2025-2025
ARTS PROGRAM PROJECTS
​
This year Ms. Jessica led projects again this year and was able to bring in even more guest artists to work with the students! The artists led 4-6 week workshops with the students, who got to learn about film making, dance, puppetry, printmaking, textiles, and more! Below is a selection of the many things we did this year.
​WEST SIDE STUDENTS ARE PUBLISHED AUTHORS!
The beginning of the school year marked the official publication of "You Are Amazing Like A Rocket," featuring posters made by the West Side students as well as young people around the world, as part of the Peptoc project, which got its start at our school with Ms. Jessica and Asherah Weiss.
​
​MIXING COLORS WITH K-3!
Ms. Jessica launched a color workshop! We learned about..
•Pigments and where they come from, including a history pigments made from bugs, plants, snails, and even mummies!
•How different people and animals perceive the world through color based on how their eyes and brains are structured (we talked synesthesia, color cones in eyes, and mantis shrimp who can potentially see the most colors of all).
•Experiments and discoveries along the way, like what happens when you stick a wet painting on the window and see how the light makes it glow.
​PRINTS WITH MASTER PRINTER JAMES TUCKER
James worked with K-3rd grades and brought in his portable printing press! The students got to learn about his print shop in San Francisco, and how to make prints on their own on the press using leaves and legos. They made gorgeous work.
​ART WITH NATURE
​
Ms. Jessica worked with the lower grade to build ephemeral sculptures inspired by films we watched about the artist Andy Goldsworthy and other contemporary land artists.
​MAKING CIRCLES WITH OUR BODIES AND DRAWINGS WITH THE RAIN
Ms. Jessica continued her work on experimentation and discovery (a key element for a healthy relationship to creativity--which then supports our approach to all subjects of study and life experience!). We explored new ways to draw circles (with our whole arms and a piece of chalk in each hand), and we collaborated with the rain on some ink drawings.
​COMICS, GRAPHIC DESIGN, DRAWING, AND ELECTRONIC MUSIC WITH LEVI MILLER
Artist and musician Levi Miller worked with 4th-6th grades for several workshops that gave the students more confidence in their drawing skills, as well as leaning about design using Procreate on the school ipads. Students also learned about electronic music composition and even made some cool block games for the winter art sale.
​HIP HOP WITH JASMYN HARALSON
Due to popular demand from the teachers, Ms. Jessica was able to bring back dance workshops for K-3RD grades! Jasmyn led the students in the basic of hip hop and locking, as well as coreography.
Next year, shall we bring in salsa??
​6 WEEK FILM MAKING WORKSHOP WITH TRUE WEST FILM
​
This hands-on workshop gave the students the opportunity to write, direct, film, and edit their own short films! Amazing! Check out their work here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1FpzJx_s35QqY82RxjXRvW-e1jYJThDSE?usp=drive_link
​PUPPETS WITH RISA LENORE
Jim Henson Foundation-sponsored puppeteer, Risa Lenore of Possibly Puppets came all the way from Berkeley for a 4 week puppt workshop with K-3rd grade. Students were wowed by her puppet performance, and then got to make puppets of their own!
​TEXTILES AND EMBROIDERY WITH ASHERAH WEISS
Artist Asherah Weiss worked with K-3rd for the month of April, where each student got to learn about embroidery techniques, or "drawing with string." The kids really got into it, and we were able to send an embroidery hoop home with each student as well as purchase supplies for the classrooms so students could continue to explore their new passion!
​AN ODE TO ZINNIA
Our beloved Zinnia the cat passed away this year, so Ms. Jessica worked with every student in the school to make a portrait of him. Each student was given a square from a photo of Zinnia, and reproduced that square using paint and keen observation skills (it was a wonderful experience to get the kids to admire his fur and stripes as they painted their portion of his portrait). The squares were then arranged like a puzzle, glued together, and the giant portrait was hung up at school.
​COMEDY IMPROV WITH EVAN GAUSTAD
Jessica was able to get the amazing Evan Gaustad (director of the theater program and teaching artist at SPACE theater in Ukiah) to come do an 8 week theater and comedy improv workshop for 4th-th grades. They all laughed their way to the end of the school year, and got some real improv techniques to bring to everyday life!
​3RD GRADE 4-SQUARE COURT
Inspired by the work of the artist and "father of color theory," Joseph Albers, and a desire to make a more interesting looking four-square court... each student picked a color "that made their heart sing" and added it to our composition.
​K-4TH GRADE MURAL
​
For the final act of the school year, Ms. Jessica worked with kindergarten-4th grades to design a mural inspired by our bobcat mascot and other wonders of nature. Local artist Sandra Novia helped Ms. Jessica after school and on weekends to get the hundreds of drawings added to the mural.
​WHAT'S IN STORE FOR NEXT YEAR??
Well....budgets have been cut, teacher calendars are tight, and we no longer have the space we once had... But the arts will stay alive at West Side no matter what! Please consider donating to FEF to support the enrichment programs and keep us thriving! Great news is that we have some funding for more theater next year as well, so stay tuned for updates!