ESPrit de Corps

Picturing Poetry: CREATE The World You Want to Live In
Just Buffalo Literary Center / Frederick Law Olmsted School #56 & #64

Teaching Artists: Robin Brox, Amy Meza Luraschi
Teachers: Maureen Castellani, Carl Chiarilli, Sarah Dulak, Kim Minor

Student Artists (left to right, top to bottom):
A New Beginning, Amiyah King (Grade 6)
A Huge Round Box, Jonvier Whittington (Grade 6)
A Mother’s Love, Joita Jane Patterson (Grade 6)
The Tree, Sadi Mohiuddin (Grade 6)
Hope, Andre Hoolihan (Grade 6)
The Darkness, James Kay (Grade 6)
Untitled, Diante Whitlock (Grade 6)
My World, Autum Carter (Grade 6)
The Naked Eye, Nazier Vaughn (Grade 6)

Just Buffalo Literary Center is the proud partner of the Frederick Law Olmsted School #56 and #64. Inspired by Olmsted’s school-wide focus on creativity, Picturing Poetry’s theme this year was CREATE. Working with Robin Brox from Just Buffalo’s Writers Corps and Amy Meza Luraschi, CEPA Gallery’s lead teaching artist, sixth-grade students were invited to create the world they want to live in through the lens of the camera and the words they put down on paper.

The concept of Picturing Poetry might seem simple enough—place a camera and a pen in a student’s hands and stand back—but the results are anything but simple. The finished artwork reveals just how much wisdom and wit, innocence and insight a young mind possesses. Twelve-year-old Jonviér offers a self-portrait, her shadowed silhouette peering pensively out the window, her poem pondering, “a shadow of darkness covers the earth / But one thing that stands out is / hope.” In her post-reflection, Jonviér writes, “Picturing Poetry showed me that poetry can explain a whole new world.”

The project began in January with Amy Meza Luraschi teaching students the elements of photography before unleashing them with their own cameras to capture the world. After days of anticipation, students finally get to see their developed photos and, with the guidance of Amy and Robin, learn how to evaluate their images to select their strongest photo. This single image then inspires their series of poems.

At the final Picturing Poetry Celebration, the photographs & poems are projected for everyone to see while each student performs the work for fellow students as well as parents and teachers. Classroom teacher, Sarah Dulak, notes that this is her favorite moment of the entire project: “The students were shy at first but soon realized that everyone was going to present. The students were so quiet listening to their peers’ poems. It was inspiring to listen to their poems and to see their happiness with the finished product.”

In April, a special in-school exhibit was mounted for Olmsted’s Creativity Fair—over 300 family and community members attended! Reflecting on the experience of seeing his finished artwork displayed in the Creativity Fair exhibit, Deshawn writes, “It makes me feel proud of myself. I think I am going to be involved in poetry for the rest of my life.”

Special thanks to Principal Gruber, Assistant Principal Fredo, and especially to Maureen Castellani, Carl Chiarilli, Sarah Dulak, and Kim Minor for opening their classrooms to creative partnership.

“Writing With Light” encompasses the education programs of both Just Buffalo Literary Center and CEPA Gallery. The student work exhibited in this gallery represents Just Buffalo’s partnership with Frederick Law Olmsted Schools and CEPA Gallery’s partnership with Highgate Heights.