Exile On Main Street
The design concept for our new STEAM, multidisciplinary spaces originated with the first room we renovated, Gallery 2501. In 2012, I was approached by the parents of a student who wanted to donate funds towards a large project of my choice. They wanted to remain anonymous but wanted their donation to have an impact on the school for years to come. I discussed with the parents my desire to have an art gallery in the school to not only showcase student works of art, but to also serve as a hub for showcasing alumni artwork, our incredibly talented art teachers’ professional works, and for hosting evening and/or weekend exhibits and receptions.
We inherited a growing special needs program, which was completely clustered in one area of the building. Sadly, physically segregating special education is not unusual for high schools, and is a practice in which I find great disdain. Physically segregating special education sends a message that special education is separate from the rest of the school and student body. It also sends an enormous nonverbal message concerning the beliefs and values of the learning organization with respect to special needs learners.
There was space near one of our main entrances off of the parking lot and within the cluster of special education classrooms. Establishing the art gallery in that area of the school would not only provide visibility, it would also provide a space for our special needs students to use during the daytime as well as assist us in beginning to integrate all learners in that specific area of the building. While I have often found myself repeating the phrase “All students are general education learners. It just so happens that some learners are also special education learners,” it seems I am never able to say it enough.
Dedicating Gallery 2501 in this area of the school would also create “foot traffic” during the school day by members of the school community visiting the gallery who would have otherwise never walked that part of the building (aside from its proximity to the parking lot). Moreover, the openness of the art gallery, its special lighting, and black ceiling with white walls decorated with student artwork would provide visual stimulus and sensory richness.
Pièce de Résistance
The innovative STEAM classroom blueprints that resulted for the rest of the campus came about by accident after constructing Gallery 2501. The art gallery was housed in what was once a small woodshop for architecture. The space had a mechanized feel, which we maintained by preserving industrial design with modern openness. I wanted every new innovation space moving forward to have the same black ceilings and white walls of an art gallery mixed with gray and brightly colored accents to make each room “pop” and stand out. I wanted every Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics innovation space to acknowledge the art galleries within the beauty of STEM for true STEAM curricular and facility offerings.
Combining these design elements completed a STEAM visualization for learning. We also requested some walls to include a topcoat of dry erase paint to allow students to write on walls for creating “ideas for statements” within classrooms themselves. Each new room had to have a different accent color, like impasto pigments, on the face of the artist’s palette.
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Are You Experienced?
My doctoral work, which was completed in 2007, was grounded in the tradition of portraiture. Portraiture is a qualitative methodology developed by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot and Jessica Hoffmann Davis. I was very familiar with several books specifically published by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, and her approach to writing and research resonated with my ethos in such a way that no other researcher, author, and methodologist had connected before.
Portraiture was employed as a phenomenological research approach to capture the art and science of experiences and consciousness for creating a picture of emergent themes being studied. As a science researcher, I was drawn to portraiture by the framework’s artistic blending of aesthetics and empiricism. As an improvisational artist and musician, I was drawn to portraiture through its inherent structure for capturing the context, voice, and relationships of the subjects studied through experimentation. The art and science of experimentation and improvisation echoed with my spirit and mind as an educator, a scientist, and an artist.
Portraiture was a construct that enabled me to employ innovative, creative research, which enabled me to portray features of narrative, case study, phenomenology and ethnography. Portraiture also provided me a forum to engage in narration and storytelling to examine the intricacies of the many processes of creative, innovative learning for developing aggregate understanding.
As an educator, portraiture empowered me to reflect on the experiences of students, parents, and teachers being studied for creating “portraits” in words. The design elements of portraiture resonated with me much like the paints of the artist’s palette to immerse the observer in colorful, perceptive narratives.
Magnum Opus
Aside from my work as an educator, privately, In 2008, I built a recording studio in Chicago (Red Cell Studios) and established an independent record label, Portraiture Records, in honor of my doctoral work. I released my first effort, Greenlit, on Portraiture Records in 2009. The ability to possess a purely artistic outlet outside of my daily career as an educator provided an artistic and scientific balance of spirit and mind.
In concert, the ability to incorporate my scientific and artistic abilities throughout the day in my career as educator enabled me to apply innovative and creative ideas for action. A painter’s palette was chosen as the logo for Portraiture Records. The concept of the artist’s palette in education is something I have used throughout my tenure as an educational leader. Visualizing the artist’s palette along with a paintbrush the length of the canvas has provided me visualization for the work I perform and the interactions of experiences. As a visual thinker and learner, imagining the role of the artist, the palette and the paintbrush served in assisting me when envisioning the curricular programs and spaces we were designing. Each has their part, but en masse, they are immeasurable in terms of their collective impact when working in unison with vision.
When it came to creating innovative teaching and learning spaces, I wanted individuals to sense a blending of the aesthetics of acrylics and oils – and the blending of industrial and modern – from one room to the next. My phenomenological doctoral research, along with my master’s work in constructivist problem-solving for high school science, complemented by my bachelor’s of biological science degree studies (and a love of the arts!). Collectively, they contributed in blending and creating an innovative, curricular palette evident in those learning spaces.
In 2020, I established Portraiture Education (also in honor of my doctoral framework) for observing teaching and learning through a phenomenological perspective and lens. Portraiture Education provides a holistic approach to observing and reflecting on the art and science of learning. The learning is inclusive for educational leaders, teachers, parents, community, Board of Education members (who come from the community), and most importantly, students – the individuals whom we all serve, and the reason why the learning organization exists.
The Song Remains the Same
I believe my life’s work as an educational leader is exemplified by the programs, initiatives, and creative learning spaces I have established, led, and enabled others to lead via shared leadership. Even after moving on to other ventures in my career as an educational leader, these curricular and facility learning spaces remain.
I believe in leading with a servant’s heart, making each decision as if it were for my own children, and ensuring each determination is student-centered. I also believe every superintendent and principal is a teacher first. A teacher’s curriculum is a living and evolving course of study. Superintendents and principals are charged with ensuring all learners are provided relevant, meaningful instruction that inspires learning in an innovative, creative, welcoming environment. Our job as educational leaders is to ensure meaningful curricular offerings and programs of study are afforded to all learners.
Reflect it in Their Art
I was once asked by one of my doctoral students how I would summarize the role of an educational leader. She wanted to know my perspective through my lens of experiences. I replied with an analogy that has evolved over the years into a formal poem I now read to each new cohort of students. I later created a mural of my thoughts and words, which I have proudly displayed ever since in my recording studio, as well as in my office.
It reads, “Every educational leader is an artist. I am the artist and the community is the palette. I hold the brush and the many colors on the palette represent the many facets of learning for creating a community of practice. My canvas is the school, complete with its teachers, leaders, support staff, and students. Learners own the canvas. For everything I paint is for students.”
I hope you would agree.
Chris
Audio: A Beaker of Truth
