Ms Imse's Arts Blog

Bridge Academy, Bridgeport, Ct  / Freshman Class Selfie art, Spring 2017 Student Self-Driven Art Activity The above art was done by 9th grade students at Bridge Academy in the Spring of 2017. As the art teacher at the school I witnessed a very interesting evolution during the two week period with this particular group. For the majority of the school year I presented students with common core based classic art curriculum that was age appropriate. I found their interest to be marginal at best even though many in the group displayed artistic talent. Clearly the  intrinsic motivation , source of motivation within an individual (Human Learning 6th edition 2012, Ormrod, Chptr16, p 428), was deficient due to the fact the many of my students suffer from emotional affects from their urban community. I had experienced first hand the drive reduction or self-handicapping response from students too often during the last school year. After doing research on this topic, Maslow's theory o

Arts center program wraps with students’ Bridgeport gallery show By Laura Weiss   Published 1:08 pm, Thursday, June 8, 2017 View Full Article Here   BRIDGEPORT — Inside a brick building several blocks from their school, students’ graffiti works lined two walls, adding splashes of color, political statements and diverse interpretations of graffiti style to the gallery space. At Bridgeport art gallery 305 Knowlton Monday night, the  Westport Arts Center ’s “Connections” outreach program finished with a flourish. The experience, which offers high school students in underserved urban areas an intensive 10-day artist-in-residency program, concluded with a gallery show of students’ work for the first time. “I never knew anyone in my class could do any of this,” said  Gio Alvarez , standing beside his piece on display Monday. The 16-year-old Bridgeport resident was among about 50 tenth grade students at Bridgeport’s  Bridge Academy  who particip