LOWELL AREA SCHOOLS - ARTIST RESIDENCY PROGRAMS
The Lowell Area Arts Council also supports the arts education programs of the Lowell Area Schools through visiting artist programs integrated into the arts and non-arts curriculum. The LAAC and the school administration recognize the importance of fashioning instructional programs that stimulate students¹ creativity, leading to increased student motivation and capacity for learning. Past residencies have included:

Unity High School Riverside Mural Project

This year the students and teachers at Unity High School worked with Lowell artist, Mary Kuilema to create a large exterior tile mural wall. One side of the freestanding wall depicts the Flat River area. The other side is a more abstract mosaic of the high school and environs. Students have made everything for the mural; contributing to its design, rolling out thin slabs of clay, glazing and breaking them into mosaic pieces, creating various naturalistic tile renderings of plants, flowers and fish, as well as bas relief self-portraits. The wall itself, with its small doorway, symbolizes transition and passage. The mosaic wall is 7’ high and 12’ long and is located along the Flat River just north of the Lowell Public Library on the Riverwalk.

Unity High School is an alternative high school in Lowell. In 2001-03 Woodruff worked with teachers and students in an integrated visual and writing arts program with local and statewide history studies. This program integrated the arts into the instruction of English literature, history and biology to produce student created visual/written books on the history of the City of Lowell and the history of the State of Michigan.

This project is sponsored by the Lowell Area Arts Council with financial support provided by Steelcase Foundation, Meijer Inc., Lowell Education Foundation, Alticor, Inc, Arts Council of Greater Grand Rapids, Overbeck Construction, Lowell Rotary Club and Lowell Women’s Club.

The Butterfly Project at Bushnell and Alto Elementary Schools

In 2002-03 the LAAC partnered with two of the district¹s elementary schools with an integrated curriculum program studying the transforming life cycle of the butterfly, its habitats and its visual design. Following the curriculum studies the students worked with artists to paint and embellish larger-than-life butterfly sculptures (4¹ wing-span). At the completion of the year-long program the Lowell community showcased 32 butterfly sculptures made by approximately 700 children in grades K - 5. At the completion of the project the butterfly sculptures where auctioned to the public to raise funds for future artist residency programs.

Steven Peters at Lowell High School

Steven Peters was an artist-in-resident at the Lowell High School for six weeks in Fall 2000. This residency included students from the following classes: Art II; Ceramics I ­ III; Media Production, and Technology. Each participating student completed an individual welded steel sculpture for display at a culminating exhibition at the high school. In addition, a select number of students created a collaborative steel sculpture for permanent outdoor installation near the west entrance to the Lowell High School.