Week 12: April 10, 2020

This pandemic is unlike anything that I have experienced in my lifetime, and I am having difficulty finding ways to ground myself in this moment in time. As I am working through this process of understanding, grounding myself in this new reality, grieving many losses—I am also thinking about the many artists who I have worked with throughout the past few months. I have met and bonded with incredible artists who are kind, compassionate and hardworking. Some of these artists are folks who could be experiencing the worst of COVID-19’s repercussions because of housing instability, pre-existing health conditions, disability status, age, the effects of structural racism, lack of access to health care, loss of income and loss of community. It is heartbreaking to know the artists who found community and comfort from services provided at Avivo and MSS no longer have access to them, at least temporarily. It is even more heartbreaking to think what they may or may not be facing alone.

I have been in contact with Hannah from MSS and will be working on a virtual lesson for when folks come back. In my personal art practice, I have been sewing some face masks, but otherwise having a difficult time creating.

Week 11: March 10: Finishing touches on Avivo Mural!

Avivo Artworks Program—Jes Reyes—Adults—6 hours

On Tuesday I spent the day at Avivo working with folks to finish the mural!

In the morning, I worked with collective members on adding details to the center of the mural, and cleaning up edges. We talked a lot about how to add detail and collaborate without covering or completely altering other peoples contributions—sometimes when we are used to working on our own paintings, it’s easy to get in the zone and want to take things over when inspiration strikes!

At 2 pm, the Artworks Collective members had a private meeting, so I brought paints and paint markers into the entry way and invited community members to participate. Jes had made announcements over the loud speaker that people were free to come contribute to the mural, but many community members were wary of doing so until being directly invited. Luckily, the mural is close to the bathroom downstairs, and so as people would slowly walk and look at the mural on their way to the restroom, it was easy to say hello and invite them to join. A lot of folks would respond by saying ‘Oh, no, that’s the collectives, I’m not really a good artist’ but after further discussion the same people saying this would end up adding amazing contributions a few moments later. One man asked if he could put anything on the mural, and I said go for it! and he wrote at the top of one of the rays “I need you” over and over—something so beautiful and simple that really changed the course of the mural. I encouraged him to keep going, and he ended up adding many repeating words and phrases to the rays using a paint marker.

During the design stage, the group had talked about wanting to incorporate text, and this person who wrote on the rays had no idea and found the perfect way of incorporating it. There was also someone who came along and said he felt that he didn’t feel like the mural represented him. I invited him to join but he was adamant that he did not want to use paints or markers, so we decided he would tell me what to write and I would write it. We had a long discussion about what Avivo means to him and added “communal holy ground” under all are welcome here. He then stayed while others painted and read his poetry. There were many beautiful moments that happened throughout this lesson naturally, and I felt especially on Tuesday that in smaller more informal groups, folks were able to open up and really connect with one another.

Week 10: March 1-7: Avivo Mural Workshop!

Avivo Artworks Program—Jes Reyes—Adults—8 hours

This week I taught the mural workshop at Avivo! On Tuesday, I worked with the same group of artists from the collective to finalize the mural design and transfer it to the wall. Before meeting with the artists, I took their designs from last week and combined them to create a digital design that could be easily projected onto the wall. The Artists and I discussed the design, the elements that were used from each persons original design, and made some final adjustments using my tablet before projecting the design on the wall. Before we drew on the wall, I suggested that we wipe the wall down to clear it of any dust or scuff marks so we would have a clean surface to paint onto. Unfortunately, the smell of the cleaning products aggravated one of the artists chemical sensitivities and they were not able to participate in drawing the design on the wall. This was really frustrating and something I should have considered before we began prepping the wall—it was a learning moment for myself and for the collective artists on how to consider the ways we can make spaces and activities accessible or inaccessible for different people.

On Friday, we had the Mural Workshop! It was well attended—Jes said that there wast 12 members who came through during the workshop to learn and help paint. I spoke at the beginning about the process of creating the murals I have previous made, and then moved into a demo about the materials and strategies for painting on the wall with different brushes. Artists were learning about scaling up artwork as well as collaboration and community practices. Many artists were excited and expressed a lot of feelings of power and ownership over the space because of the ability to paint on the actual wall. It was an empowering experience that completely changed the environment of the room leading into the studios.

