fayettevillearts.org

By Dan Craft
THE MORNING NEWS

FAYETTEVILLE — The location of a large performing arts venue will have to be determined by regional consensus that doesn’t exist today, according to a consulting group.

Arts Consulting Group recommended building a 2,200-seat performing arts center either adjacent to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville or west of the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville.

The venue, which would also include a 600-seat flexible space and a 100-seat blackbox theater, would serve Northwest Arkansas for at least 50 years if not longer, said Willem Brans, the vice president of the consulting group.

The Walton Arts Center’s 1,200-seat main theater is too small for many traveling Broadway shows and most major music concerts, and even the smaller performance spaces are used most of the time, said Herb Chesbrough, a senior consultant. The new venue should complement the existing center, not replace or supplant it, he said.

“The current facility is stretched to the limit,” he said. “It’s not that it’s obsolete, but you need additional space.”

Projected population growth in Northwest Arkansas and the increasing size of many arts productions both point to the need for more space backstage as well as in the seats, Chesbrough said.

The downtown Fayetteville and Crystal Bridges sites are the two best options among more than 40 sites considered by the consultants, according to the report presented Tuesday to the arts center board.

A possible location in the Pinnacle Hills development in Rogers was eliminated.

Interviews with stakeholders and potential donors to the $180 million project revealed discord concerning the location.

“Locating new facilities, possibly outside Fayetteville, remains contentious, and must ultimately be determined collaboratively on the basis of regionwide interests and by leadership donors,” Brans wrote.

“Location came up in every conversation we had,” he told the board.

No matter the site, the Walton Arts Center board should take the lead in promoting a new space, and needs to move quickly before any other group decides to build a large performance space, Brans said.

At least one for-profit group has recognized the need for additional performance space, and others could as well, he said.

Fayetteville Mayor Dan Coody mentioned the city’s wish to build a parking deck and hotel downtown near the arts center, and Ed Clifford of the Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce said land acquisition in Bentonville could be cheaper than in Fayetteville.

“I think every community in Northwest Arkansas would like to have a Walton Arts Center, but it belongs to the entire Northwest Arkansas area. And at the end of the day, the Walton Arts Center board has to make a decision about where this Walton Arts Center-North will go. And we will support it wherever it goes,” said Raymond Burns, president and chief executive officer of the Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce.

However, Rogers needs some type of venue for gatherings, whether that be an arts center or an arena, and we will discuss that need further at the on Nov. 18 at the 2008 Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce Leadership Conference, Burns said.

Rogers Mayor Steve Womack said it was disappointing to hear the Rogers location for a proposed center was no longer being considered.

“We still think that site provides the best possibilities for ingress and egress, and the closest proximity to necessary amenities: Restaurants,” Womack said.

“But if we don’t get the arts center, we will pursue something else. An arena is still on the drawing board, a place that host concerts, sporting events or things of that nature,” Womack said.

The $180 million cost estimate does not include any land cost.

Bentonville councilman Chris Sooter believes an arts center would complement Crystal Bridges, which is scheduled to open in 2010.

“Culturally, we are moving in the direction of becoming a more arts culture. So this is a great tie-in,” Sooter said. “We’re preparing for as much development as we can get.”

Fayetteville officials say arts in Northwest Arkansas has been anchored on Dickson Street since the Walton Arts Center opened in 1991.

“All of us as aldermen certainly want the Walton Arts Center to stay in Fayetteville,” sad Nancy Allen, a Fayetteville City Council member and a longtime supporter of the Walton Arts Center. “And I think we’re willing to go through quite a bit of effort to see that that happens.”

Several key steps can be taken without a firm location, Brans said.

The distribution of events between the existing arts center — jointly owned by the City of Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas — and the new venue will have to be determined.

Planning for a capital campaign, including a lead gift in the range of $100 million, can commence immediately. A regional group needs to be formed to promote the need for additional space, help determine a location, contact potential donors, plan a fundraising campaign and review preliminary architectural designs, he said.

Once a lead donor is identified, a capital campaign could begin, probably in 2011, and building could begin soon after if a location is selected by that time, he said.

“It’s possible we could collapse that into a smaller time frame, but there’s a lot of planning to be done, and I don’t think a consensus on location is coming quickly,” he said.

The Morning News’ Richard Dean Prudenti, Skip Descant and John Henley contributed to this report.

