Step Into Art with Inspiration from Kehinde Wiley – a special event at the Harvard Art Museums on February 12, 2023

© Photo by Mike Ritter, www.mikeritterphoto.com Join Step Into Art in the Calderwood Courtyard at the Harvard Art Museums on Sunday, February 12th to create artful photo portraits inspired by Kehinde Wiley’s Portrait of Asia-Imani, Gabriella-Esnae, and Kaya Palmer, now on view at HAM. Museum admission is free for the day, and all are welcome at this special community event! Step Into Art originally created the mural pictured above with 3rd graders from Lee Academy Pilot School to form an immersive installation for school portraits. Drawing inspiration from the magical, elaborately-patterned backgrounds in portraits by Kehinde Wiley, students created paper sculptures of birds, flowers, and bees, which were then assembled into a vibrant mural.  For the past two years, the school’s 190 children all had the chance to strike proud poses for photo portraits taken by photographer Mike Ritter in front of this shared community creation. We invite you to let your imagination soar and enjoy a unique photo opportunity for portraits embodying the majestic poses of Wiley’s subjects. Create an art piece in the HAM Materials Lab to add to our mural installation or take home with you. Come view, pose, create, and celebrate! Step Into Art with us! Step Into Art with Inspiration from Kehinde Wiley Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St. Cambridge, MA Sunday, February 12th, 2023 […]

Step Into Art with Mother Caroline Academy Students — a Virtual Exhibition, Spring 2021

  We are so proud and delighted to invite you to visit our virtual exhibition, “Step Into Art with Mother Caroline Academy 6th Graders.” Here you will find colorful, expressive paintings by 15 Mother Caroline students along with writing pieces inviting you to step into the world of their art and imagination.  To enter our virtual exhibition and enjoy the students’ creative work, simply click here or on the image above. We hope you will feel the spirit of joy, perseverance, hard work, and shared commitment that went into the making of this exhibition – and into every step of our collaborative program.  This year’s Step Into Art program with Mother Caroline took place over 15 Zoom lessons!   After initial sessions devoted to viewing and discussing Pablo Picasso’s “Mother and Child” and Kehinde Wiley’s portrait of President Obama, students poured their hearts into many sessions of hard work creating their own paintings:  planning, sketching, learning to use watercolors on Zoom, and carefully making final revisions.  Our combined teaching team went above and beyond.  From beginning to end, this program gave students the chance to expand their world, to express themselves in new ways, and to celebrate important people in their lives through art. “Step into my painting with me!  Come see the family trees and the mountains of a family’s […]

Step Into Art and Mother Caroline Academy Honored at the State House, July 2018

Pictured above:  Representative Liz Malia (fourth from right) with Step Into Art founder Abby Rischin and Mother Caroline Academy sixth-grade students and staff during the State House reception in honor of our ten-year exhibition and partnership.   This week, Step Into Art and Mother Caroline Academy had the honor of showcasing our ten-year anniversary exhibition at the Massachusetts State House.  At a beautiful reception on July 18, Representative Liz Malia presented us with citations from the governor and House of Representatives “in recognition of 10 years of partnership and dedicated service to enriching students’ learning in the world of art….” Our student artists proudly shared their paintings, we received a proclamation – followed by a standing ovation – in the House chamber, and then we were welcomed onto the governor’s balcony! It was a very moving and memorable day capping an amazing decade of creative collaboration. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts House of Representatives Citation: “Be it hereby known to all that the Massachusetts House of Representatives offers its sincerest congratulations to Step Into Art in recognition of your dedication to enriching students’ learning through the use of art as they engage in art interpretation, literary writing, and public speaking.  The entire membership sends its very best wishes….” The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Governor’s Citation: “On behalf of the citizens of the […]

Step Into Art with Lee Academy at the Codman Square Library, April 2018

Step Into Art with Lee Academy at the Codman Square Library: Celebrating a Community Partnership and New Exhibition Pictured above:  Step Into Art self-portraits by Lee Academy third-graders on view at Codman Square Branch of the Boston Public Library.   This spring, we celebrated the newest Step Into Art partnership, our third-grade program with Lee Academy Pilot School, an extraordinary inclusion school in Dorchester. Bringing students our signature program featuring art from the Gardner Museum, we also reached out to the community in a new way:  we mounted an exhibition at the Codman Square Branch of the Boston Public Library, just a few blocks from the school. Our exhibition transformed the library’s Children’s Room. Walls once bare are now lit up by 52 colorful self-portraits – the faces of Lee Academy third-graders.  Display cases long empty are now filled with children’s poetry inspired by art from the Gardner. In April, we held a celebration at the library, with live music and art-making.  The shining moment was when students came forward to read their poems aloud to the large gathering – including many students who have long struggled with language and communication. Third-grader Amarachi opened with these lines: “When I step into the courtyard of the Gardner Museum, I feel like it’s a palace of my own.” Before the celebration was […]