Local artists teach for ACSA Artist in Residence

At the end of the school year teachers at Nome’s charter middle school, Anvil City Science Academy, changed things up for their students with an artist in residence program.

In a science lab-turned sewing room, students sat at sewing machines and stood at tables, working away at their individual sewing projects.

Sewing instructor Crystal Lie freehand cut out pockets for a parka while she simultaneously coached students through how to make one of their own.

In the past the artist in residence brought a single creator to Nome to teach the two-week program. This year, teachers invited local Nome artists to lead a few different classes for the program at the end of May.

Students chose between beading, music, Inupiaq language, art, crochet, stop motion animation, and parka sewing. Lie said cultural sewing is an important skill to continue to pass on, commenting,

“Sewing, cultural sewing,...not very many people do it," Lie said. "It's growing, but it's definitely a skill that the young ones need to learn so they can carry on and pass it down and whatnot.”

Rachel Ventress, a teacher at Anvil City,  said allowing kids to choose their class gave them ownership and kept them excited and focused.

“They got to pick something based on their interests,” Ventress said. “Something like that really promotes engagement, and it helps kids not to just check out from school the last couple weeks of the year.”

In a classroom next door, students premiered their stop motion animation video projects on the big screen. Down the hallway Nome-based artist Chris Rowe helped students finish a mural of the state of Alaska. A large grid on the mural overlapped the state’s outline as students painted the squares with scenes or artifacts. Rowe said the students deserved all the credit.

“They measured and taped the squares,” Rowe said. “I gave them some suggestions but they did all the work. I did not paint any of this. They painted everything.”