Artist Wins Fellowship To Study, Paint Invasive Species
By SPECIAL to The Morning News

FAYETTEVILLE - Snakehead fish, honeybees, kudzu and feral pigs — also called razorbacks — are all invasive species. Some scientists think such invaders are among the top two or three forces driving other species into extinction. Kristin Musgnug finds in them the potential for art and for a different way of looking at the natural world.

Musgnug, an associate professor of painting in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas, has won a fellowship from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. From Sept. 23 through Oct. 19, she will be in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in rural Virginia, one of 20 fellows concentrating on their creative projects at a working retreat for visual artists, writers and composers. Read more…

Art Scholar Ties Philosophy To Contemporary Art
By Anna Fry

BENTONVILLE — A painting can have taste but lack spirit and there’s no remedy for lack of spirit, art scholar Arthur Danto said.

Danto, Johnsonian Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Columbia University and art critic for The Nation, gave a lecture Sunday in the auditorium of the Old High Middle School. The lecture was the first of a series presented by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

Art was revolutionized in New York in the 1960s, Danto said. He began thinking then about how to apply the aesthetic works of the philosophical tradition to what was happening, he said.

He drew Sunday from the works of 18th-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant. Some of Kant’s thoughts cast valuable light on contemporary works of art, Danto said.

“Spirit, in (Kant’s) view, really is something that is internally connected with cognitive faculties, connected with knowledge,” Danto said, adding that’s what connects Kant to contemporary art.

Kant speaks of spirit as “the animating principle of the mind,” Danto said. The idea is presented to and through the senses.

Danto illustrated his points by projecting artwork Kant wrote about. He showed an image of the Roman god Jupiter holding lightning bolts.

That image is stronger than words saying Jupiter is mighty, Danto said. The picture portrays the extraordinary power that the king of the gods possesses, he said.

Today art can be made of anything, Danto said, and the surface can represent any idea.

“That puts great interpretive pressure on viewers to grasp the way the spirit of the artist undertook to present the ideas that concerned her or him,” he said.

Danto thinks people need to ask the question, “What is it about?” when thinking about art and then examine how the work embodies the answer, he said.

Danto cut his lecture short to answer questions from audience members. A book signing and reception at Crystal Bridges at the Massey followed the lecture.

It’s an exciting time to be a resident of Northwest Arkansas. Besides all the obvious reasons,

there’s cause to believe that anxious parties (that would include us) could learn the future home of the Northwest Arkansas Science Museum within the next few weeks.

    The process began with 15 site possibilities this spring that were eventually narrowed down to just five. The folks behind the museum are preparing for the announcement of a project that will give tourists one more reason to visit the Ozarks — and maybe, just maybe, to relocate here.

    “Our vision is to bring a world-class science museum to the region,” according to the promotional materials on the Northwest Arkansas Museum Foundation’s (nwamuseum.org) Web site. “This museum will be responsive to the community, showcase the region’s strengths and engage students and adults alike in the sciences as a way of building the regional economy through developing its workforce.”

    Although countless details have yet to be ironed out, it seems to us this effort stands a good chance of being done the right way.

    In other words, this Northwest Arkansas Science Museum is not being created simply so the area can say it plays host to such a creation. Based on everything we’ve heard up to this point, it will be a significant contribution to the region, and with its galleries, learning pods and traveling exhibits, serve as a credit to us all for decades to come.

    All this probably wouldn’t be happening if John Lewis, “Mr. Fayetteville” himself, hadn’t talked so fondly of the idea in the years preceeding his death. He spoke of a place that would inspire our children to believe in the sciences, a teaching tool that would “enable our adults to navigate the 21st century.” We admit, that’s a mighty tall order. But then shooting for the stars seems to have become something of a lost art these days. So why not turn such a cool concept into reality right here in Northwest Arkansas? What’s stopping it?

    Less than a year ago, all this talk evolved from wordiness into action. In November 2007, Brent Robinson, executive director of the Northwest Arkansas Museum Foundation, explained that the general idea “is to put the center where it will be most accessible and visible.” Where might that be? In April 2008, bringing the Northwest Arkansas Science Center to this neck of the woods was described as a top priority for the Fayetteville Economic Development Council, which up to that point had already been hard at work for months.

    It’s a little like an actor waiting to see who won the Academy Award, because the development of a science museum will be a real prize for the region. Given the fact that Northwest Arkansas is home to the state’s top research university and the region’s growing appreciation for the value of the science of sustainability, it seems a perfect fit to develop this type of museum. And its development will highlight for the region’s kids the critical importance that science does and will play in our world.