Week 9: February 24-29: Avivo

Avivo Artworks Program—Jes Reyes—Adults—4 hours

This week I went to Avivo to work with the artists there on designing a mural for a wall in the entryway to the art studio. I worked with three artists who are part of the collective to try to generate a mural design which we can outline on the wall ahead of next Friday’s mural painting workshop. I began by showing the two murals that I have completed, and then showed images from local artist’s, Greta McClain’s, website. I wanted to talk about Greta’s work because she often does community murals and does a really great job of including people with a wide range of art abilities’ work in the final mural, something that the collective members and I are keeping in mind for the workshop. I asked the three artists to discuss key words and phrases that they felt were important to their experiences of Avivo’s artworks programming and wrote them down on a large sheet of newsprint. After that, we briefly discussed what visual elements we could use to communicate the words and themes that we had discussed, and then each artist broke off with their own sheet of newsprint to do a rough sketch of what their ideal version of the mural would look like. Afterwords, we came back together and each artist presented their sketch to the group. From there we decided that we wanted to focus on including a circle, tree, and rays of words related to the program. Folks learned how to collaborate with multiple artists as well as how their personal art practices can translate into community art practices.

Week 8: February 18-February 23: Midwest Special Services

Midwest Special Services — Hannah Foster — Adults—4 hours

This Friday I had the opportunity to spend some more time with the artists at MSS! Friday was different from other days that I have spent at MSS because folks did not switch programming groups after lunch—so almost everyone who was working in the art area before lunch also was there after lunch (most folks at MSS move between areas and have some time to be alone away from the groups, but at the beginning of each day everyone signs up for with areas of programming they would like to be in). Friday afternoon there was a moment when there were around ten artists working in the art area, which was really exciting because usually there is more like six folks working at a time. Most everyone was focused on independent projects. I spent some time with M., an artist who often does colorful marker drawings with some assistance with switching colors and taking on and off caps. M. was interested in working with a new medium and Hannah suggested he add to a collaborative piece that had been started earlier in the week. We decided to do some weaving into this collaborative piece, and to make the process more accessible, I taped the string down to a light wooden shuttle, covering all sides because the wood was not finished and I didn’t want him to get any splinters. Then I held the canvas over M.’s lap as he pushed the shuttle through, and once the shuttle was through I would ask if he would like me to rotate the canvas or not and we would continue. M. was learning a new skill (weaving) as well as seeing the ways multiple mediums can be used to create a dynamic piece. As we were working together I thought about my own experience in my weaving class that I am taking at MCAD, and the ways I had altered the process to make it more accessible to myself, and I considered how valuable it is to integrate my own personal practices or what I am learning with what activities I bring to the groups I teach.

Week 7: February 10-February 17: Identity Portrait Workshop

This week I didn’t end up scheduling any time at my two residencies but I was given a wonderful opportunity by one of my former teachers to help teach a workshop for a Faculty Development day at my old high school. The workshop was titled “Identity Portrait Making” and I assisted two other artists in crafting a lesson that would provoke attendants of the workshop to consider the different facets of their identities and how those effect their experience of the world. The workshop was separated into three activities. I gave a small artist talk at the beginning of the lesson about my work and showed two self portrait paintings I did at very different times in my life. I then spoke about and showed work from artists who make work about identity such as Kehinde Wiley, Jenny Saville and Delita Martin. The other facilitators and I had asked the attendants of the workshop to select a work of art they felt connected to and put it in a google drive folder or bring a physical copy of it to the workshop. Afterwards, one of the other facilitators and I lead a discussion with each person about their selected work.

In the second activity we asked participants to create an “identity orb”. Each participant drew a circle in pencil and divided it in to 8 segments, each of them representing a place or situation (home, the doctor, election day, interacting with police). Then, they were asked to list 6 identity facets and choose colored pencils to represent each of those facets on their circle. Participants then created gradients of fluctuating colors based on how much the different facets of their identity mattered in the 8 different settings, creating an abstract orb.

The third part of the workshop was spearheaded by Seexeng, one of the other facilitators. In Seexeng’s work he had created text portraits of himself and his mother, seen below:

Each participant was given a printed photo of themselves, graphite, sharpies, and drawing paper. We led them through the process of a graphite transfer and then using the outline given from the graphite transfer, in sharpie they wrote on the lines facets of their identity and important parts of their life. In the end, creating a similar portrait to Seexengs shown above.

