Art Discovery is an APTA program that relies on parent volunteers to teach students about art.  Program chairs identify four artistic concepts each school year, build PowerPoints to support those concepts and provide the supplies needed to create a project based on these concepts.

Generally, the Art Discovery program selected four projects that fit into the following categories: an artist defined as a “master,” cultural-based art, a female artist, and a local artist.

Art Discovery Chairs: Katie Greene 649-2604 and Jessie Broughton 475-9652

• Please text questions or concerns that supplies need to be refilled

Volunteer Overview:

You don’t need to be an artist or well-versed in art history to be a volunteer.  The Chairs take care of supplying you with all the information you need to be informed on a subject.  You just need to be interested in sharing interesting topics and assisting the students with an art project that’s been designed to match the subject.

Volunteer Guide:

Become a volunteer-

• Reach out to classroom teachers or room parents if you’re interested in volunteering in your child’s classroom.
• Attend the volunteer training at the beginning of the school year to learn more about the program and the subjects that will be covered this year. (If you missed the training, you can still volunteer.)

Set a date-

• Find a date, roughly every other month, that works with your teacher’s schedule. Don’t wait until the end of the school year, as everything gets busy and it’s hard to find a time.
• Mark your dates on the paper calendar in the copy room in the school’s front hall. (This is so 2 classrooms don’t need the supply box at the same time.)

Prepare for your presentation and project-

• A couple days before your presentation, be sure to check the supply box, located in the copy room in the front hall of the school to ensure you don’t need to refill any of the supplies. Although Program Chairs check the boxes regularly, we may miss the need to refill.  Simply send one of us a text and we’ll get the supplies needed back in the box.
• If you’re working with a middle school class, and your project requires glue and scissors, please double check with the teacher that the students have these supplies available in their classroom. We don’t provide these, as elementary students all have them.  If there’s an issue, just let the Chairs know.  We can help get you what you need.
• Visit the Art Discovery website to review the presentation you’ll be giving and the project you’ll be leading.
• You’re encouraged to read up on the artist or art form or watch some Youtube videos if you’d like to further familiarize yourself with the subject. It’s definitely not necessary, but you’ll be more comfortable with the material and you’ll certainly have lots of information to add to the presentation.

During the presentation-

• PowerPoints are made for a K-8 audience. Feel free to simplify for younger audiences or focus on more challenging vocabulary, philosophies or historical references for the older grades.
• The best conversations about art always start with “What do you think?” or “How do the colors (or subject matter) make you feel?”  You can ask these questions to the students so many times during a presentation and you’re guaranteed to end up with great conversation starters.
• The presentations have suggested questions for the volunteer to ask of the students. But feel free to expand on anything the students show interest in.

Conducting the art project-

• The students have a lot of fun with the projects. The hardest thing is the fact that our budding artists all work at a really different pace from one another.  We try to address this by offering small paper-based projects the students can do after they’ve finished the mail project.  Fact-past students can also try their hand at the same project twice, depending on the project.
• Occasionally, we offer a couple versions of the same project to better meet the needs of various ages.
• Remember to leave the room tidy and to return the art supply box promptly.

AND REMEMBER, HAVE FUN!