    Of course, with the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art set to open in Bentonville in the not-too-distant future; the western edge of Rogers home to massive amounts of economic development in recent years; and Springdale’s introduction of minor league baseball and all that wideopen land surrounding Arvest Ballpark just aching to be developed, the organizers have a lot of good choices as a future site.

    We suspect the decision has been made, so there’s no need to fret about what the announcement will be. Wherever museum organizers decide to put this facility, we’re convinced they’re doing the right thing just by pursuing its creation in the first place. Of course, Fayetteville would welcome it with open arms.

    Whichever city is able to claim the Northwest Arkansas Science Museum as its own will instantly gain a major attraction that will help create significant revenue by way of foot traffic. It will act as a major feather in that city’s proverbial cap, and rightly so.

    But as John Lewis might say, this is about helping the region’s kids and the region’s future. Everyone stands to gain wherever the museum gains a footing. The region would be doing a disservice to lose sight of this important point.

Publication:Northwest Arkansas Times;  Date:Sep 12, 2008;  Section:Opinion;  Page Number:4

BY KEVIN KINDER Northwest Arkansas Times

It started as a marketing ploy.

But the Walton Art Center’s Young Professionals Arts Society has become something more, said Justin DeLille, the center’s corporate relations officer.

As he and the 20-member steering committee for the new group began looking for ways to attract young clientele to the art center’s slate of Broadway Series shows, the group learned there was a unfulfilled need.

“Our members have a place were they can network in a business environment,” DeLille said.

The idea for the new Arts Society has been something the WAC has contemplated for some time, said DeLille. After he was hired at the art center just more than a year ago, DeLille, a young professional himself, decided to take on the project.

He first met with a group of young professionals assembled from companies that DeLille works most closely with: WAC sponsors such as Sam’s Club, Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark and more.

During the March meeting, the group determined there was a market for the program. But that market, admittedly, is tough to define, DeLille said. In general, it includes people who are between 25-40, with or without kids.

“It’s very broad. … We’re not trying to be exclusive at all,” he said.

Ellie Miller, a steering committee member for the new group, said she hopes the organization will allow her to expand her networking opportunities outside of Procter & Gamble, where she serves as an account executive.

“For me, personally, it’s to expand my networking, and to help serve the community. But from a broader perspective, it’s helping the WAC gain awareness,” she said.

She also believes the area is attracting arts-conscious young professionals, and she sees many such people come to the area through corporate jobs, such as those at her company.

“I think especially when you consider the whole Northwest Arkansas corridor, the young professional demographic is growing,” she said.

There isn’t a formal enrollment process for the new group, explains DeLille. VIP members are made so by purchasing a season ticket to the Tuesday night productions of the WAC’s Broadway Series shows, which this season are “Monty Python’s SPAMALOT,” “Wizard of Oz,” “Cirque Eloize — Nebbia,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “RAIN: A Tribute to the Beatles” and a choice between “Avenue Q,” “Tango Fire” or “Comedy of Errors.” Packages for the six-show block begin at $130. VIP members are then given free admission to all arts society functions and exclusive seats near other Young Professional Arts Society members.

“You sit by those you met at the party,” DeLille said.

The “party” that DeLille mentions will be the primary networking opportunity for the young professional involved with the group. Before each of the center’s Tuesday-night Broadway shows, members will mingle and share complimentary hors d’oeuvres and drinks.

Other similar meet-andgreets will take place at events where a high turnout from a young demographic is expected, such as at the WAC’s opening show, “Second City: DeFace the Nation,” which took place Friday. Between 100 and 150 people were expected to attend the inaugural YPAS event, a social gathering with the cast of the Second City, a comedy troupe from Chicago.

VIP members of the new group were admitted free, other ticket holders were asked to pay $5.

Because the group is new, much of its future plans are unknown, DeLille said. But he knows that the group will continue to have pre- or postshow parties. As the group gains experience, it may begin fundraising for the arts center, but it is too soon to tell what form such an endeavor would take, he said.

Until then, charter members such as Miller said they are excited about the opportunities the group is giving people now by having fun and helping the arts center in the process.

“I think we have a unique need, a unique opportunity, to work with the young community,” she said. “And as we bring in new people to the area, they look for ways to get involved.”