It was exciting to see teachers of all ages and subject matters get excited about art and think critically about their own identities. Some folks chose to stray away from recognizing more serious parts of their identity, like their white privilege, and I think that if we were to do this workshop again we should consider ways to help folks lean into their discomfort. Overall, it was such an enriching experience to see teachers, some of whom had taught me when I was younger, become students again.

Week 6: February 2-February 9: Midwest Special Services

Midwest Special Services — Hannah Foster — Adults—4.5 hours

This week I spent Friday at Midwest Special Services in St. Paul! In the art area, artists were working on independent projects in drawing, painting and beading. I got to work with a couple new artists this week, which was really exciting. One of the artists I worked with was B. who liked to paint repeating words on paper. He wrote things like Hot Pockets, Fish Sticks, New Balance Shoes, FUBU T-shirts, Cowboy T-shirts, and Duffle Bags. He painted all day and was very focused on his work. B. was mostly a non-verbal communicator, but responded really well to encouragement and liked to mirror positive movements (for example, a thumbs up or a punch in the air for excitement) as a way of communicating and listening.

Another artist I worked with responded well to one on one time. He sat at a separate table where he worked on a marker drawing. He responded really well to questions about his work and what he might add next, and also enjoyed sharing his knowledge of different rappers. An artist who is almost always in the art area when I visit MSS, P. worked on beading pipe cleaners. P has limited vision, and she really enjoys using fuzzy pipe cleaners and grabbing beads out of a very full organizer. It is easy to see that tactility is important to her in her art process. Also happening in the hub (the open area where the art area is) was some Karaoke! Some artists wandered over and sang into a microphone a variety of songs. Something I have noticed about MSS is that the folks who attend the programming are free to take up as much space (physically and socially) as they want, which is really beautiful and joyful. It seems to be a really safe space for everyone to create bonds with one another and explore doing things that feel good and are satisfying. This is definitely present in the art programming.

A question I thought about again this week while at MSS was how do we learn others’ methods of communication? Hannah talked about how it’s all about learning what folks respond to and don’t respond to, and that it takes some trial and error, but what can help is noticing the way people choose to interact on their own terms. I also wondered about how much art facilitators can make suggestions or teach without interfering with an artist’s specific voice and technique? It was awesome to work with B, who was so motivated and focused, but I wondered if it would be appropriate to give him prompts of new words to write or techniques to try in his work. I wouldn’t have wanted to disrupt him or influence his artwork, but I also wondered if he would be interested in trying something new and didn’t have the ability to verbally communicate that interest to myself or Hannah. After working with him further, I understood that I could offer him new paint colors and he was able to communicate yes or no to me in his own way through movements and sounds.

Every time I work with artists at MSS, I feel re-invigorated to work on my own artwork because of the amazing passion and processes of the artists I have met--something I can imagine the artists also feel as everyone works alongside one another in the space on their independent projects. 

B’s artwork, all completed in one day!

Week 5: January 27-31: Residencies

Avivo Artworks Program—Jes Reyes—Adults—6.5 hours

This week I had the privilege of going to two COMPAS Teaching Artist workshops with Jes from Avivo! On Monday, I attended a workshop titled Accessibility in Action: Inclusive Techniques for Teaching In and Through the Arts. What I really appreciate about this workshop was that many arts organizations working with people with disabilities were in attendance, and each organization had both teaching artists and the artists they work with in attendance. In addition, one of the teaching artists leading the workshop was a person who had been through upstream arts programming as a participant and now works as a teaching artist. I felt that because of the many backgrounds in the room, this was a really valuable and informative learning environment. The workshop began with a presentation which talked about best practices while working with people living with disabilities. Some key points that I wrote down in my notes were: 

• Assume Ability: Often folks who work with artists with disabilities focus on what they assume people can’t do. Assuming ability allows everyone to explore what they can do and what they want to share, and then you can adjust your activities as needed. 

• Assume Participation: People listen and participate in many different ways! Don’t assume someone who is quietly observing is not participating, and be flexible to the many forms that activities may take. Participation should be optional: you do what you want to do and you have the voice to say no. 

• Consent: “My body belongs to me, your body belongs to you” Know that assistive devices are extensions of the body. Always ask before touching anyone or their assistive device. Learn how people say no if they do not verbalize it the same way you do. 

