This year I substitute taught several times at Explore Charter School in Brooklyn.
Most of the staff and students there knew I could draw and I offered to help
create art for Explore school's talent show, "Explore Idol."
Ms. Welch enjoyed the idea and here is some art I did...
First I created several posters for the event, I think 25 screenprinted.
It was inspired by the "American Idol" logo.
After those posters I created about 36 t-shirts with the
Explore Idol logo in a variety of colors for the students
and staff to wear.
Lastly, I was asked to paint a background inspired by a beach.
The background had to be BIG, 6' x 8', and I was only
given black paper to paint on. Also I only had 4 hours to do it, so I had the
students help me paint. Here are the results...
As you can see, the mural was too big to fit on my camera, but
it came out beautifully. The students did an excellent job with their help, I wish
I took pictures of the process.
Here it is hung outside.
And here are some students performing in front of it.
Working on this mural with the kids was my proudest moment being a substitute teacher this year. Many times this year, I had to tell the students to keep on task and control any misbehavior during my sub lessons. During this project, the students wanted to help me get this feat done and they did with such grace. They worked together and focused less on blaming each other on mistakes. If someone "screwed up", I would always come up with a solution to fix that problem. It was an amazing experience, which made me realize the importance of teaching and also helped me feel more close to the community of Explore Charter School.
