Arts Integrated Lessons for Your Grade 7-12 Classroom
ARTrageous Online! supports core curriculum learning for 7-12th grade students by introducing students to passionate and accomplished "thought leaders" in our community. They are artists, scientists, authors, activists, mathematicians, engineers, teachers, and creatives who have ideas and experience worth sharing. Vibrant video presentations, activities, and lesson plans support arts integration in English, Science, and Social Studies.
Our hope is that the passion of these leaders will inspire students and enhance their online learning experience.
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CURRENT ARTRAGEOUS ONLINE UNITS
CURRENT ARTRAGEOUS ONLINE UNITS
Stan Clawson: Rethinking Disability Through the Social Model of Disability
Stan Clawson, a native of Salt Lake City, Utah, fell rock climbing at 20 years old and was told he would never walk again. Despite this setback, Stan's childhood passions for the outdoors, drawing, drama, and film production fueled his resilience. The shock and initial disbelief of his new reality transformed into a driving force for his advocacy work in disability awareness and inclusion.
Carel Brest van Kempen: A Close-Up on Art and Ecology
Carel Brest van Kempen, a Salt Lake, self-taught painter is as original and talented as he is difficult to cast in any genre. Raised in Emigration Canyon where at 8 years old, following a bird or a lizard often led him to clifftops or under a rock, he grew an appreciation for nature and the intricate story it tells. As Carel puts it, "As I explore the planet’s ecology, it conjures a flow of scenarios and stories in my imagination. My paintings are a means for me to realize these narratives and to work out their details. I try to say as much as I can about how the subject lives and interacts with its environment and other organisms."
John Arthur: Student Creators Finding Voice & Making Impact
Prominent Salt Lake teacher John Arthur takes us on his personal journey, from being a shy child of an immigrant mother and having a distrust for teachers to, despite it all, becoming a teacher himself. Through stories that ended badly, he explains why his priority is to help students create, find their brilliance, find their voice, and believe they can make a difference.
Elizabeth Hora: Studying Artifacts and Artwork to Learn About People of the Past
Salt Lake archaeologist Elizabeth Hora is a public archaeologist, a burgeoning field in archaeology that aims to engage the public in archaeological discovery while promoting stewardship and preservation of cultural resources. She invites us to consider the delicate balance between encouraging all the public to visit archaeological sites and enjoy our cultural heritage, while minimizing our impact to keep them intact for future generations. This she says is the ‘predicament of preservation.’ And Elizabeth sees a growing need of people dedicated to working on this. Archaeologists are in shortage!
Masha Shukovich: Finding Your Authentic Voice
Masha grew up in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (they refer to it as X-Yugoslavia because the country no longer exists). She speaks 5 languages, and has ancestry and indigenous roots in the Balkans; the Mediterranean; and West, Central, and Northeast Asia (Siberia). Now living in Utah after getting a PhD in Communication and Gender Studies from Texas A&M University and an MFA in Creative Writing, Masha continues their journey as a writer, a mom, intuitive chef, a singer, a performer, a teacher, a researcher, and a visual artist.
Maysa Kergaye: Being Muslim
Almost one quarter of the people in the world are Muslim. But how much do we really understand Muslims here in America? Maysa Kergaye, a Muslim woman who calls Utah home, but has lived in multiple countries and US states, opens up the conversation about what it means to be Muslim, her experiences as a Muslim woman in America , and particularly as a minority in Utah.
Tiana Tangulu: Discovering Polynesia Through Dance
Award winning Utah-born Polynesian dancer, Tiana Tangulu founded Traditions Elevated, a Utah-based organization that uses dance to generate a contemporary interest in Polynesian culture, history and traditions. Tiana takes us on a personal journey of how dancing as a child, and reconnecting with it as an adult has not only helped her better understand herself, but has strengthened her ties to her mother, her daughter, the local community, and to an ever-growing worldwide community of social media followers who connect to Tiana and her dancing, and who appreciate her vision of using dance to build a diverse, multicultural community.
Honey Duvall: Indigenous Stories, Traditions, and Dances
Rhonda ‘Honey’ Duvall is an inspirational advocate, R&B singer, powwow dancer, and native american storyteller. She is from the Navajo Nation (Diné) of the Tangle Clan and grew up splitting her time between the Navajo Blue Gap reservation in Arizona and Salt Lake City, Utah where she currently lives and records her music. Honey began her musical journey singing in choir class in middle school, soon advancing to the acapella choir where she found her love for harmonies and variation. In college she studied music theory and audio engineering and now produces her own vocals and music videos. She performs as a storyteller, dancer, and singer and weaves her clan's traditional dances and songs into her R&B music with influences of hip hop and soul.
