As a part of a month-long celebration of Arts in Education month, the Rockford Area Arts Council is publishing stories on this blog, both informative and personal about the importance of the arts in education.
Below is a story about local artist, Phyllis Peterson and how teaching art has enriched her life and the lives of her students.
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Phyllis Peterson of Machesney Park has worked for the Rockford Area Arts Council for 15 years. During that time she has taught creative writing for 5 years to a group of 6 physically challenged adults who have produced at least 7 books of anywhere from 35 to 55 pages each. She learned so much from these creative human beings who were socially aware, service minded and greatly empathetic, though many had received insults from people who were unknowing and uncaring. One of her students typed his stories one letter at a time with his nose. Another pointed to letters, words and phrases on an alphabet board that covered his wheel chair, thus dictating his stories to her. And yet another was able to type on a computer that anticipated her thoughts as she slapped one of four pods on her desk with a spastic arm.
She also taught at Ellis School before it became the Arts Academy, where she had to pick up broken whiskey bottles and drug needles to protect her students from harm in her outdoor class one summer. Today she is still at Ellis Elementary Arts Academy, teaching card making and miniature murals with rubber stamps and photographs, painting, and storytelling. She has thrilled students by teaching them the independent art of marbelizing paper. Then scanning the marbelized sheet into her computer to make a 4 X 6 photograph of each child’s work, which would then be glued to a 5 X 7 greeting card.
A storytelling stint at Montague Public Library Branch resulted in 9 of her stories portraying women and girls as heroes, being published in one book, “The Heroic Female Spirit.” She has a CD that she has produced, “Don’t be a Bully, Be a Buddy!”, which the children love to listen to in the background during her classes. She wrote the lyrics, the music and sings while her daughter plays the guitar.
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To learn more of what you can do to support the arts in schools, contact the Rockford Area Arts Council:
Phone: 815-963-6765
website: www.artsforeveryone.com