• While teaching, talk less, do more! Demonstrating activities and narrating what you are doing increases understanding. When giving instructions, always limit them to 3 steps because any more we will all miss or forget. 

These points were not only discussed but showcased during the presentation. Between each powerpoint slide, there was an activity that everyone could participate in that demonstrated what we were talking about. It kept everything very engaging, and you could see that everyone in the room was building a deeper understanding of what was happening because folks would participate more during the powerpoint discussions, sharing how they feel and their own experiences. Two artists from Avivo’s artworks collective were also present and learned more about teaching and working with folks with disabilities--something that they can use to further their own artistic careers. 

On Friday, I attended a workshop lead by Jes about working with folks who live with mental illness. We learned about many common mental illnesses and also specific techniques for creating a safe environment for everyone to learn. I am so thankful to Jes for including me in both workshops!

Midwest Special Services — Hannah Foster — Adults—2.5 

On Wednesday, I met Hannah and some of the artists from MSS at Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center! This was the last day that this specific group of artists would be working at CAFAC. Artists worked on cleaning off their beads from the previous week’s visit and then used them to make bracelets, necklaces, key chains and earrings. Everyone contributed one of their beads that they made to create a macrame plant hanger to hang up at MSS’s St Paul location. Artists learned how they could use the beautiful glass beads they made to create objects that could be worn and used everyday. They also learned about contributing to a collaborative project, thinking critically about what they wanted to share and what went where. A question that came up for me was how does one teach collaborative art and individual practice in a balanced way during one session? I felt the teaching artist at CAFAC balanced this beautifully, because each artist completed a personal item and worked on the plant hanger.

Week 4: January 20: Avivo Residency

Avivo Artworks Program—Jes Reyes—Adults—2.5 hours 

This week was the beginning of spring semester classes at MCAD! I didn’t get a chance to work with the artists who I have been assisting at Avivo and Midwest Special Services this week, but I did attend Avivo’s employee and volunteer orientation on Wednesday. It was really interesting to hear more about Avivo’s mission and history, and also exciting to meet people who work at Avivo outside their artworks program. This meeting really confirmed for me what an incredible organization Avivo is, and how many individuals and families they help. Though I was in class a lot of this week, it felt good to reconnect with my practice, something that has been giving me insight on to what workshops I might like to lead at Avivo and MSS. I talked with Jes about doing a collaborative art piece for the workshop at Avivo because many of the members have expressed interest in doing “inclusive art” which has a collaborative community aspect. I am looking forward to talking with Hannah at MSS about a few ideas as well.

Week 3: January 13: Residencies

Midwest Special Services — Hannah Foster — Adults—10 hours (over two days)

This week on Tuesday and Wednesday I worked with the artists at Midwest Special Services! It was really great to come back and see the artists who I had previously met and begin to form more of a relationship with them. On Tuesday I came in for open studio time in the morning. Most of the artists were working on self directed projects and my role was just to assist and help provide access to things folks needed if they were not able to access them themselves. Two of the artists who were there on Tuesday were working on paintings. Both artists were very enthusiastic and excited about their art, and had done many previous paintings. Something that was unique about working with these artists was it was extremely process oriented--most of the time they would both paint the canvas or paper a solid color and then ask to do another which resulted in a large number of works by the end of the day. These two artists, as many of the artists at MSS do, value the way it feels to create and enjoy the process over stressing about an end solution. Because of the large quantity of paintings, sometimes what I offered was one of their previous pieces asking if they would like to add more layers. Sometimes it took bringing over 5 or 6 pieces before they would find one they wanted to add more to. It was really exciting to see two people so enthralled with their work and to help them keep making. On Wednesday we went on an outing to Chicago Fire Arts. These artists had already previously been to this location and worked with the teaching artist there on creating glass beads. I loved seeing this teaching artist work with the MSS artists because she was very patient and also gave each artist full independence to work on their beads even though there was risk involved because of the fire and hot glass. She worked one on one with each artist and while she was doing that Hannah and I worked with the other artists on beading and cleaning off their beads they made last visit. The artists were not only learning a new skill (making glass beads) they were learning about combining patterns and colors to create compelling ensemble--something that is applicable to many different forms of art and curation. One of the artists we went with chose not to engage during the demonstration using the fire torch. Hannah allowed this artist to do her own thing and didn’t push her to engage, and eventually this artist ended up doing the activity anyways and really enjoying it. This made me think about the best way to engage folks in these settings without pushing their limits--in this case Hannah knew this artist well enough to understand she needed space, but it made me think about what to do in an instance where one did not know the artist as well.

