News

Cleveland Institute of Art students taking an art education course gained real-world experience (and rock-star status in the eyes of some 285 children) when they taught weekly art lessons last semester.

The CIA students—including Alessandra Andaloro, pictured above—were enrolled in a course taught by Kristin Thompson-Smith ’09, a full-time art teacher at a separate elementary school. As requirement of Thompson-Smith’s course, Andaloro and her classmates each taught art lessons one day a week at Cleveland Community School or Villaview Community School, two charter schools that share a building in the heart of downtown.

Saul Ostrow, chair of CIA's Visual Arts and Technologies Environment, and former provost Nancy Stuart initiated the collaboration after Candace Williams, administrator at the two schools, appealed to colleges in the region for assistance with art instruction. "Given the success of the program and our students’ enthusiasm for it, the program will be offered again in the fall," Ostrow said.

Come see this semester’s results in an exhibition at CIA’s Visual Arts + Technologies Coventry Center. You’ll see painting, drawing, collage, watercolor, and more by these children. And you’ll also see work by their student teachers, who are juniors in the BFA program at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Opening Reception
Thursday, May 12, 6:30–8:30pm

Exhibition Hours
May 6–22, 2011
Fri + Sat + Sun, 12–6pm

Location
CIA’s VAT Coventry Center
1854 Coventry Road (upper floor)
Cleveland Heights, OH 44106

Exhibition Contact
Kristin Thompson-Smith
kthompson@student.cia.edu
216.394.8613

As an extension of the Cleveland Institute of Art’s Visual Arts + Technologies Environment, the Coventry Center is a link between classroom learning and the social, curatorial, and critical practices that build a successful community-arts initiative.