Thomasville Middle School received a $25,000 “Alabama Arts Education Initiative (AAEI)” grant from the Alabama Department of Education for the 2023-24 school year.
The grant application was written by LeAnn Pope Moore, library media specialist at TMS.
“The purpose of the grant is to expose as many children as possible to the visual arts,” said Dana Thompson, art teacher at TMS. A majority of the students have not been exposed to arts in the school for a long time, she said. She hopes to reach students “who would not normally take an art class or not naturally be drawn to arts. …I’d like to expose them to some hands-on creativity.
“…I have been pleasantly surprised with some of the kids who have really enjoyed this class.”
The art class is available to fifth through eighth grade students once-a-week for 40 minutes at TMS. The students are scheduled for art class during enrichment periods. Thompson has been fortunate to work with the majority of TMS students, except for students who have band class.
Students have been exposed to the following media so far this school year: watercolors on watercolor paper, acrylic on paper and wood, and yarn. The students will be creating a torn paper project when they return from the holiday break. She would also like to try relief etchings and fragmented self portraits from photographs.
Students have told Thompson they want to work in clay. That is something the school system will have to plan for the future, she said.
Thompson’s own love for art came from a yearning to paint. She has painted for 10 years. She had previously taught art classes for young kids in the Thomasville Civic Center.
Photo cutline: Christian Hare, Makenzie Washington, and Abigail Norman - seventh grade art students with Dana Thompson, TMS art teacher.