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48 °F Forecast | Road Cams Monday, April 18, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend April 18, 2005 Jessica Hassell, 12, works on a Meso-American gourd mask at Jacksonville Elementary School Thursday. Thanks to parent volunteers, Jacksonville and Ruch students get weekly art classes from master artists in various media. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Learning through art Volunteer program allows Jacksonville students to try methods used by masters By ANITA BURKE Mail Tribune A group of parent volunteers has turned a Jacksonville Elementary School classroom into a busy art studio where sculptures in clay, wire and wood, and portfolios of drawings, paintings and collages line the shelves. Last week, sixth-grade students made Meso-American masks by painting dried gourds with stylized faces like those seen in Mayan, Incan and Aztec cultures. This week they’ll finish their masks with fringes of feathers. Cameron Makiling, an 11-year-old who has painted his gourd Oregon State orange to create what’s probably the world’s first Aztec-style Beaver mask, wanted to know if his mask could have feather whiskers. "We can work that out," said Tami Lohman, Jacksonville mom and watercolorist who heads the volunteer art program. Her can-do attitude when it comes to art education has created a curriculum that introduces students to master artists and their techniques, then lets youngsters put their knowledge to work in watercolor, ink, fabric, wood and clay. Advertisement She’s enlisted 116 volunteers who present weekly classes for every grade from January through April. Fellow volunteer Sarah Ball coordinates a program using the same teaching materials at Ruch Elementary. "We wouldn’t have art if we weren’t willing to be here and do it," Lohman said. The Medford school district always has relied on regular classroom teachers to provide art lessons alongside core subjects such as reading, math, science, social studies. "All of us teachers have taught art, but we didn’t have that much time and energy to put into it," said Cindy Schubert, a third-grade teacher who’s also Jacksonville’s head teacher. Tight budgets, increasing class sizes, reduced help from teaching assistants and a focus on meeting state benchmarks on standardized tests have only made art projects more difficult in recent years, she said. Lohman said art was always her favorite class in school, but, as the first person in her family to attend college, she decided she had to focus her higher education on something practical. Ultimately she earned a master’s degree in public policy and management and got an economic-development job. When she took time off after her children were born, her husband encouraged her to follow her art dreams. She started volunteering with an art program at a Portland elementary school when her daughter, Ali, now a fifth-grader, was in kindergarten. A self-described "Type A perfectionist," Lohman analyzed the collection of projects parents did there and organized them so students got a good overview of art styles and techniques. Two years ago, the Lohman family moved to Jacksonville and Tami Lohman contacted Jacksonville Elementary Principal Bob Goerke about starting a volunteer art program here. Last spring she ran a pilot art program for her son Adam’s second-grade class, wowing Jacksonville teachers and parents with the projects the kids did. "We were seeing what they could do with her instruction and we were excited from the beginning," Schubert said. This year the school’s parent-teacher organization funded the program, which cost about $4,500, or roughly $12 per student, for supplies. Businesses also offer discounts and financial help to the program, Lohman said. During the fall, Lohman fine-tuned her lessons to suit each grade level and worked with teachers to include ties to their other classroom activities. Then she trained volunteers to teach the classes. "It’s been fabulous," said volunteer Holly Herick, a graphic artist whose son is in the sixth grade. Herick studied art in college, but she didn’t have a teaching background. She said Lohman’s art lessons are easy to teach, something Schubert also praised. They also give kids a good foundation of art knowledge and a chance to think creatively. "I really see kids bloom," Herick said. "Kids that might not do so great academically love this. We’re able to teach them. It’s not just play, but if you teach while they play and have fun, they remember it." Reach reporter Anita Burke at 776-4485, or e-mail [email protected] . Art exhibit planned What: " Art Fantastic," an exhibit featuring several works every Jacksonville Elementary student made in this year’s volunteer-based art program. When: 5 to 8 p.m. May 5. Where: The school gym, 655 Hueners Lane, Jacksonville. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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