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A note from Mr. Juarez

On March 17th, schools across Wisconsin closed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. I noticed a trend forming with higher education and how it would change education after Spring Break. Not knowing how this would affect K-12 public education and noticing an increase in online activity on social media regarding this pandemic and how it was going to change the infrastructure of art education made me think about our art students.

There is a group on FaceBook called Online Art Teachers. In this group, I reached out to an art teacher, Angie Hamele Szabo from Forth Atkinson High School, to see if I could use an activity that she created and assigned her students called YAY Art Bingo.

One of the drawing prompts that I kept as part of our version of YAY Art Bingo was Covid-19 is changing our world overnight and it is very surreal. Create a piece that captures your feelings and thoughts in this moment in history. At the time, I wanted my students to create a piece of art to fulfill the requirements of the project. Little did I know, that this pandemic would become our reality and change how we currently teach art.

The weekend before Governor Evers’s announcement stating that school would be closed until April 4th, I had somewhat of a plan.

The thing that I love about art is how it provides us with a way to express ourselves. It is a great medium to reflect and to make sense of what is happening. No matter where we live, we are all facing the same challenges. 

How do we cope with what is becoming our new norm? In what ways can we find comfort in what we experience from our own homes? How can we use art to heal?

This coloring book is a compilation of drawings that my Art Foundations 2 and Senior Art 2 students created based on their thoughts, feelings, and their level of understanding surrounding this pandemic. It brings me joy knowing that art can be a way of escape even if it is for a moment. 

This PDF can be downloaded and shared. 

Courtesy of the Sheboygan North High School and contributing artists. 

Mr. Juarez

Art Department Chair