The pandemic has been made it difficult to form and maintain new connections with others during this time of isolation and social distancing, but an assignment that art teacher Sara Poskas gave to her Drawing I students has actually helped create a special bond between them and their counterparts in Afghanistan, half a world away.
This past fall, Sara’s four students — sophomores Jemima Paolucci, Charlotte Brown, Nia Gilmore, and Hayden Harlow — took part in a global art exchange for an international non-profit organization called The Memory Project. “In this one-on-one exchange,” according to The Memory Project’s website, “American students engage in artistic peacebuilding by sharing handmade, heartfelt artwork with kids from countries that are culturally very different from the USA.” This year, students exchange artwork with their peers in Afghanistan, Russia, Pakistan, Syria, and Nigeria.
Sara had heard about The Memory Project several years ago, and pandemic conditions created the opportunity to incorporate it into her Drawing curriculum.
“Elise Desjardins (the mother of Emily Desjardins ’18 and a Woodbury art teacher) first told me about The Memory Project and it was something I had filed away but always wanted to pursue,” Sara explained. “I finally looked into it last summer as I was rewriting my curriculum. Because of COVID-19 it was important — and necessary — to consider ways to make meaningful change as we faced a new hybrid model of teaching for the 2020-21 school year.”
In addition, Sara said, “One of the things I especially wanted to enhance in my teaching was diversity, equity and inclusion. So, for Drawing I, I came up with this project, as it seemed a natural fit.”
She expressed her appreciation to Assistant Head of School Ben Hildebrand for approving her Drawing courses taking part in The Memory Project initiative, which did include a participation fee.
Sara has been pleased with the results.
“My students have been fully engaged in the Global Art Exchange Project, and each one is finding her way as an artist as she works from home.” As the students worked on the project’s assignments, she added, “we checked in on Zoom to share thoughts and intentions, as well as to address any questions.”
First, Sara had her students do a writing assignment, asking them “what do you envision or see when you think of peace, friendship, or kindness?” She then had them use Sketchnoting, incorporating words and images about their family members and friends to explore the assignment’s themes. Then, each of Sara’s four students were paired with a female Afghan student whose artwork was shared with them through The Memory Project. The Westover students were then asked to create artwork in response to the Afghan students’ work, drawing in any media they chose to make their images.
“My students thought deliberately and creatively with regard to their drawings,” Sara said, “as they responded to their assigned Afghanistan student’s original piece of art.”
“It is a bit of a conversation, if you like, between two people who have never met,” Sara explained. “For example, one of the Afghanistan girls drew a book in her artwork so Nia (who was assigned to that particular student) replied by including a book in her artwork to that student. Jemima's student drew a bowl with what looks like heart fruits, so Jemima in response drew a landscape with a picnic, and on the picnic blanket is the bowl of heart fruit.”
“The girl I was making art for was only 11,” Jemima said, “but her drawing was mature and sweet.”
“I definitely felt connected to the girls after seeing their artwork and faces,” Hayden said. “Their artwork was really incredible and I love the hope it displayed.”
“I was impressed by how many different ways their art was communicated,” Nia said, “whether in words or in drawings. It gave me a new perspective on the situations of others and the importance of art and peace to them.”
Charlotte was inspired by the artistry of the Afghan student with whom she was paired. “I loved Zuhra’s artwork,” she said. “She was able to bring life to the landscape she drew. She created a landscape of mountains, so I wanted to connect with hers while also portraying what space I felt calm and peace in, so I created a sunrise over the ocean.” For Charlotte, the suns rising over different environments symbolized “that there is always hope.”
In creating their artworks, the students used a variety of media. Jemima did hers in acrylic paint; Hayden used watercolor, a sharpie, and colored pencil; Nia outlined hers in pen and then used both colored markers and pencils; Charlotte used an assortment: colored pencil, highlighter, marker, watercolors, and acrylic paint.
All the students found the project to be both a source of fun and relaxation.
“Working on my piece was a much-needed break from the rest of my homework,” Hayden said.
All of the students, however, also found the assignment to be an inspiring one — both as an opportunity to connect with someone from a different culture and to use art as a form of communication.
“I had never done a piece of art in response to somebody before,” Nia explained, “and I hadn’t really included words in my art before. It was nice to try to new things and to meet a new person.”
The project was such a success that Sara plans to include it again for students taking her Drawing I course during the spring semester, though they may be working with students from one of the other countries included in this year’s program.
In the fall of 2018, Sara said, she worked with Mohamad Hafez, a guest artist who originally was from Syria, in one of art electives, Exploration and Expression. In the class, Sara and her students worked with Hafez to create art pieces out of found objects, paint, metal, and words that were combined into one large work that served as a centerpiece of his exhibition in the School’s Schumacher Galley.
“In my January 2020 article in the National Journal of Art Education titled ‘Reframing Immigration and Celebrating Diversity: What Is Home to You? A Collaborative Found Object Sculpture Installation Under Award Winning Syrian Artist Mohamad Hafez,’” Sara said, “I explored how art can be used to explore the humanity, or simply to help communicate, between cultures and groups of people in a divided society and increasingly intolerant world. I do believe that art has the potential to raise awareness and foster world peace.”
“With rapidly changing advances in technology,” she added, “our world is more interconnected — and feeling much smaller — than ever before. As our world becomes fraught with the tensions and possibilities of globalization, art educators can play a role in the development of compassion for others, and create meaningful connections between individuals with differing experiences, interests, and values. Art can be used to bridge gaps, to raise awareness, to pull us out of ourselves and to think of another person in a meaningful way.”
“The Memory Project’s Global Art Exchange did all those things,” Sara said. “I found that as my Drawing I students grappled with the challenges that COVID-19 presents, they discovered, by participating in this project, that students in Afghanistan live in much harsher conditions. In particular, girls in Afghanistan struggle for education. For a brief moment, we became increasingly aware of and grateful for the plethora of resources that we have — in spite of this incredibly challenging time.”
Her students agree.
“I learned more about the hardships facing Afghanistan,” Nia said. “And about how important art can be to them for their own inner freedom and self-expression.”
“To think about others — especially at this time — and create something that was specifically made for them to make them feel happier was very heart-warming and inspiring,” Charlotte added.
“Art conveys feelings without needing words,” Nia said. “And it connects us all.”
