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IDEAL 2025: Identity, Collaboration, & Community

May 13, 2025 By Cindy Sherwood

“I feel like I grew a lot in my artistic skills and socialization skills, as a person in general. It’s really helped me express how I feel.” Sophia Sharp, Bayside Sixth Grade Campus, Virginia Beach

Sophia points to a friend’s painting displayed at the Chrysler Museum.

“I learned that I can express my feelings through my artwork. That’s what I’m most proud of. Now I’m able to see that I have full potential in making different things. I’m capable of doing anything.” Davin (DJ) Johnson-Smith, Park View Elementary, Portsmouth

On May 8th, students, their family members, educators, and Arts for Learning teaching artists, staff, and board members gathered at the Chrysler Museum of Art for a reception and student exhibition of art. But this wasn’t any ordinary reception—it was a joyous celebration of students’ hard work, creativity, and growth following 20 after-school sessions of IDEAL, Intentional Designs of Expression in Artistic Languages.

In this third and final year of IDEAL, students in fourth to sixth grades from three Title 1 schools in Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach have explored who they are and what they stand for through visual art, poetry, movement, and music. They were guided by residency stewards at each school and teaching artists Jackie Adonis and Dai Poole at Norfolk’s Lake Taylor School, Nfon Asuquo and Nin-Eanna Bryant at Portsmouth’s Park View Elementary, and Cindy Aitken and Sequoia Rodwell-Lacewell at Virginia Beach’s Bayside Sixth Grade Campus.

Emotions ran high as students and parents first caught a glimpse of their artwork professionally displayed at the Chrysler’s Margaret Shepherd Ray Family and Student Gallery.

“Just the fact I’m seeing my daughter’s work in a museum… I am so proud of her. Beyond proud,” said Sheri, mother of Bayside student Chloe Odallo. “The artwork that I’m seeing is just spectacular. I feel overwhelmed. I cannot even lie.”

Students said the opportunity to develop and refine their artistic skills was one of the best parts of IDEAL, with many mentioning they’d learned techniques such as how to draw faces and shading and blending colors.

Isis with her painting (center top) created with a unique process.

Lake Taylor student Isis Saunders went a step further, having teaching artist Dai Poole burn the edges of her painting. In her artistic statement, she wrote, “The paper is burnt to represent the heat of the sun, and the painting is made to look ‘old’ and faded because this painting represents our memories.”

Beyond artistic skills, many students said they felt more confident now, with parents echoing that sentiment, seeing positive changes in their children.

Ritisha reads her artistic statement on stage.

“I saw her for the first time on stage. I didn’t know if she’d make it. She was nervous, but she made it,” said Mukti Patel, mother of Ritisha, a Park View Elementary student. Ritisha had never performed in front of an audience before. After she read her artistic statement on stage, she said she felt calm and proud of herself for overcoming her jitters.

Nicole Sharp, Sophia’s mother, called the IDEAL residency “impressive.”

“I really love the way it’s encouraged her to be more confident in expressing herself and given her the ability to more effectively communicate how she’s feeling emotionally.”

Upper elementary school can be a time of great change, but students in the IDEAL residency discovered that art can be an effective outlet to express themselves.

“Art helps people understand what I’m feeling,” said Willow Martinez, a student at Lake Taylor.  “I’ll continue as an artist because it helps get out my emotions.” Another Lake Taylor student, Orlando Wiggins, said he had “learned how to express my feelings better through art,” and added that it was “amazing” to see his art displayed at the Chrysler Museum.

Orlando with his artwork.

Teaching artist Sequoia Rodwell-Lacewell believes IDEAL has helped students identify who they truly are. She was particularly struck by the growth in one girl.

When she first started, she was very shy and quiet. She wasn’t quite sure of who she was or what she liked. She was questioning a lot of things. And as time went on, she allowed who she was inside to show throughout her art… She got to experience coming out of her shell.”

A high degree of collaboration was required for IDEAL since the residencies took place in multiple schools and multiple school divisions and involved a partnership with the Chrysler Museum. The idea of “community” was core to its success.

For Bayside student Lennon Anderson, making art wasn’t the most important part of IDEAL.

“It was doing art with a community. It felt welcoming. I felt I was with my people.”  

Enjoy this slideshow of a few IDEAL pictures taken by J.B. Digital Photography. 

To see many more photos and download ones you choose at no cost, head here: IDEAL Photo Album. 

There was no fee for students to participate in IDEAL, meaning Arts for Learning was only able to develop and implement this program with the support of outside funders. We knew we would be able to move forward with our ambitious undertaking once we received the largest grant in our organization’s history from the Hampton Roads Community Foundation; we’ll always be grateful for their support. Additional funders who made this initiative possible are as follows: Chrysler Museum of Art, Arts Alliance, Mr. Gary Jensen, LISC Hampton Roads, Mellen Street Creative, Norfolk Arts and Humanities Commission, Portsmouth Museum and Fine Arts Commission, Portsmouth Service League, PRA Group,  Virginia Beach Arts and Humanities Commission, Virginia Commission for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and Walmart. Our sincere thanks to all!

The IDEAL student art exhibition remains on display through June 1 at the Chrysler and is free and open to the public.

