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www.italoamericano.org 10 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2015 L'Italo-Americano C .I.A.O. is a unique art program offered by the Museo Italo Americano a n d i s a v a i l a b l e f o r a l l S a n Francisco middle schools. The name of the program is very easy to remember: Children's Italian Art Outreach (CIAO). The program started back in 1 9 8 2 , w h e n t h e M u s e o w a s located in North Beach, on the 3 rd floor of Casa Fugazi, on Green street. C.I.A.O. originat- ed from the creative mind of Paola Bagnatori, the present M a n a g i n g D i r e c t o r o f t h e Museo Italo Americano. At that time, several classes used to visit the Museo regularly. They were shown the current exhibit and then given an educational t o u r o f N o r t h B e a c h w h i c h , often times, ended up with a t a s t y s n a c k a t a n I t a l i a n bakery. In 1995, w hen the M us eo was already in its present-day l o c a t i o n a t F o r t M a s o n , t h e classes were invited to enjoy live musical or dramatic presen- tations, such as Amahl and the N i g h t V i s i t o r , b y G i a n c a r l o Menotti, and live performances of Commedia dell'Arte. T h i s p r o g r a m w a s e s t a b - lished to help compensate for the lack of art education in San Francisco schools due to critical b u d g e t r e s t r i c t i o n s i n C a l i f o r n i a ' s e l e m e n t a r y a n d m i d d l e s c h o o l s . I t h a s b e e n bringing Italian art and culture to students of fourth through e i g h t h g r a d e i n t h e S a n Francisco Bay Area public and private schools. Today, due budget limitations, the C.I.A.O. program is offered only to mid- d l e s c h o o l s t u d e n t s a s R e n a i s s a n c e a n d R o m a n e r a projects complement their cur- riculum. C.I.A.O offers free art classes directly in schools with a teacher provided and financed by the Museo's general fund with the contribution of the Carl Gellert and Celia Berta Gellert Foundation. The art teacher provided by the Museo is Coreen Abbott, MFA, a ceramic artist, who has d e v e l o p e d s e v e r a l p r o j e c t s which complement the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade curriculum, and i n t r o d u c e s e a c h p r o j e c t b y putting it into historical context and stressing the importance of ancient art to our life today. Coreen, when and how did y o u s t a r t w o r k i n g o n t h e C.I.A.O. program? I met with and was hired by Paola Bagnatori, the Museo's director, in the winter of 1996. Amazing, almost 19 years ago! I h a d j u s t r e t u r n e d t o S a n Francisco from living in the Italian Ceramic center, Faenza, located south of Bologna. Paola had posted their search for an instructor at the San Francisco A r t I n s t i t u t e w h i c h w a s m y MFA Alma Mater. I had never t a u g h t c h i l d r e n b e f o r e b u t Paola's enthusiasm was fuel for optimism. Although I've been a working artist since 1976 my passion is Art History and espe- cially Italian Art History. She and I brainstormed projects till I could mold them into something educational and fun for students in grades 4th through 8th. What are the main topics you teach in your classes? T h e t o p i c s i n c l u d e : T h e Ghiberti Doors and the Early Renaissance, through which the students learn how to recon- struct the second of Ghiberti's Baptistery doors using tech- niques such as bas-relief and p e r s p e c t i v e ; T h e T r a j a n ' s C o l u m n a n d t h e R o m a n Empire; Art techniques of the Renaissance; Fundamentals of Portraiture, which includes the p r a c t i c e o f t h e g r i d m e t h o d which has been used for cen- turies to transfer and enlarge images; Unification of Italy and its 20 regions, and The Middle Ages, which sees the students working individually to collec- tively produce a mural repro- duction of a painting of Giotto. How do you organize your art lessons, and what do you mainly focus on, when you a r e i n c l a s s w i t h y o u r s t u - dents? I g o i n t o e a c h c l a s s r o o m three times: I work on 1 1/2 hour blocks of time in 2 class- rooms each day then return 2 more times. The first class begins with a Power Point presentation on the topic for about 30- 45 minutes. The following visits begin with a review of the essential points of the art, history and project covered in the first class. We then dive into the project. Most of the projects require the stu- dents to work individually then brought together to for a collab- orative final project. I'll often give demonstrations of tech- niques and reminders to help students stay focused on the topic. Depending on the pro- ject, I'll demonstrate a formal a r t m a k i n g t e c h n i q u e . F o r example, because the Ghiberti Doors highlight the beginning of the Renaissance and the use of perspective, I go into how to use One Point Perspective. The competition that Ghiberti par- ticipated in in Florence in 1401 is a wonderful vehicle to show students how composition in 2 dimensional form or bas relief c a n h a v e s u c h a s i g n i f i c a n t effect on how the elements in a piece of artwork is viewed and the impact it will have on its audience. This is one of my f a v o r i t e p r o j e c t s t o t e a c h because here in San Francisco we have one of the first cast- ings of Ghiberti's second set of doors on Grace Cathedral. The o r i g i n a l a r e h o u s e d i n Florence's Duomo Museum and a later casting is on the East D o o r s o f t h e B a p t i s t e r y o f Santa Maria del Fiore. Do you work alone or in a team? F o r t h e p a s t 2 y e a r s i t ' s a l w a y s b e e n m y a s s i s t a n t MaryAnn Buxton and I. Her strengths are organization and engineering. We balance each other well. Previous to MaryAnn, I had occasional partners. Looking back I don't know how it was possible to work alone. The stu- dents get so much more from having us both there. F i n a l l y , w h a t a r e y o u m o s t l y i n s p i r e d b y w h e n teaching? Probably by the students. By 7 t h a n d 8 t h g r a d e t h e y ' r e becoming so self-conscious that they're more interested in tech- nique and making things look g o o d . T h e y o u n g e r s t u d e n t s have an easier time leaving the constraints of trying to fit in. It's a joy going to a school that h a s r e c o g n i z e d t h e n e e d t o facilitate creativity and tactile learning rather than only acade- mics and testing. One aspect of art I like to stress in the class- room is that art is not magic or only an activity for certain peo- ple born with the natural ability to draw; just as any athlete or musician may have a predispo- sition for hand eye coordination it still requires training with an instructor and lots of practice. Beyond learning art techniques I want to facilitate creativity. Some view art classes as play time but there is much more to making and understanding art. A good teacher can encourage creativity and invention which are valuable abilities no matter what fields a student chooses in their various life pursuits. I n f o a b o u t C . I . A . O . p r o - gram: http://museoitaloameri- cano.org/about-us/c-i-a-o-pro- gram/ Making Art in Schools Possible BIANCA FRIUNDI Ceramic artist Coreen Abbott demonstrates throwing a large pot at a workshop in Malta (Villa Bologna) Coreen Abbott's students at Our Lady of the Visitation School showing their Trajan's Column and the Roman Empire project