Peñasco welcomes new art teacher
Peñasco Independent Schools will welcome a new art teacher to kick off the 2018-19 school year.
Alessandra Ogren will start the new school year with several projects in mind as students at Peñasco school enjoy the first full-time art teacher since December 2017.
Ogren already has some ideas for the students and hopes to make a big splash in such realms as recycle art and theater. As a lifelong artist and theater actress, Ogden will be showing the students the benefits of using various materials and different ways of expression in the arts.
“I feel it’s critical that artists are using art to talk about what’s happening around them,” Ogden said.
Ogren joined the PIS staff as the 2017-18 school year came to a close and has begun her creative focus for the next year.
For the final weeks of the year, Ogren gathered her students for a paper mache project, which she incorporated as part of a student theater performance. As a lifelong theater fanatic, Ogren said she is hoping to entice more students in Peñasco to see the various types of arts.
Much of the work students will be doing will be collaborative between classes, helping them learn both the benefits of art as well as the importance of working together.
“Having to work together is a really important life skill,” Ogren said. “As a group project, they have to learn to negotiate group process.”
Ogren worked with the Peñasco Theater Collective and studied theater and social justice at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, where she enhanced her passion for the performing arts. She has been living in the Peñasco area for nearly 20 years and has worked with students in the Taos and Española school districts.
“Students like her handson approach, and she works well with the kids at all ages,” said superintendent Marvin MacAuley. “We’re hoping to have her for the long run.”
Ogren said she is already working on some projects for students to dive into when they return.
Heavily influenced by recent stories on the plastic waste across the planet, Ogren said she will be focusing on recycled art for the students and turning unwanted plastic materials into art projects. In addition, Ogren is planning on bringing in guests artists to speak with the students about a variety of art styles and materials.
MacAuley and Ogren also said to keep an eye out for possible art department fundraisers in the future. Students at Peñasco High School and Middle School can take art as an elective and elementary students can visit the art classroom twice per week to work on their projects.