Publication:Northwest Arkansas Times;  Date:Sep 7, 2008

BY KATE WARD Northwest Arkansas Times

! The former YouthCAN! and the Community Imagination Studio celebrate one year in Fayetteville

YouthCAN! has changed its name to YouCAN!

The announcement came during the group’s one-year anniversary celebration at the Community Imagination Studio’s new location in Fayetteville on Saturday.

“Our new mission statement is that ‘We are a community organization that provides empowering opportunities for all,’” Barbara Price Davis, executive director, said. “It’s a very small change, but we think it better communicates who we are.”

Located about two blocks off Wedington Drive on Sang Avenue, the Community Imagination Studio is a division of YouthCAN! that focuses on art education for the community.

While the group’s logo will remain unchanged, Price Davis said programs offered by the Community Imagination Studio will be geared toward the entire community.

“We’re just expanding more into adult classes,” she said. “We do family programs. Our programs encompass a variety of fine arts media and instruction with the ultimate goal of fanning sparks of creative self-expression, exchanging perspectives, discovering new talents and building a relationship with the community.”

The celebration Saturday recognized volunteers for their service to the organization and featured numerous festivities, including a cake walk and cake decorating contest. Let’s Bring them Home — a national missing persons advocacy nonprofit organization — offered free photos and fingerprinting as part of its Safe Kids Total Identification system funded in part through the Wal-Mart Foundation. The Northwest Arkansas Tobacco Free Coalition also hosted an educational “Candy Shop” booth for kids and parents

“This is just our way of saying ‘Thank you’ to Fayetteville for welcoming us with such open arms and making us a part of the family,” Price Davis said.

Previously located in a retail shopping center in Springdale, the Community Imagination Studio’s new facility offers 6,000 square feet of space. The new location features a larger art space and has room for individual offices, a storage area and yard space.

“It’s been fabulous for us,” Price Davis said. “The space is more welcoming, and the neighborhood gives it a family-friendly vibe. The majority of our clients come from Fayetteville anyway so we can increase our clientele and participate in more community activities.”

For more information or a list of programs offered by Community Imagination Studio, visit the Web site www.communityimaginationstudio.org or call 442-8586.

Publication:Northwest Arkansas Times;  Date:Sep 7, 2008

BY MARSHA L. MELNICHAK Northwest Arkansas Times

The possibility of Fayetteville High School using the Walton Arts Center space for performing arts is just one option being considered as the school district looks ahead to a new high school at the present site.

“It’s just one of the things. We’re trying to think creatively,” said district spokesman Alan Wilbourn, who gave an update of the high school possibilities in a blog entry Thursday.

Among his focus points were an emphasis on performing arts centers for all kinds of student productions and new and adequate space for choir and band.

In a letter to Fayetteville Superintendent Bobby New and University of Arkansas Chancellor David Gearhart, Fayetteville Mayor Dan Coody offered suggestions that he hoped could lead to partnerships.

One of the suggestions in that letter was sharing use of the 1,200-seat Baum Walker Hall at the arts center to avoid having to build a performing arts hall for the school district.

“I’m wondering if there’s a way they (the school district) can partner with Baum Walker Hall, not necessarily that stage, partner with the Walton Arts Center to where they can not have to build a performing arts hall but use the one that already exists,” Coody said Friday. “I just think that’s an option that should be looked into.”

Terr i Trotter, inter im president of the Walton Arts Center, said the possibility of sharing space with the school in the near term would be challenging but that she saw possibilities in the concept of that sharing.

“We’re pretty full,” Trotter said. “That would be challenging in the near term, but conceptually and for the long haul, absolutely. I think there’s plenty of opportunity.”

She said the concept has been discussed between representatives of the school district and the arts center as part of the Walton Arts Center feasibility study.

“It’s definitely a concept we have been stirring around,” Trotter said.

She said the arts center has been looking at the need in the community for spaces.

“That’s the issue that we’re addressing with the feasibility study. We have more people interested in using the space than we have space available,” Trotter said.

Wilbourn said the district wants to consider all possibilities.

“ We know we need a much larger space,” he said.

Wilbourn said the auditorium at the high school will only seat 360, which severely limits use by all of the fine arts programs.

The only place right now that the Fayetteville High School band can meet all in one place is outside on the football field, Wilbourn said. There is no room at the high school big enough for the band to practice together.

“To have a facility the size of Baum Walker Hall would be fantastic,” he said.

Like Coody, he sees that using the arts center space could mean not having to build something similar on the limited space of the current high school site.

