Wanted Posters mounted at Supercrawl 2014

Student participants of the NuSteel program completed their first prints just in time to make an appearance at Supercrawl.

These posters represent students' first forage into the world of print-making.  Over the course of the semester, students will learn how to create one and two-colour prints, posters, t-shirts, and a variety of saleable merchandise.

Students at the NuSteel program have a unique opportunity to experience the life of an artist-entrepreneur as they work to create and sell handmade art products at Hamilton's monthly art crawls on James St. North.

The program, a partnership between Centre3 for Print and Media Arts, and the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, is aimed at engaging students in Alter-Ed who enjoy art-based learning.  Students undertake several secondary school subjects over the course of the semester, including English, History, Civics and Careers, and Art.  All major student projects are art-based.  The program, in its infancy last year, proved to be quite successful, and we are now off to a wonderful start in year two.

Here's to the start of a great semester!

Matt McInnes demonstrates the art of mounting posters with water and glue.

Halfway there...

The wall: Wanted Posters successfully mounted.

Food = Community

Here at NuSteel we've been the lucky recipients of an Ontario Ministry of Education grant to provide healthy, nutritious food for our students.  We are in close proximity to the Hamilton Farmer's Market, so Tuesdays have become our market day.

Together as a group, students discuss what they'd like to include in their purchases for the week.  They divide the budget into three categories: meat and cheese, fruit and veggies, and bread.  We walk to the market as a group and then split up into teams to purchase the items on our list.  This week, students decided on french baguette with spicy salami and aged cheddar, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, bell peppers, raspberries, and grapes.

Because we are able to shop at the Farmer's Market, students are learning about shopping locally, supporting small businesses, the importance of organic farming, and the moral responsibility of buying fair-trade, ecologically sound foods.  Students are also exposed to a variety of cultures and peoples at the market, thereby gaining a stronger sense of Hamilton's diverse population.

The most exceptional aspect of taking part in this nutrition program is the sense of community we develop as a school when we prepare and eat meals together.  Students who may otherwise have nothing in common come together to discuss the food we are eating and the foods they like to make at home.  Students linger over lunch and experience the pleasure of enjoying a proper, balanced meal with friends.

We are very happy to be the recipients of this grant, and strongly recommend that schools across Hamilton look at their lunch practices and prioritize the opportunity for students and teachers to come together and break bread.  As schools get larger and student lives become more hectic, it is perhaps one of the best things school planners can do to maintain, or increase, students' sense of community and belonging.

Market Day at the Hamilton Farmer's Market

About NuSteel

I am very lucky to be teaching Art in downtown Hamilton on James St. North, host to the monthly James St. North Art Crawl.  The community of artists and entrepreneurs on this street are known for their collaboration in promoting the arts in the wider Hamilton community.

The program that I teach, called NuSteel, is a pilot project partnership between the Hamilton board of education and a small Gallery for print and media arts called Centre3.  This partnership is the first of its kind, placing students in an artist-run gallery environment, and developing curriculum that is community focused and locally relevant to kids.  

Through our partnership with Centre3, students who come to our program become connected to a variety of community-based services and opportunities, including the Notre Dame youth housing and support centre, and Art Forums, a creative after-school space for youth to extend their art practice.  Further to these relationships, each semester students make connections with the artist-members who work and produce art at Centre3, often gaining access to future co-op and employment opportunities.

One great thing about our program is that it an alternative education program, so students from all over the city are referred to the program, and provided with bus tickets or taxis, so that even students who live further out in Wentworth can access the downtown arts community.

Another area of support for the arts that I am now learning about, from working with artists at Centre3, is the access to grants for local art initiatives.  One of the artist-members I work with was able to obtain a grant from the Laidlaw foundation so that NuSteel students and community youth could create and publish a youth-led Zine, called the Outsider Zine.  The grant from the Laidlaw foundation is one of several grants that Centre3 members have obtained in order to keep the gallery and studio space running with up-to-date equipment and resources, and to pay staff and students a fair wage for their work.

Finally, many students who come through the NuSteel program become connected with the wider arts community and thus grow their support network and network of friends.  Youth who may very likely have ‘fallen through the cracks’ of our social and education systems have instead become connected with craftsmen and women, artists, entrepreneurs, and administrators, who are more than willing to mentor students and help them to explore potential career paths.  Accessing caring adult mentors is the most significant factor that influences students to become re-engaged with education and the idea of having a career, and is also the most significant factor in the development of positive self-esteem.

In sum, I am very very fortunate to be part of a community that supports education through the arts, and I hope that this partnership becomes an exemplary format for future school-community initiatives.