Sustaining Art Education
"Each day provides its own gifts"
-Marcus Aurelius
Sustaining Art Education
"Each day provides its own gifts"
-Marcus Aurelius
MISSION
Aurelius for the Arts is an artist-run organization established to share the joy of creativity with children who need it most. Aurelius wants to give children this opportunity across the globe, and pursue its mission by developing and teaching intensive art workshops in overseas orphanages, as well as establishing sustainable art programs in each of our partner institutions.
About
Art enlightens us to our real condition and allows us unobstructed explorations of self and others. Art is especially important for children: they are in the midst of developing their identity and character, and they need to be encouraged in this creative process. Since art is a process of self-discovery, how could it not be a vital component of a child’s growth into adulthood?
The imagination of young people needs to be fostered, both for the young themselves, and for building healthy human communities. The expansion of character and new ideas shapes the great designers, inventors, leaders and innovators of the future. The cultivation of natural growth patterns and human desire through art education requires, then, the development of sustainable and universally adaptable pedagogies.
About
Art enlightens us to our real condition and allows us unobstructed explorations of self and others. Art is especially important for children: they are in the midst of developing their identity and character, and they need to be encouraged in this creative process. Since art is a process of self-discovery, how could it not be a vital component of a child’s growth into adulthood?
The imagination of young people needs to be fostered, both for the young themselves, and for building healthy human communities. The expansion of character and new ideas shapes the great designers, inventors, leaders and innovators of the future. The cultivation of natural growth patterns and human desire through art education requires, then, the development of sustainable and universally adaptable pedagogies.
The first project began just outside of Panama City at Malambo, Latin America's largest orphanage and home to about 120 children. During the project's initial phase in March 2007, “Aurelius for the Arts” volunteers taught a series of 90-minute art workshops for over four weeks. The positive responses were dramatic, and Aurelius is currently sponsoring an art teacher to hold classes at Malambo 3 times a week.
After the successful completion of the first project in Panama, while filming it in its entirety, the organization was recruited to work in The Dominican Republic. In the spring of 2008, The Dominica School as well as Dona Chucha Orphanage were chosen to run Aurelius Art programs and volunteers were recruited in both the states and DR to help teach and raise money locally for the children of these two orphanages.
Dona Chucha Orphanage serves 88 girls between the ages of six and fifteen within Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic. It is an institution where a family must qualify to have their children placed there, yet family members may see their children on weekends if they desire. This school was created to serve only young girls coming from the most impoverished and abusive of situations. The Aurelius itinerary expanded to include craft lessons where the girls learned to make wearable objects such as carnival masks, hair ornaments, shadow boxes and designed original patternmaking on T-shirts.
THE PEOPLE
THE PEOPLE
Tara Roa
Founding Director
Tara Ashmore Roa is the founding director of Aurelius for the Arts. She received her Undergraduate and Graduate Degree at New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study and Doctoral Degree in the field of Art Education at Teachers College Columbia University. As a mother of two and a wife to an artist, she feels that art education is a right of every child and intends to continue implementing art programs in orphanages and schools with further hopes to expand upon the scholarly field of teaching artists working cross culturally.
IvÀn Asin
Artist
Iván Asin is an NYC-based art educator from Santiago, Chile. His work focuses on organic art processes and community engagement through art. He studied Visual Arts at Montclair State University, earned a Masters Degree in Art & Design Education from Pratt Institute and is currently a Doctoral Candidate in the Art Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Since 2010, he has taught visual arts in the New York City public school system and community-based art programs in Amsterdam and New York. In 2015 he founded the Center for Art Education and Sustainability (CAES), an itinerant project that has carried out community-based organic art processes workshops in United States, Peru and Argentina, as well as professional development for art educators at conferences and higher education institutions.
Max Levi Frieder
Artist
Max Levi Frieder is a community based public artist from Denver, Colorado. He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with honors and a degree in Painting with a focus in “Community Based Public Arts”. He has since worked with communities in different contexts across the globe. His work ranges from community building in refugee crisis, Hospital workshops, Abuse and addiction counseling through art, creative facilitation and conflict resolution. His projects have taken him from Israel and Palestine to the Jordanian-Syrian border , Turkey, New Zealand, Australia, Costa Rica, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Canada and throughout the United States. Although trained in painting, his work focuses on public engagement through creative facilitation and inspired participation. Max is the Founding Director of Artolution, a community-based public art network that seeks to ignite positive social change through creative, participatory and collaborative art making.
CLARA PARTHONNAUD
Founding Member
Clara Parthonnaud is a founding member of Aurelius for the Arts. She holds a degree in Communications from the University Pairs VIII and is responsible for coordinating all aspects related to volunteers on all Aurelius projects. She finds working with children extremely rewarding. She currently resides in Paris
TIFFANY REISSIG
Founding Member
Tiffany Reissig is a founding member of Aurelius for the Arts. She graduated with her BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She currently lives in Denver and still remains involved with many of the odds and ends, from producing fundraising materials to creating and teaching workshops.
Caroline THaw
Artist
Caroline Thaw is a freelance artist from London, with a background in theatre design and illustration. She has designed sets and costumes for plays, which have toured around England and even as far afield as Japan! Her illustrations have featured in a variety of contexts including branding and publishing. She is especially dedicated to creating work with and for children, inspired by their searing honesty and boundless imaginations.