NEWS RELEASE

City of Goodyear, Arizona

Communications Office

For Immediate Release: Jan. 31, 2012

Arts Interact Reception at Goodyear City Hall on Feb. 13

GOODYEAR, Ariz. (Jan. 31, 2012) Join us for a special reception for Arts Interact, an art program for special needs students from Desert Edge High School, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 13 at Goodyear City Hall. The project is funded by Arizona Public Service. For more information, contact Dianne Cripe, Public Art Specialist for the City of Goodyear, at 623-882-7809 or dianne.cripe@goodyearaz.gov.

Phoenix artist Tessa Windt led students with disabilities in this art project, which she has titled ?Zoom In.? Zoom In invited participating students from the Life Skills class in the Special Education department at Desert Edge High School to discover the creative potential in the details of their immediate day-to-day environment. Students explored their world up close and extracted forms and textures to use as source material for their own sculptural artworks. After this exploration, students chose a small sample area to enlarge. Zoom In emphasized layering and low relief sculptural techniques, offering students a creative process that is individualized, flexible and forgiving. With the option to always add more layers, artworks were able to grow in depth while students built confidence in their own creative capacities.

Project sessions included demonstrations, material experimentation, hands-on time, creative decision-making and observation-based group discussion. As students created their artworks they learned techniques and skills for creating texture, manipulating tactile media, using digital images as reference and collage material, building low relief sculpture and creating mixed media collage. They learned and applied a vocabulary of 2- and 3-D design principles including: scale and proportion, repetition and rhythm, balance, unity and variety. Materials used included papier-mâché, textural elements, fabrics, papers and paints.

The resulting wall-hung sculptural artworks are now on exhibit and displayed for the public at Goodyear City Hall. The art presentation provides an important opportunity for participating students to take pride in their artworks, celebrate their creative capacity and present a personal view into the world they inhabit. In viewing the students? artworks, the public is invited to see the world through the eyes of these young people. Special thanks are extended to APS, the City of Goodyear, Desert Edge High School, and all those who have generously contributed their time, resources and talents to this project.