Filed Under: Art Exhibit, Arts Integration, ArtsEd, Grants, News, Program Spotlight, Residency Tagged With: 757 arts, 757 nonprofit, Arts for Learning, Arts for Learning Virginia, Chrysler Museum, Chrysler Museum of Art, Hampton Roads Community Foundation, IDEAL, IDEAL residency, Norfolk Public Schools, Portsmouth Public Schools, teaching artists, Title 1 schools, Virginia Beach City Public Schools, visual arts

In Their Own Words: IDEAL Residency Students

June 6, 2023 By Cindy Sherwood

Sometimes we can learn the most about the impact of a program that we offer directly from the students we serve.

So we wanted to share comments from some of the students who participated in our IDEAL (Intentional Designs of Expression in Artistic Languages) residency this spring. Remarks from students at Virginia Beach’s College Park Elementary and Portsmouth’s Westhaven Elementary are divided into the categories that we measure before, during, and after the residency to determine gains: self-worth, community connectedness, and creative expression.

SELF-WORTH

Emma, College Park, 5th grade: “It showed me I could really be anything I want to be.”

Sadé, College Park, 5th grade: “I want to teach others how to do art. It’s very inspiring. It makes you feel like you can do other things that you thought that you couldn’t do in art. And that’s why I love Arts for Learning.”

Deniya, Westhaven, 5th grade: “I learned you can do what you want to do. You just have to keep practicing. Don’t let anybody make you come down, just keep trying and trying… And you might end up being an artist if you keep trying.”

Harmony, Westhaven, 5th grade: “I got a lot more friends in my life. They made us sit at different tables so we could get to know each other, and it really helped a lot. I’m very shy. I got put into a room full of new people I didn’t know, at least most of them. I guess I had to branch out… I feel like Arts for Learning made me into a better person.”

COMMUNITY CONNECTIVENESS

Samantha, Westhaven, 6th grade: “Arts for Learning was important because it helped you connect with who you are and your identity.” (Samantha had noted that she was Filipino on her mother’s side and used to visit cousins in the Philippines prior to Covid. She said she had done research about the Philippines as part of IDEAL.)

CREATIVE EXPRESSION

Sadé, College Park, 5th grade: “I’m more excited when I do art. It makes my heart burst.”

Mark, Westhaven, 6th grade: “I created a phoenix, and it was really inspiring because it shows my personality, like the power of the phoenix. It’s a sock puppet so it’s silly and goofy but on the inside it’s powerful and meaningful. The project changed how I saw myself because I expressed my inner personality.”

Kerrington, College Park, 5th grade: “Before I joined [the IDEAL residency], I wasn’t really artistic because I didn’t think I could do the things I wanted to do. When I joined Arts for Learning, it was really fun because I got to paint, do watercolors, and sculptures…. Anytime I go home, I have paint and canvases in my room, and I just paint nonstop. And my mom tells me to go to bed and I’m like, ‘No, I’ve got to paint.’”

Mary, Westhaven, 5th grade: “I realized that I could express myself in different ways instead of just talking about it. I can express myself through singing or dancing or painting or drawing. Arts for Learning has helped me a lot because I learned I can express myself in different ways.”

Raenah, Westhaven, 5th grade: “I’ve changed the way I express myself going to [the IDEAL residency] because I learned that I don’t have to just speak the way I feel, I can draw it out, dance it out, sing it out, or do it all types of ways. My favorite way of showing my feelings is  painting. I can show it if I’m mad, happy, sad, or any other emotion. The painting I did for the Chrysler Museum I basically just put lots of fun and colorful things because I feel like it describes how I am most of the time because I’m mostly happy.”

Many thanks to Hannah Sobol and Jackie Glass of Heard Productions for conducting  interviews with students at the Chrysler Museum.

The IDEAL student art exhibit is still on display and available for the public to view through Sunday, June 11. Admission to the Chrysler Museum is free. The artwork can be viewed at the Margaret Shepherd Ray Family and Student Gallery.

Filed Under: Art Exhibit, Arts Integration, ArtsEd, Program Spotlight Tagged With: creative expressionls, IDEAL, Portsmouth Public Schools, residency, success stories, Virginia Beach City Public Schools

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Main Office
Arts for Learning
420 North Center Drive
Suite 239
Norfolk, Virginia 23502

Phone: 757-466-7555

Main Office

Arts for Learning
420 North Center Drive
Suite 239
Norfolk, Virginia 23502
Phone:
757-466-7555

Arts for Learning Virginia Names New CEO to Lead Arts-in-Education Nonprofit

The Board of Directors of Arts for Learning, the Virginia Affiliate of Young Audiences, voted at its annual meeting to name Anna Heywood Green as CEO of the organization. Heywood Green has served as Interim CEO since January 1, following the retirement of former CEO Christine Everly. Prior to January, Heywood Green worked as the organization’s […]

Join the A4L Mailing List!

Sign up to receive the latest news on arts integration from Arts for Learning! Thank you for supporting arts-in-education.

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Arts for Learning Virginia. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
At Arts for Learning Virginia, we’re proud to be part of the Virginia Commission for the Arts’ Passport Program. While Passport holders typically receive free admission and 50% off classes at participating organizations, all our programming is always free—no discount needed. To learn more about our public events, check out our calendar of events page here.

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