Friends Academy Global Studies Scholars

This past Sunday we welcomed a group of fantastic students from Friends Academy in Locust Valley, NY for their Global Studies Scholars programme. For the next week, Rosie and Frank will be working with the group to guide them in creating a handmade artist book reflecting on their experiences in Ireland. Through a series of engaging workshops, presentations, and one on one tutorials, time on the farm will be spent researching, drawing and painting in both new and familiar ways, while a trip to Dublin will provide time to explore some galleries and museums.

Time spent at Cow House is an extension of the GSS class, Visual Response at Home and Abroad which poses the question, “How do artists respond to environments, spaces or places that are new to them?” Students began the semester making art as a response to a variety of sites close to home and are now ensconced at our studios to do the same. To achieve our ambitious goals the students have been presented with a series of prompts designed to hone their observational and conceptual skills as well as a history of Rosie’s family on the farm, group critiques and readings that address Ireland’s rich material and literary traditions.

The Global Studies Scholars Initiative (GSS) at Friends Academy offers unique, project-based, interdisciplinary opportunities that allow students to delve thoroughly into research and experiential learning, developing their work around an essential question. Four touchstones help guide all classes: “Come to the space with the whole self; Presume welcome and extend welcome; Speak your truth and respect other people’s truths; Listen deeply and honour the little stories and the big stories.”