In an art classroom at Forest Brook Middle School, students closed their eyes and
listened to instrumental music as a
graduate student guided them to picture a person, place, moment or emotion.
The students began to sketch — one drew waves like the ocean, another a curve like a petal — and then dipped their paintbrushes onto their palettes to bring color to their visions. The activity was part of a workshop organized by the University of Houston College of Education and funded by a grant from the Arts Connect Houston Arts Action Fund.
“Watching students translate their inner worlds into images was powerful,” said Art Education Professor Sheng Kuan Chung, who led the initiative at the Houston ISD campus in the North Forest community. “Many of these young people carry a lot. Art gave them a language for it.”
The workshop, “Imagination Through Meditation and Illustration,” was designed to meet the state’s fine arts standards while going beyond a traditional assignment to incorporate social-emotional learning. About 160 students participated, each producing original artwork and a written statement reflecting their emotional journey.
“A student unable to express grief or anxiety in writing may capture it precisely in watercolor,” Chung said.
Shamatha Jackson, an art educator at Forest Brook Middle School, said she saw students gain more than creative techniques.
“One big shift I observed immediately was emotional regulation,” Jackson said. “I truly believe this skill will carry over [during] major tests, presentations, or any situation where nervousness usually takes over.”
Chung said the sequence of the lesson was intentional: “stillness first, expression second.”
“One hundred sixty students were invited to slow down, go inward and make something from what they found. That is not enrichment. That is transformation, and Arts Connect Houston made it possible,” he said.
— By Raúl Rosa Negrón
— Photos courtesy of Professor Sheng Kuan Chung