Avivo Artworks Program—Jes Reyes—Adults—16 hours (over three days)

On Monday, Tuesday and Thursday I was at Avivo for open studio and the artist collective meeting. Most of the artists using the space were very self directed, so a lot of what I did was talk to folks about what they are making and if they asked for advice on how to do something technical I would assist them. Multiple artists got out their portfolios of work to show me after I inquired about their current project, which was really exciting to see so much artwork and folks development of ideas over time.

Week 2: January 6: Shadowing and Beginning Residency

Children’s Residential Treatment Center - Carmen Elate - Middle School and High School - 4.5 hours (1.5hours over 3 days)

This week I worked with Carmen at CRTC on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This week we introduced a new project which Carmen and I worked on together--Self portraits through altered books! This was a project that I did in high school which really made an impact on me. On Monday, students were shown a slideshow of examples of altered books and I brought in my book that I made when I was 16. Each student got to choose from a stack of hardcover books which Carmen got from the thrift store. Carmen asked each student to come up with a list of ten things they might do in their book before starting to work on them. Some students chose to do found poetry in the text already in their books, others chose to collage, some chose to paint and draw. Students were learning about incorporating text and imagery together--as well as creating the layout of a book and using found materials. Some students started by pasting poems that they liked in their books written by others, and soon after students chose to incorporate poems that they wrote in english class following the prompt “The first time I…”.  I think the most important lesson from this project is really learning how to allow for messiness--students were given freedom to do anything to an object that they maybe were taught to be precious or strict with. By giving students books that were from the thrift store--many of them vintage--students eagerly tore into the books and had complete ownership over making something new and personal. Many students chose to take their books with them outside of class to work on them further. I also think that the prompt of a self portrait allowed students to reflect on the past, present and future; one student chose to divide her book up by each year of her life so far. This project allowed for a lot of vulnerability and introspection. 

On Friday, I did a short demo on how to draw a realistic eye. Carmen suggested we do this exercise so students could practice their drawing skills and try to draw their own eyes to put in their books. Some students were really engaged during this demo, and others seemed to be less excited about it or maybe thought it felt remedial. Students followed along to the demo and then eagerly got back to doing whatever they wanted in their books. The second session, I got to work individually with a student on drawing an eye in her sketchbook. She was very interested in the tutorial I did for the group and asked me to do it again with her at her desk--by the end of the day she was very excited about her drawing! A question this raised for me is how do we find a happy medium between something foundational and something challenging for students who have more experience? 

Avivo Artworks Program—Jes Reyes—Adults—4 hours 

On Tuesday I had my first official day working with the artists at Avivo! I had met previously with Jes to tour the space and discuss Avivo’s values. Avivo has an open studio program and also a members only artist Collective, which meets on Tuesdays at 1 pm. Before the collective meeting, I shadowed Jes as she assisted one of the Collective members in entering her work into a juried exhibit. This entailed helping this artist write an artist statement for her piece through dictation and making sure that all of the appropriate forms were turned in and that her artwork was well documented. During the collective meeting, members went through some agenda items and did a brief check in on how they were doing and any new developments in their art careers. Members also discussed their hopes for the Collective and for their personal art careers going into 2020--some key words that came up were “Joy”, “Teaching” and “Movement”. Collective members also expressed that they would like to start doing more critiques, and so at the end of the meeting there was a small group critique of in progress pieces. The critique was very kind and supportive, and artists asked for specific feedback on different parts of their work. Each member was very excited about each others work. I mostly observed during critique, keeping in mind that I did not want to influence any ones art too much. A question this raised for me is, when working with adults in programs like Avivo’s, how do I provide support and learning opportunities while also recognizing that each artist should have complete agency over their artwork? I modeled my feedback after Jes and Christi (the studio facilitator) during this critique--this looked like asking questions about what the artist thought and what their motivations were. 

