottles to a bicycle seat. The group also talked about concepts like rhythm, composition and balance. “Kids in general are open to ideas and exploration,” Melin said. “One day we did an inquiry on a lunch tray to sensitize them to visualize different things,” said Melin, who has taught in the Guggenheim’s program for three years. The students quickly began to see the tray as a medium for art, and not trash. “With second graders, it usually happens really fast,” she said. The students created art using the trays and other items – like plastic bags, bottle caps and toilet paper rolls – that they brought in from home. “Miss Kristin told us to bring in stuff that we’d throw in the garbage,” said Rashel Lopez, 8. The students then created colorful collages with the assistance of a hot glue gun, Mod Podge glue, and Cray-Pas, a type of oil pastel. Eight of these collages are currently displayed in the Guggenheim. The focus on garbage was an apt one because P.S. 28 throws away about 1,500 Styrofoam lunch trays every day, said Lauren Ginsburg, a second grade teacher who is also the recycling coordinator for the school. “I also can't stand to throw things away,” agreed Melin. “We might be developing a whole generation of hoarders,” she joked. As part of the project, the classes took a field trip to the museum, where they brought sketchbooks so they could draw the art. “It’s an amazing, eye-opening experience for them,” said Ginsburg. “They’ve never had that exposure.” The second grade teachers said that learning about art extended to other subjects as well. “It helps with math because we talked about symmetry, shapes and that sort of thing,” said Jessica Woda. “In math they had to do things with designs and pattern blocks, and they started using the vocabulary they used in art,” said Constance Layne. “My kids also wrote poems about it when we were doing a unit on poetry.” Fifth graders from P.S. 153 also participated in the project, studying how art and architecture have changed in Washington Heights. Twelve collograph prints made by students currently hang in the museum. Andrew Lake, 8, is one of the second graders whose work is currently on display in the Guggenheim. Since Andrew was too shy to answer any questions about his first work in a major American museum, his classmate Noelia stepped in. “I think he likes it and he’s amazed his artwork is in the museum,” she said, showing potential for future work in public relations. “I can tell you’re proud.” The Manhattan Times is the bilingual newspaper of Washington Heights and Inwood.
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