I would like to thank Mary Gutknecht for coming into my daughters Kindergarten class to teach them Visual Arts for a week. She was an artist-in-residence for Meadowvale students in the month of November. This was 100% supported through a grant. Students were taught how to draw 4 different kinds of animals. I was impressed with Matisse's lion (image above).
This visit was 100% funded by a CMAB grant.
Who wrote the grant?
I met Mary and was impressed. She told me that she is working on writing grants in order to be an approved artist-in-residence through the Minnesota Arts Board. She wrote the grant completely. I simply found Mary, gave my request and set the opportunity for Meadowvale to host this lovely woman.
Why did you ask Mary to come in?
As I have mentioned a few times... ISD 728 is not offering Kindergarten specialist (Art, Music, and PE) this year. The district has stated that they wanted to provide 'All day, Everyday' Kindergarten to all... This meant that they cut an hour of their education. The K's get out an hour early and they were able to save money by cutting specialist. I went through the seven stages of 'school district dismay' (if there were such a thing...) I was shocked, then angry, then sad, then angry... well you get the picture. After voicing my opinion to every person who would listen, I decided to back off a bit. I wasn't liking the person it appeared that I was becoming. So, I change it from anger to 'What can I do for my daughter this next year?' One solution was to bring in artist in residence for her and her classmate. So in a nut shell, this is why we have Mary this year and what a treat it was!
You want Mary to come to your school? Here is her contact information. Click Here
What a wonderful solution to the dilemma of Kindergarten cut-backs! The matted work is lovely and I'm sure the children had a fantastic experience.
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