Michal; ( sorry I spelled it wrong last time) Ok here goes. I do understand very rural as my mother was born in Sylvan Grove Kansas. I have never functioned as an art teacher in this environment so these are based upon what has worked for me but not tried and true in a setting like yours. First, whatever it is that you do, get the necessary permissions/blessings first so your administration knows what you are up to and that is for the greater good. Next there must be some sort of networking device(s) in place for communicating as a school community to reach others such as an internet newsletter,parent newsletter, student newsletter, local paper, something. These resources are your friend and a way to reach out. Start an artists corner and let folks know what you are doing , help out local folks who need art for posters and the like, in other words create a community interaction between your art world and theirs. Ask quilters and needle workers for scraps, ask kids to
wash and save plastic top margarine containers (clean of course), ask for left over office supples (things that might be discarded due to updating) and whatever else you can. Always write thank you notes and if something big is given, see if the school will write a document of donation so it can be used as a charity write off on taxes.(most schools are non-profit) I am sure others have many other suggestions for getting started. It took me a couple of years to get things coming in on a regular basis so don't give up. Once people get in the habit of thinking about you before they toss items they will continue to bring things in. I hope this helps. Let me know what you are doing and I will try to give you my ten cents worth as you go through this. There is a paper bag art book the name of which I will get when I go back to school. I use it alot and is good for tight budgets - it's multicultural and fun .
--- On Sat 08/06, M. Austin < whest177@wheatstate.com > wrote:
From: M. Austin [mailto: whest177@wheatstate.com]
To: teacherartexchange@lists.pub.getty.edu
Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2005 09:30:32 -0500
Subject: Re: [teacherartexchange] on using portfolios