“Nothing is off limits to consider how we can make this a 21st-century high school, right here on this site.”

Publication:Northwest Arkansas Times;  Date:Sep 7, 2008

BY DUSTIN TRACY Northwest Arkansas Times

Within three weeks a site selection team could make an announcement about the future home of the Northwest Arkansas Science Museum.

Brent Robinson, acting executive director for the museum foundation, said that the selection committee carefully reviewed around 15 possible sites in Benton and Washington counties and narrowed it down to five finalists.

“We’ve zeroed in on a couple of those sites,” Robinson said.

The selection process started shortly after the May 16 request for proposal deadline. Robinson said the committee spent the past three months checking the sites and picking them out based on the qualifications laid out in the foundations request for proposals.

The whole idea for the museum was driven by the late John Lewis, former president of the Northwest Arkansas Museum Foundation. Lewis said he wanted to create a world-class science center that would inspire children in the sciences, enable adults to navigate the 21st century, and See SITE, page A7 do it all through the lens of the Ozarks, the people, the culture and the innovations. In 2004, Lewis started working toward getting a science museum in Northwest Arkansas.

The museum foundation’s Web site claims the museum will include traveling exhibits, learning and research centers, Web programs, themed galleries and learning pods for young children and toddlers to enjoy their first experience with science.

It said visitors will be immersed in cutting-edge scientific discovery through live science forums and citizen science projects. Delta Exhibits, or exhibits designed to evolve over time, will entice visitors to be active participants in the scientific community, working with real scientists and research students in countless fields to perform real and meaningful experiments. The people, cultures, history and innovations of the Ozarks will be an integral component of the museum.

Robinson said the selection committee hopes to streamline a few things before it announces the future home of the museum. He said a Web site for the actual museum would hopefully be set up on the day of the announcement so people wishing to know more about the location could visit the site and have some of their questions answered.

“It’s kind of a day-by-day thing,” Robinson said.

Publication:Northwest Arkansas Times;  Date:Sep 6, 2008

BY KEVIN KINDER Northwest Arkansas Times

There were songs to sing, but no way to sing them.

Then, in October of last year, two men had an idea. There should be an allmen’s choir, similar to those Michael Bedford had participated in while he lived in Texas. A few weeks later, the group had a governing board. After a few months of auditions, the group had a roster of 37 members.

It’s been a busy year for the Singing Men of Arkansas, an all-men’s volunteer choir that had its first public performance in February at the First United Methodist Church in Springdale. Since then, the group has performed several more times, including at an Aug. 8 fundraiser for presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. John McCain.

All this after a bit of uncertainty from Bedford, the group’s director and a former music minister at a local church who has many years of experience directing choirs. But he knew there were talented male voices in the area, and he knew there was a lack of a similar outlet in the area as well.

“I didn’t know what to expect. I was hopeful it would take off,” he said.

The Singing Men of Arkansas is founded on the idea that even though the members are not paid for the shows, the results of the combined voices can be professional.

“We wanted to have not just a choir that gets together and tries to sound decent, we want something outstanding,” Bedford said.

Bedford expects hard work from each of the members of the choir, but says the vocalists also have fun in the process.

“I don’t find many people who approach things haphazardly are those having fun. … We work hard together, and we accomplish something wonderful together,” he said.

Part of that fun comes from the friendships the members of the choir have made among their ranks. Vocalists come from not only the larger cities in the area, but also outlying towns such as West Fork, Huntsville, Lowell, Prairie Grove and more, bringing together people who might not otherwise meet.

The members are not just diverse in the towns they live in. One of the members, Bedford said, has experience singing in Broadway productions in New York City. Others have only the work of a church choir on their singing resume.

It is the director’s firm belief that anyone can learn to sing. He finds that many men are discouraged not only by the stereotype that male singers are “sissies” but also by those in their past.

“One of my greatest irritations is that so many men have missed out on being able to use their voices because someone has told them, ‘You can’t sing.’” Bedford said.

“In order to match a pitch, you have to do a little work, and that’s why people spend a lifetime to get good at singing.”

Oh, and make no mistake about it, this group is not made up of sissies — several of the members ride motorcycles to the group’s weekly practices at George Junior High School in Springdale.

As a unit, the men sing a wide variety of tunes, ranging from American classics to gospel to more contemporary cuts by artists such as Billy Joel. The group has also recently expanded its knowledge of patriotic songs as it expects to be called upon to sing at more political functions during the election season. Since just as many of the members are Democrats as Republicans, Bedford said his group would welcome the chance to perform at a rally for the Democratic presidential hopeful.