Midwest Special Services — Hannah Foster — Adults—6 hours

On Thursday I had my first official day at MSS. I was there from 9 am until 3 pm working with Hannah Foster, who runs the studio at the St Paul MSS Location. Most of the artists using the space were very self directed and knew what they wanted to do, which Hannah said is how most days are. Hannah had an optional planned activity for people to do if they were interested, which was cutting out shapes from black paper and putting them on a watercolor sunset to create silhouettes. Some folks were very interested in this and worked on their paintings until lunch time. A lot of what I did on Thursday was just getting to know folks and being a supportive person to whatever they wanted to do--this looked like helping folks get materials, talking about what they were making, answering questions about art and at times assisting with clean up. One artist told me all about her paintings that were about to go up in a show at a salon in St Paul, another artist mostly wanted to color and talk about her week. In the afternoon I worked with an artist who has some physical limitations and difficulty speaking on starting a paper mache piece. I held news paper up for him and he tore pieces off and showed me where to put them on the canvas. We worked on this for quite a while, and the process was very physically taxing on him, so eventually we decided to be done for the day and he worked on making a marker drawing. It was really great learning experience to work with him because he knew exactly what he wanted and had complete creative control, I just had to focus on listening and supporting him. It was a really great day meeting all of the awesome artists who use the space and working as their studio assistant. Some artists were very talkative and verbal, but there were a few artists who did not use speech to communicate--this made me consider how we can communicate with folks in other methods, and how might we do this in a workshop setting?

Week 1: December 16: Shadowing

Children’s Residential Treatment Center - Carmen Elate - Middle School and High School - 6 hours (1.5hours over 4 days)

Last week I met with Carmen Elate to discuss my shadowing of her at the Children’s Residential Treatment Center. Carmen introduced me to the other teachers at the center and showed me what the students had been working on. We also discussed possible end of semester projects and some other activities we could bring into the class--which was really exciting! 

When class began, I introduced myself to the students and answered questions about MCAD and being a teaching artist. For the rest of the session the students had studio time to work on projects of their choosing. Most of the students continued to work on some gouache paintings which they had started in a previous session. Students were given paper cut to the size of their canvases to sketch and plan out what they were going to paint. After completing this, each student was given three square canvases to paint with the intention of keeping one canvas for themselves, giving one to another person, and leaving one at school. On the canvases, students were asked to pair their paintings with a quote or saying that they found comforting, inspiring or motivating. While doing this students were learning the formal qualities of painting (how to make a composition, how to use and mix paint colors) and also to pair colors and images with emotions and text. One student worked on his canvas for a while but then became tired of it and wanted to sketch in his sketchbook. We talked about what he was drawing and he asked about how to draw superheroes and I talked with him about techniques used in figure drawing and how to draw accurate proportions in the figure. I ended up making a worksheet on scratch paper that he took with him so he could practice drawing later. This made me think about how to provide resources and information in different formats for students who process information at different speeds and different ways--what does that look like for creative practices like drawing and painting? 

On Wednesday I brought my pompom makers and some cardboard disks to make yarn pompoms. I had mentioned on Monday to Carmen that I had just finished making a sculpture out of pompoms and she thought it might be fun for the class. The first group of students was really excited about making pompoms and so I did a demo with the whole group and assisted individual students as they worked. One student chose to make their own cardboard disk that was bigger than the ones that I had made in order to try and make a bigger pompom and they were successful. Students were eager to ask question on ways they could continue making pompoms after the class was over so they could make a garland. Some students made bracelets out of the pompoms and others used them as hair ties. In the second group of students, only two students were initially interested in making pompoms so I did a smaller demo. After the first student made her first pompom, several other students changed their minds and also wanted to make pompoms. By the end of the session, one of the students who had been apprehensive left with pompoms hanging from his ears. 

By the end of the week (Friday) the students were making pompoms during any idle time they had in other classes and outside of class. One student brought in a box full of pompoms she had made to show me. It was really exciting to see how much everyone enjoyed making pompoms, and the many ways students used their pompoms. At the end of the second session, students are asked to state a color which correlates to how they are feeling--and on Friday many students stated green--a color that stands for happy and thankful. I loved how eager students were to continue their work outside of class and am excited to see what we do next! I realize that this could be more hands on than just shadowing, but because each group is only 6 or 7 students, it is really easy for Carmen communicate with the students and see when they are ready for something new to do and I was happy to bring something different in. I’ve included some photos of the students working on their pompoms, as well as their finished pompoms!