Home Work:

Several students self-identified to be a part of the semester 2 project. Most of the students were still attending McLane High School. One was a previous graduate, and there was one who was a part of a family of three siblings, one of which left McLane to attend another high school. Interview times were arranged to capture their stories.   Life-size Assemblage Portraits: Each person interviewed was to be to be featured in a life-sized portrait using a variety of materials and assembled (assemblage), then painted. Pieces used in the portraits serve as metaphors for the journey and experiences of these students in the foster care system. These “textures” symbolized the harsh textures of the lines as they make their journey. Text elements from their interviews were incorporated into the backgrounds of the portraits to amplify their stories.   Trash Bags: Early into the research part of the project, it was determined that the trashbag was a powerful metaphor for the project. During the interview process students were asked what items they would collect and put into a trash bag as they were being “moved” to another placement. Students brought in their personal artifacts, treasured items with their own personal stories, to be photographed, which were given to various student artists to re-create using a variety of media.  Students re-fashioned theses artifacts out of wood, paint, joint compound, papier mache, and chicken wire. The trash bags, themselves were constructed chicken wire, and covered with several coats of papier mache then finally coated with joint compound. The surface of the trash bags were collaged with pieces of black plastic trash bag material.  Self Portrait:   All foster students were asked to paint a self-portrait of who they are ‘on the inside’.  Phetlavanh was the only one to complete the task.  Paintings: The large paintings were done by art students who picked poems from Mr. Garcia’s class.  The Fresno City Map:  Another key factor that emerged from our interviews was the “chaos of placements” of our students in the foster care system; foster homes, downtown offices, group homes. In an effort to capture this chaos students designed a large eight foot by eight foot map of the city, which included a few of the major streets coursing through the city. The map was constructed of pieces of painted art papers (collage). Student artists cut stamps to form the very unique vocabulary of the foster care system that came out of the research. The colored lines represent each foster student’s personal journey through the foster care system from place to place over the years.

Rommel Contreras: Art Teacher

Jessica Ketchum: Art Teacher

Marc Patterson: Art Teacher

Donny Garcia: ELA Teacher

Marina Santos: ELA Teacher