But concerts for highcaliber guests are not the main goal of the Singing Men of Arkansas, Bedford explained.

“Our goals are musical, and the byproducts will come,” he said.

To help build the program, the group is always looking for new members and plans two audition periods each year. One of those takes place Sept. 2, and prospective members are asked to visit the group’s Web site at www. singingmenofarkansas.org for a list of membership requirements and an application form.

All auditions are conducted privately.

“We don’t want people to be intimidated,” Bedford said. “The majority of folks who audition have a great chance of making it.”

The membership requirements are minimal, but a certain amount of time spent rehearsing is expected from all the members.

Of course, if things keep going the way they are, potential members might need to save a lot of dates — the group is already booked through April 2010.

“I do have big aspirations for the group, and they are achieving in many ways,” Bedford said.

Publication:Northwest Arkansas Times;  Date:Aug 24, 2008

By Richard Dean Prudenti
The Morning News

FAYETTEVILLE - Picture this …

Students clustered in groups of three or four. A harmonious hum fills the classroom while participants in lively conversation simultaneously interpret an image by modern artist Joseph Cornell.

J.T. WAMPLER THE MORNING NEWS Cathy Von Hatten, left, and Shirley Gorman team up to refine their writing Thursday July 31, 2008 during an activity called Classifying Art at the Walton Arts CenterÕs Arts With Education Institute.

Is it chaos or the sounds of learning?

SARAH BERRETT THE MORNING NEWS Sean Layne speaks with local teachers about alternative ways to teach students to study for stardardized testing during a workshop titled “Putting Drama to the Test” as part of the Arts With Education Institute at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville Tuesday July 29, 2008.

“Most of us come to the table thinking the quiet classroom is the well-behaved classroom,” said Sean Layne, a national workshop presenter for The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ Partners in Education program.

“The arts can’t happen in silence,” he said. “We have to share our thoughts, negotiate meaning, compromise and collaborate.”

Playing the role of students, 20 educators from Northwest Arkansas discovered how integrating the arts in curriculum can be the best practice for learning. A variety of teachers including general classroom, art, music, English language and gifted and talented instructors attended the 17th annual Arts with Education Institute at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville, July 28-Aug. 1.

The principles of arts integration apply to any age, so college professors also learned how they, too, can frame their classrooms lessons using drama, poetry, music and the visual arts.

Traditional teachers expect students to read a text, memorize content and regurgitate information. Assessment comes via verbal questions and answers, tests of multiple choice and short answer questions, and graded papers.

In arts integration, the teacher pushes the desks to the side and creates a level playing field where students learn from each other in groups. Interaction enlivens the subject matter for authentic learning.

“Arts integration is not another way to learn, but a more powerful way,” Layne said.

Reaching For The Stars

Virginia Scheuer of Theatre Squared in Fayetteville analyzed Cornell’s shadowbox painting, “Ideals Are Like Stars,” 1957-58, in her small group in preparation for a theatrical performance that would assess participants’ understanding.

“Why do you think the artist included a ram in the painting?” one group members asked.

The ram’s placement seemed awkward on the back of the “seafaring man on the ocean desert of waters.” Then, Scheuer said, “It’s almost as if the ram jumped on his back, commanding his attention.”

Aha!

“Art is a venue that prompts you to think,” said Melanie Layne, an arts integration specialist at the Bailey’s Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences in Fairfax County, Va. “We are gathering information and sharing ideas. My favorite question is, ‘What can you add to that?’”

Melanie Layne and Sean Layne are married, and together they tour the nation encouraging teachers to make the arts “unavoidable.”

“Even though arts integration is best practice, and all the research says to teach this way, it’s not the dominant way of teaching,” she said.

Coupled with the arts, Sean Layne introduced games that strengthened the group’s concentration and cooperation - life skills that he said are rarely explicitly taught in schools. Conversation requires concentration and group problem-solving requires cooperation.

Throughout the week the teachers exercised their imaginations through the use of their bodies. One-minute challenges, for example, resulted in the creation of “tableaus” - French for “picture” - ranging from representations of the color red to scenes from a tale from Greek mythology, Jason and the Argonauts.

“It’s not enough for students to read something and say, ‘I understand it.’ Do they really understand it? If you have to make a picture of it with your body, then I can really be able to tell that you understood it,” Sean Layne said.

