Peggy Fussell
Art Workshops
In consultation with teachers and organizers, I create art projects that connect to curriculum, provide for intergenerational fun and help participants achieve their social-emotional goals. I am particularly drawn to craft-based animation as a teaching tool because it offers opportunities for non-linear, sensory experiences with materials followed by reflection and the communication of these experiences to others. Art historian and critic, Claire Bishop notes that time-based media are especially suited for communicating what was learned in the artmaking process to a secondary audience. (Bishop 272)
In my drawing and book-making workshops, I encourage participants to focus on the physical movement involved in drawing. Dance and body movement are incorporated into the creation of drawings, which then act as visual journals, mapping conversations and events. These journals can take many forms, depending on the needs and abilities of the students, from small personal books to large collaborative installations.
Schools
Cultural Institutions
Non-profit organizations
Teaching-Artist Residencies & Exhibitions
Creating Communities Through Art - Research assistant for archival research and oral history project that brought together informal art teaching and learning organizations across the Katarokwi-Kingston area. Funded by the Mitacs Accelerate Fellowship, co-presented by Union Gallery and the Tett Centre for Creativity and Learning. Faculty supervisor, Jennifer Kennedy. Research, Jan. - Aug. 2022. Exhibition, August 9-September 17, 2022.
SOAR with Art - SOAR23 Program (Students Overcoming Anxiety and Rebuilding) Teaching artist residency, Winston Churchill Public School, Kingston, Ontario. Issue-based learning project funded by the Ontario Arts Council, Limestone District School Board and the City of Kingston, grants awarded in 2016, 2017 & 2018. Funded by University Hospitals Kingston Foundation in 2019.
Expanding Advocacy, a 12-week teaching artist residency in three schools, Lord Strathcona PS, Odessa PS, Southview PS, Kingston, Ontario. Issue-based learning. Mixed media accordion book projects designed to help students with learning disabilities practice self-advocacy skills. Funded by the Ontario Arts Council, Limestone District School Board and the City of Kingston. Exhibition of student work at the Discovery Centre, Fort Henry June 18, 2018.
Animating Advocacy, 10-week teaching artist residency, Lord Strathcona Public School, Kingston, Ontario. Issue-based learning. Stop motion animation projects designed to help students with learning disabilities practice self-advocacy skills. Funded by the Ontario Arts Council, Limestone District School Board and the City of Kingston, 2017.
Exploring the Art of Observation, 5-week teaching artist residency, Amherstview PS, Kingston, ON. Arts projects aimed at integrating newcomers to Canada and addressing issues of bullying, 2017.
Roots Grow Blossoms, 5-week teaching artist residency, co-teacher - Nancy Douglas, First Avenue Public School and Frontenac Public School, Kingston, Ontario. Exhibition of environmental themed projects included a parade with puppets made from recycled materials through school gardens. Funded by the Ontario Arts Council, LDSB and the City of Kingston. 2015-2016.
Exploring Self Advocacy with Art, presentation to Faculty of Education students, Queen’s University, Kingston, co-presented with Nancy Douglas, 2015.
Drawing as Dance, Culture Days event in collaboration with the Quinte Ballet School of Canada, 2015 and 2016.
Find Your Voice, 8-week teaching artist residency, co-teacher - Nancy Douglas, Lord Strathcona Public School, Kingston, Ontario. Issue-based learning. Mixed media projects designed to help students with learning disabilities practice self-advocacy skills. Funded by the OAC, Limestone District School Board and the City of Kingston. Exhibition of student work, The Studio Gallery, Queens University Faculty of Education, 2015.
Your Own Grad School, Artist Residency, Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre, Kingston, ON. Seven artists set up a workspace in the gallery for six weeks, participating in reading groups and public presentations. 2014.
Our Journey: Survivor Empowerment Project, a collaborative project between the Torture Abolition and Survivor Support Coalition (TASSC) and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS) I designed and led a two-day drawing workshop with the goal of lifting up the voices of survivors of torture who had left their home countries to escape persecution for political, religious, or other issues. I led participants in a tour of the National Gallery at the Smithsonian. Studio art projects included drawing and collage which participants then bound into accordion books for safe keeping and/or exhibition. Exhibitions: Pinebox Art Center, Baltimore, MD, May 2013, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD, World Refugee Day, June 22, 2013.
National Art Educators Association, Special Session - Best Practice Lecture, Your Brain On Art: Emotion & Experience in the Museum. An introduction to neuro-education highlighting the implications of neuroscience research on experiences with works of art. Co-presented with Emily Blumenthal. NAEA Convention, New York City, 2012.