BETHLEHEM, PA\u2013When Teaching Artists Pau Quintanajornet and Mallory Zondag launched their artist residencies, they were thrilled to work side-by-side with nearly 200 students at two Bethlehem Area School District elementary schools, sharing their passion for the arts and teaching the children how much of an impact creativity can have on the learning process.\u00a0\u00a0<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
Quintanajornet, a world-renowned muralist from Germany, worked alongside Tiffany Anderson\u2019s fifth grade art class to develop the first-ever exterior mural at Donegan Elementary School, while fiber artist Zondag and Miller Heights Elementary School Art Educator Jayne Preletz\u2019s art class were creating a \u201cLiving Wall,\u201d featuring a variety of small, fiber art pieces including vines, rocks and other natural elements. Both residencies, each intended to be 6-8 weeks long, were presented by ArtsQuest\u2019s Banana Factory and made possible by a grant from The Borgenicht Foundation.<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
While both residencies got off to solid starts, the learning process changed overnight in early March, with classes cancelled throughout the school district and later the Commonwealth. Due to COVID-19-related school closures, the artists\u2019 and students\u2019 visions were altered substantially. Working diligently, both Quintanajornet and Zondag buckled down and continued the projects to ensure the students\u2019 hard work came to fruition \u2013 Zondag from her home studio in upstate New York and Quintanajornet from ArtsQuest Resident Artist Devyn Briggs\u2019 studio, where she was staying while in the U.S. The question became how to continue engage the classes when they couldn\u2019t get together in person?<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
The Donegan project was especially challenging as students were tasked with creating their own tiles that would all be put together in one mural once completed.\u00a0 Although they were able to finish a good portion of the tiles while at school, Quintanajornet still had to create several tiles after the school closures.<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
To combat the challenges brought on by social distancing, Quintanajornet and Anderson held video calls with the students, offering fun projects that they could do at home, like creating flowers with home-found materials. Quintanajornet also kept her students in the loop about how she was adapting to finish their project, which will now be installed at a date to be determined.<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
Compounding the situation, Quintanajornet\u2019s world was in a state of flux. After coming to the U.S. in large part to work on the mural with the Donegan students, she was caught between a rock and a hard place as travel restrictions were implemented both here and in Germany due to COVID-19, delaying her return home by several weeks.<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
Before departing on April 24, however, the artist \u2013 known for her Project Wallflowers global mural initiative – left her students with one last reminder of her visit, providing them with a custom-crafted coloring book featuring all of the panels they had created for the mural. Anderson is sharing the book with the students and it\u2019s also available for anyone to download, color and share at ArtsQuest@Home presented by BSI Corporate Benefits<\/a>.<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n \u201cRight now, the mural has such a powerful additional meaning – it is a sign of hope and empowerment,\u201d Quintanajornet says. \u201cIt is a moment of blooming and reclaiming your power back.\u201d<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n Zondag and Preletz have kept their students involved in the \u201cLiving Wall\u201d project through video calls and sharing photos and videos of the progress. Both instructors felt that continuing the work was incredibly important to show students that the world can and must go on.<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n \u201cPeople are still going and the world is still continuing in the midst of this. We\u2019re still working, we\u2019re still active, we\u2019re not giving up on anything,\u201d Zondag says. \u201cThe Living Wall continues and it will be finished with the same amount of love and joy that it was going to be.<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n \u201cEven though there is something terrible, scary and strange that we\u2019re all going through together right now, that doesn\u2019t change what we are doing or how we act with each other.\u201d<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n Zondag has also kept her hands busy in other important pursuits as well. While social distancing from her studio, she has created several hundred masks to donate to those working on the front lines during the epidemic.\u00a0\u00a0 Her work is part of an initiative being led by the Troy, N.Y-based Arts Center of the Capital Region in collaboration with The Turban Project.<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n \u201cIt felt like something I could do to try and help in this crisis, so I started sewing nonstop,\u201d she says. \u201cI’ve been both donating and selling masks to help pay for materials for the past several weeks.\u201d\u00a0<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n For more information on ArtsQuest\u2019s school residency program, visit www.bananafactory.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Information provided to TVL by: <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nMark Demko, ArtsQuest
\nhttp:\/\/www.artsquest.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n
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