“Lock your eyes. Freeze your body,” he often asked the teachers.

By week’s end, teachers interpreted and recreated in tableau “Ideals Are Like Stars” as a way to enhance their study of Jason and the Argonauts.

Jason’s Journey

The Walton Arts Center is bringing a Jason and the Argonauts performance - complete with action figures - to the stage as a family fun event Oct. 29. This is the reason the Laynes chose the story as a basis for training at the institute.

Jason and the Argonauts are on a journey to the land of Colchis (the end of the world) to break the curse of war, misery, blood and madness that has terrorized the island of Iolca, his homeland, for 20 years. Hercules is the captain and the men on board the Argo are called the Argonauts. Their task: to capture the golden fleece.

Cornell’s painting wasn’t created as a depiction of Jason’s journey. It does have elements that make appropriate connections to the story.

A closer observation reveals two rams in the painting. Why are the rams important, and why should they be part of the tableau?

“When something is on your back, it pushes you forward,” said Tina Hoisington, who teaches literacy for fifth- and sixth-graders at Old High Middle School in Bentonville.

Hoisington interpreted the rams as innocence and experience Jason needs for a successful journey. Notice the interpretation in the excerpt from a poem the teachers created, titled, “Jason’s Conflicting Guidance”:

“Where do I go?

Who do I trust?

Jason, calm down!

Take a deep breath,

trust yourself,

and you will find your way.

Innocence and experience

launch Jason’s journey.

… White light brightens the night.

Jason has rigged me to the stars

and I will connect him to his destiny.”

The class pieced together the poem from interpretations made while in small groups, following the formula, “When I see ‘x’ it makes me think of ‘y.’”

Each participant represented an object in the painting, and the group negotiated consensus on interpretations. The teachers then assigned to each other words or lines from the poem and performed the tableau for other educators following a teachers’ luncheon on the institute’s last day.

The show featured 21 additional tableaus, three per small group, that presented the story of Jason’s adventures according to a prepared text.

The groups selected their parts according to this riddle: “Everyone has to speak, everyone can’t say everything, and there is a little piece of each sentence that everyone has to say together.”

“Having no prior experience in acting at all, I felt that having a few lines was a doable thing. So I felt comfortable doing this,” said Cathy Von Hatten, an art teacher at Root Elementary School in Fayetteville.

Performance culminates the learning experience as much as it includes others in the learning process.

Mary Lou Miller, who taught first grade for many years at Root, responded to the final performance: “I think that is was amazing they could do this in such a short period of time. It’s unbelievable,” she said.

The teachers brought the story of Jason and the

Argonauts to life within a matter of hours.

All the more amazing was the equality of performance, said Missy Kincaid, director of donor engagement at the Walton Arts Center.

Normally one or two actors stand out as “stars,” but in this case, “You all truly made us believe that you couldn’t have done it alone. And, I think in your classroom that is going to be truly effective,” Kincaid said.

Lasting Effect

Laura Goodwin, the Walton Arts Center’s director of learning and engagement, said arts integration reaches all types of learners.

Goodwin asked the teachers, “Are you going to ever forget the details of Jason and the Argonauts?”

The teachers said the visuals, the movements and the sounds would have a lasting effect.

Jason arriving at the palace of King Phineas is a case in point. Phineas would not help Jason unless Jason rid the palace of the maddening Harpies who were tormenting the king. Hoisington was one of two teachers who represented the monstrous half-woman, half-bird creatures.

The siren-like way the Harpies spoke their names three times according to the text impresses the mind. “Can’t you just hear the sounds of the Harpies?” she said in a group reflection. She said the arts help “internalize” content.

Kassie Misiewicz, executive artistic director for Tricycle Theater for Youth in Bentonville said that arts integration breaks open the performance.

“So it’s not about the product in the end, but it’s about the learning that takes place” throughout the journey, Misiewicz said.

Her dream is that students will settle for nothing less.

“Wouldn’t it great for these students who learn (through arts integration) to become the experts?” Misiewicz said. “Then it’s not the teachers anymore saying, ‘This is our thing.’ It’s the students and parents saying, ‘This is the way we do it.’”

At A Glance

100 Percent Schools

Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville has been creating partnerships with public schools so that every student in participating elementary and middle schools can see a live theater performance of music, dance or other cultural experience each year.

Information: 443-9216 or www.waltonartscenter.org.