PNCA Hosts Children's Creativity: Why the Visual Arts Matter
November 05, 2009
PNCA hosts the city’s first children’s creativity symposium, Children’s Creativity: Why the Visual Arts Matter, November 11–14, focusing on the relevance of artistic processes of inquiry, reflection, and expression to the cognitive, emotional, and social development of children.
The PNCA+FIVE Idea Studio will feature a range of activities—including workshops and lectures—reporting on and exploring the growing body of evidence that the arts nurture and develop complex thinking and communication skills. Featured speakers include authors/professors Dr. Ellen Handler Spitz and Dr. Lois Hetland.
An arts education is now recognized as providing keys tools for the development of metaphorical thinking, the ability to creatively problem-solve, and life-long learning. Fulfilled and productive participation in the cultural, social, and economic processes of the 21st Century society is a key aspect of a creative arts education. Join PNCA for this groundbreaking series that explores the breadth and depth of an arts education.
Complementing the symposium, Imagine: 100 Years of Work from PNCA’s Children’s Art Archives, features work by generations of children taught in PNCA’s Youth Program. The exhibition is curated by Sally Lawrence, PNCA President Emerita and Amy Williams, former PNCA Youth Art Program Director with additional support from long-time Youth Program faculty Bonnie Allen and MaryEllen Hartman.
Get a sneak preview of _Imagine_ via the “Youth Art Program Flickr site”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/pnca_youth/collections/72157622462933107/.
PUBLIC EVENTS
Lecture | “Art for Our Sake,” by Dr. Lois Hetland
6:30 p.m. Thursday, November 12
PNCA Main Campus Building, Swigert Commons, 1241 N.W. Johnson Street
Why do we teach art? Join PNCA as it welcomes author and professor of art education Lois Hetland for a discussion on arts education. Hetland is the co-author of the influential book Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education.
Keynote Address | “Reflections on Space and Childhood,” by Dr. Ellen Handler Spitz
6:30 p.m. Friday, November 13
PNCA Main Campus Building, Swigert Commons, 1241 N.W. Johnson Street
Dr. Ellen Handler Spitz discusses the complex and powerful role the visual arts play in the emotional and cognitive development of children. Spitz is a writer, lecturer and scholar who currently holds the Honors College Professorship of Visual Arts at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is the author of Art and Psyche, Image and Insight, Museums of the Mind and more.
Exhibition | Imagine: 100 Years of Work from PNCA’s Children’s Art Archives
November 11–December 1
PNCA Commons: 9am–9pm daily
Since its founding in early 1909, Pacific Northwest College of Art (formerly the Museum Art School) has fostered generations of artists and designers through its youth art programs. A retrospective from the College’s youth art archives provides a time capsule of artwork spanning generations of Portland’s youth.
Panel Discussion | Imagine: 100 Years of Work from PNCA’s Children’s Art Archives
Saturday, November 14, 12:00pm–12:45pm
PNCA Main Campus Building, 1241 NW Johnson Street
Exhibition curators Sally Lawrence, PNCA President Emerita, Amy Williams, former PNCA Youth Art Program Director, with additional curatorial support from long-time Youth Program faculty Bonnie Allen and MaryEllen Hartman discuss the selection process for _Imagine: 100 Years of Work from PNCA’s Children’s Art Archives_. Together, the group explored the College’s extensive children’s art archive and uncovered some surprises along the way. Join this informal conversation and discover the wonders of children’s art.
About PNCA+FIVE Idea Studios
PNCA+FIVE Idea Studios is a series of conversations, symposiums, lectures and performances on the inner workings of creative practice. The series features internationally acclaimed practitioners from a range of cultures in an effort to highlight the importance of creativity in fostering innovation and civic imagination.
The Ford Institute for Visual Education (FIVE) was established in May 2007 with a generous gift from Hallie Ford. FIVE extends PNCA’s intellectual and resource platform through exhibitions, symposia, internationally renowned artists in residence and other programs that enrich the environment for original thinking and creative enterprise.
The Children’s Creativity Symposium is co-sponsored with Oregon Art Education Association, Oregon Psychoanalytic Center, and CAN (Creative Advocacy Network).
_Image: PNCA Children’s Art Archive._