Fairfax County school celebrates inclusivity in groundbreaking art class (original) (raw)

SPET. 2024 - At South Lakes High School in Fairfax County, Va., the new Inclusive Fine Arts Class is inspiring others to get out of their comfort zone. (7News)

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Inclusive Fine ArtsFairfax CountySouth Lake High SchoolAdaptive art instructorIntellectual disabilitiesNeurotypical studentsTactile artDiversity

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (7News) — At South Lakes High School in Fairfax County, the new Inclusive Fine Arts Class inspires others to get out of their comfort zone.

Matt Ravenstahl is an adaptive art instructor working on creating a more inclusive environment for his students.

“The kids sit together,” explained Dr. Ravenstahl. “Everyone gets involved in critiques.”

The class includes a mixture of students with intellectual disabilities and neurotypical students.

“I personally believe, and my experience tells me, that these students can make art just as well as anybody,” said Dr. Ravenstahl.

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Claudia Harvey is a special education teacher who assists with the projects.

“It's easier for us to just give a canvas and just say, ‘Oh, here's some paints and paint,’ but we want to make sure that we're letting them tell us what they enjoy doing,” explained Harvey.

For example, Nora is visually impaired, so she works on tactile art.

“We would just gloop out like wall spackling, you know, and she would manipulate it all through it,” explained Dr. Ravenstahl.

After gluing fabric to her canvas, she’s now adding color. At one point, they tried painting with sand in it.

“She loves to paint,” said Harvey.

Speaking of painting, Frank is an amazing painter.

“His work gets a lot of attention,” said Ravenstahl. “When people see it in public they’re amazed.”

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At another table, Spencer is working with yarn.

“When I first started teaching him, he would nod off in his chair and sort of, you know, that kind of thing,” said Dr. Ravenstahl.

But then they realized when he’s doing something more physical, he gets much more excited. Now, he’s on his second yarn project.

“We make sure that we let him tell us what colors he wants to use,” said Harvey.

Ravenstahl describes this process as students speaking their own language. But first, you have to figure out what that language is. There’s also trial and error. But when things really click, you won’t need a translator to truly understand and feel what they’re saying.

Watch the video above to see what projects these students have been working on.