Arts Corps at St Therese

Arts Corps, is a non-profit arts education program in King County, that partners with schools and after school facilities, to offer free arts classes. Arts Corps is beginning their 5th year working in partnership with St. Therese School.

For more information, please visit the Arts Corps website at: www.artscorps.org

 

Arts Corps Photo Gallery

 

About Arts Corps

Arts Corps is a community of people who believe art can inspire the soul and build the confidence and self-esteem for all of us to be our true selves. We include teaching artists, students, youth workers, educators, administrators, civic leaders, arts organizations, activists, and more.

  1. Always be about the kids
  2. Great teachers only
  3. No one gets turned away
  4. Go where the kids are
  5. Do what no one else does now

Always be about the kids

No one ever bored a child into achievement. To engage, we must excite. Our teaching artists adapt courses based on the children’s interests, and because of that our classes engage our kids more deeply and affect them more greatly. When our teaching artists spotlight children’s own creative ideas, children discover and learn to trust their own voice. With enough structure to produce a successful teaching environment, our classes are environments that excite children. To learn, to take risks and to unfold their greatest potential.

Great teachers only

We hire--and pay--only professional artists who are also experienced teachers. They have a love of children and a passion to share their talent and experience. The artistic and cultural backgrounds of our faculty are as diverse as the children we serve. Courses include everything from hip-hop and spokenword to sculpture to digital photography to Brazilian dance.

No one gets turned away

Students pay nothing to attend. We demand only that students genuinely want to participate and that they make the most of what Arts Corps is providing. Arts Corps classes serve young people grades K-12, and meet twice a week for eight weeks. To boot, we offer workshops, in school curricula, performance opportunities and advanced education.

Go where the kids are

If a child can walk a few blocks, she or he can attend an Arts Corps class. Our courses are held in their neighborhoods--community centers, YMCAs, Boys & Girls Clubs and school facilities serving King County’s least served communities. Arts Corps is, and will always be, about removing obstacles. (Criteria for facility selection: no less than 50% of a facility's participants fall between 100-200% of the national poverty level income.)

Do what no one else does now

Public schools have pushed arts education to the back burner. Most after-school programming focuses almost entirely on sports. That’s where we come in. In 5 years, Arts Corps has increased the amount of kids it serves by 500%. And demand for Arts Corps classes far exceeds our current ability to supply them. Our kids get what all kids need: a rich learning environment that fosters personal growth as well as skill building.

Teaching Artist Biographies

Lauren Atkinson is a mixed media fiber artist who shows her work through out the Northwest and nationally. She has 15 years of experience working as a Teaching Artist, teaching with Arts Corps from its beginning, in addition to working with many arts organizations in the Pacific Northwest. Teaching is an exciting and integral part of Lauren's own creative process; she finds inspiration in the collaborative relationship of creating art with her students. Using inventive methods of attachment, gluing, textural layering, and sewing to build beautiful and intriguing organic structures. Her creative teaching methods integrate an intuitive approach to learning, by incorporating drawing, collage, and mixed media sculpture. Students are encouraged to explore their interior world as a means to creative self-discovery.

 

Katinka Kraft is a Seattle based spoken word and multi-media performance artist. She approaches words with a fusion of song, voice, body and rhythm. Katinka graduated from Western Washington University with a degree in "Multi-Media Performance Art, Cultural Studies, and Youth Advocacy". She is the co-director of Oratrix Productions and President of the Board of Directors for Bent, a Seattle writing institute. She is the author of a self-published collection of poetry titled "Who Will Write the History of Tears" and is featured on the 2003 "Oratrix" CD. She was a featured spoken word artist on the 2004 "All Girl. All Word." and 2005 "Write Off" tour. She has performed nationally and internationally in theaters, festivals, cafes, and on university campuses. Her most current artistic endeavor took her to Poland and Germany, where she directed and filmed a documentary short with the Descendants Project.

Nasrin Afrouz Born in Tehran, Iran, Nasrin Afrouz studied art and graduated from the University of Tehran with a bachelor's degree in fine arts in 1987. She also studied Persian Mythology at the University and completed a thesis, Mehr Means Love, about the Persian God Mithra.

As a student during the Iran-Iraq war, Nasrin traveled and saw the devastation in the cities torn by Iraqi aggression. Being a woman she was not allowed to go to the front lines of the war, though she was in touch with the pain and suffering of the women of her country that was caused by the war. She was particularly influenced emotionally by the ceremonies and rituals for the dead. This sparked Nasrin's curiosity for understanding these rituals which lead her to study ceremonies and then to study the ancient mythology and rituals of Iran. This process culminated to be her college thesis and a major theme in her artwork.

In addition to her studies, Nasrin has worked in advertising firms and taught art classes, as well as coordinated children's art programs and taught physically disabled children. She has also helped secondary school students prepare for their university entrance exams in Fine Arts. In 1994, Nasrin moved to Seattle and started studying English at Seattle Central Community College. During her study, she worked with the women's program at the college. She designed and laid out two issues of their magazine. In 1996, she started attending Shoreline Community College and in 1997 she got her certification in Visual Communication Technology in the field of Graphic Design and Electronic Prepress. Nasrin is an accomplished artist who has taught classes in drawing and painting at local community centers and community colleges.