Open Space Programming
PROGRAMS ARE FUNDED IN PART BY YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS
Your donations help us bring Open Space Education programs to more young people in the Richmond area. Thank you for your support!
GIVE + TAKE: NATURE-BASED ART
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GIVE + TAKE brings nature-based art experiences to Richmond Public School students as part of extended day offerings. The program aims to bridge the gap between art education and nature-based learning.
Through hands-on activities, like making our own paintbrushes, paint, and paper from natural materials collected on school grounds, students engage with the natural world, fostering creativity, critical thinking, and a deeper connection to their environment.
IKEBANA: SCULPTING WITH NATURE
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In partnership with Ikebana of Richmond, this program introduces students to the Japanese art of sculpting with nature.
Outside on school grounds, students go on nature walks and learn about the aesthetic properties of seasonal trees and plants like plum blossoms, forsythia, and pine, as well as their symbolism.
Students also learn the skill of hand-building and glazing with clay as they made their own ceramic containers for their nature sculptures.
IN TUNE: JEFFERSON PARK MURAL PROJECT (2024)
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Guided by Open Space teaching artist and professional muralist, Auz Miles, students from MLK, Jr. Middle School learned the process of creating a mural by photographing elements of nature found in their neighborhood park, working together to collaboratively paint the outward-facing 24-foot x 8-foot stage wall of the Jefferson Park Stage House.
Students also met neighbors who shared memories of growing up by the park. The project connected students to the natural world as a way of recognizing their interconnection with the community in which they live. Through the program, students accessed the benefits of being in nature while cultivating creative, intuitive, socio-emotional, and leadership skills.
IN TUNE mural project was in partnership with Friends of Jefferson Park, Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Richmond, and MLK Middle School. By learning more about the trees, plants, and animals that live at the park, students collaboratively created a mural that expresses the energy unique to this location.
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FUNCTIONAL CERAMICS: FROM PLANTING TO EATING
Students work outside in Fonticello Food Forest, plant and nurture seedlings, and build ceramic planters. Conversations center around the creative process, plant attributes, food access, and our relationship to the natural world from a holistic view.
Through a curriculum designed by Black women artists Angie Scott and Joy McMillian, Open Space offers Black youth an entry point to the benefits that being outside offers. For many of our participants, this is their only way to gain this time. By combining this exposure with the creative outlets of tending to the earth as well as working with clay, we offer an immersive experience that is healing, educational, and connects students of color to their community.
FREE THE SPRING: STREET THEATER + STORYTELLING (2022)
FREE THE SPRING was led by Open Space teaching artist and activist, Lil Lamberta, of All The Saints Theater Company. The program was inspired by the natural spring trapped underground at Fonticello Park in Richmond’s Southside. Students performed their storytelling at the site of the old pump house where the spring runs underground.
Students learned the history of this once vibrant spring and its place in the community and how poor planning has left it in a state that is literally locked up by the city. This conversation provided the jumping off point for art, activism and an understanding of how participants could take action to make changes that they want to see.
By building community around the local environment, students learn how art can be used to bring attention to things that are important to us, like water and nature. An encore performance of FREE THE SPRING was presented at the opening of the “Community Build,” exhibition at VisArts on September 9, 2022 along with artists Lil Lamberta, Valeska Populoh and Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo.