SOUTH OTSELIC – Eighteen students in the Otselic Valley School District had the chance to participate in a new and different type of class this semester. The students took part in a class titled “Listening with the Heart,” and during the week of May 21-25, they will have the chance to display the work they completed throughout the fall semester.
The class, “Listening with the Heart,” was taught jointly by art teacher Mary Helen Blake and English teacher Michael Foor-Pessin. Throughout the semester, the students created two major pieces of art work, a mask and a large acrylic painting.
“These fabulous works of art are the products of a semester-long investigation into the disciplines of studio art, communications, psychology, and cultural anthropology,” Foor-Pessin and Blake explain in a write-up for the art show. According to the release, the students studied the philosophy of a Vietnamese philosopher, Thich Nhat Hanh, and learned about compassion, loving kindness, mindfulness and meditation “to identify their internal energy centers.”
The students also investigated symbolism for their first project entitled “The Person Behind the Mask.” The mask sculpture work was used to show the difference between reality and appearance. “The mask captures that world we choose to show others, while the sculptures represent the realm of the spirit heart, that inner landscape that is often hidden from view,” the write-up explains.
For the acrylic painting project, students utilized techniques commonly found in the Eastern Woodland School of Native American painting. The goal of the project was for each student to create a narrative of their life, through shape, color and symbolism.
“Learning with the Heart,” was funded by a grant from The Catskill Regional Teacher Center and the Chenango County Council of the Arts.
The art work will be on display at the coffee shop, Chenango Coffee Roasters, located on County route 26 in South Otselic. The display will be up exhibited from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.