History, Involvement, and Achievements as a PSU-UNST Faculty Member
In her Work of Art FRINQ course, Sarah Wolf Newlands has cultivated a partnership among the Portland Art Museum's College School Guide and Peer-to-Peer Mentorship program, Portland State University, and Molalla High School. This year-long partnership brings PSU students and the rural high school together for a collaboration involving over 90 students and three institutions.
During the fall term, PSU Work of Art and Molalla High School students spent time studying artworks at the Portland Art Museum. In addition to looking at art, PSU students learned about museum professions from various staff members at the Museum.
In the winter, Work of Art students served as interpretive guides for groups of PSU and Molalla High School students at the Portland Art Museum. The PSU students then visited Molalla High School, where Molalla students taught them how to make screen prints.
PSU Work of Art students made silkscreen prints in response to artwork in the Constructing Identity exhibition. Constructing Identity demonstrates the diverse voices, perspectives, and stories of African-American artists, and offered us a fresh view of how American values are reflected in their experiences. PSU student exhibited their work with Molalla High School students’ artwork in an on-campus exhibition.
For the final day of the program, Molalla High School and PSU Work of Art students visited both the Portland Art Museum and the PSU campus. They explored the Constructing Identity exhibit, ate lunch together at Victor's, and then attended a PSU Advising and Career Services workshop.
Chimamanda Adichie’s 2009 TED Talk “The Danger of a Single Story” and Constructing Identity: Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African-American Art provided common ‘texts’ for everyone involved. Adichie explained in her talk that single stories are “incomplete.” They create stereotypes causing one story to “become the only story.” She believes that we “regain a kind of paradise” by rejecting the single story.
The Peer-to-Peer project forced each of us to rethink single stories about art museums, colleges, high schools, rural and urban cultures, and how we learn.
Contact:
newlands@pdx.edu