Bonnie Baxter: The Great Salt Lake
Microbiologist Bonnie Baxter teaches us about the WHOLE Great Salt Lake, starting from small and going large. Having studied the microbialite-strewn lakebed for decades, she describes two distinct food chains, brine shrimp and brine flies, that are tiny but essential players in the larger world arena. Her ‘small lives matter’ message is a shout out for all of us to pay attention and nurture our regional oasis whose waters we depend upon.
Atem Aleu: The Lost Boys of Sudan
It is estimated that more than 30,000 Sudanese boys were orphaned or separated from their homes and families by the civil war that tore apart South Sudan between 1984 and 2005. Atem Aleu, from the Dinka tribe, was seven years old when his village was attacked. When Atem, out in the fields tending the cows with the other Dinka village boys heard the gunshots, they fled and began the one thousand mile walk, barefoot from Sudan to Ethiopia and finally to the Kenyan refugee camp in Kakuma. The survivors of this tragic escape became known as the ‘Lost Boys of Sudan.’
Rob Davies: Climate Crisis
Dr. Rob Davies’ is a physicist whose work focuses on global change, human vibrancy, and the science of systems. He has delivered hundreds of public lectures ― to policymakers, business leaders, civic organizations and faith communities ― and his “performance science” theatrical collaboration The Crossroads Project | Rising Tide, co-created with the Fry Street Quartet, has been performed across the U.S. and in three countries. He has served as a scientific liaison for NASA; as a project scientist with Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory; and an officer and meteorologist in the United States Air Force. Dr. Davies has served on the faculty of three universities, is a past Associate of the Utah Climate Center, and is currently Associate Professor of Professional Practice with Utah State University, where he holds a joint appointment in the Dep’t of Physics, USU’s Ecology Center, and the Caine College of the Arts.
Jorge Fierro: The Journey of an Entrepreneur
Jorge Fierro was born in Chihuahua, Mexico to a family who valued education and wanted Jorge to become a success: either a lawyer or a doctor. But Jorge soon realized that he would follow his own path. In this unit, Jorge tells his story of how he became one of Salt Lake’s most beloved entrepreneurs. His lessons are as informative as they are inspiring as he teaches us what true success really means: about finding your journey, being yourself, paying it forward and caring for family.
Lorin Hansen: Samba in Utah
Lorin Hansen is a passionate instructor, performer, and lifelong student of Brasilian Samba dance and percussion. She is a two-time international samba champion, and is currently the only American invited to teach Samba at the International Samba Congress. In this Unit, Lorin Hansen introduces us to the rich beauty, culture and history of Afro-Brazilian Samba through drums and dance. She shares stories of this earthbound tradition, weaving folklore and mythology together with Brazil’s contemporary street scene, Rio Carnival, and her own personal journey that brings it full circle and all the way home to Utah.
Dee-Dee Darby-Duffin: Finding Her Voice
Born in Baltimore, Dee-Dee Darby-Duffin has been delighting audiences as a singer since she was a young girl belting out songs to please her grandmother and lady friends. In this unit, Dee-Dee Darby-Duffin talks about how her career as an artist took shape. She had always been told to ‘stay in your lane, and just entertain.’ Once she defined what success was to her, she began to cross lanes, overcome fear, and gracefully speak her mind.
Marian Howe-Taylor: The Beloved Community Project
Marian Howe-Taylor grew up in Boston, and raised in a family that was active in the Black civil rights movement, starting in the early 1960’s. In the following three modules, students will learn how Marian uses storytelling, film, and poetry in her activism. Her stories of black heroes round out our history books. With love and humor, she finds allies, and starts important conversations in her effort to build a “beloved community”– one that is civil, equitable, and harmonious.
Scott Hampton: Kite Making
Utah kitemaker Scott Hampton shares his passion and skill for kite making– a true nexus of art, science and math. Raised as an “army brat” and moving from school to school, he recounts how he rose in the ranks from a checked out student doodling in class to becoming a visual arts teacher and kite maker, wowing festival crowds with his unique and colorful life-like figure kites.
Noemi Hernandez-Balcazar: Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead
Noemi Hernandez-Balcazar grew up in Mexico City where she developed a lifelong love for art and celebrations, such as Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos. Now an artist and educator in Salt Lake City, she shares her insights into this iconic Mexican celebration. Her first-hand knowledge provides a pathway to appreciating art, food, folklore, music, history, and Mexican cultural values.
Pilar Pobil: Art, Culture, and Identity
Spanish artist Pilar Pobil shares how her unique works of art reflect her life journey from her birth in Mallorca, Spain where she endured the Spanish Civil War, to Salt Lake City, where she married and raised her family. At 94 years old, Pilar continues to create art, write, and encourage others to follow their passions in life.
Zach Frankel: Utah's Waterways
Water conservationist Zach Frankel grew up paddling rivers. His love for water and nature evolved into his lifelong dedication to protecting the health of Utah rivers, lakes and streams. For 20+ years now, Frankel has been working to increase public awareness about water use, overconsumption and projects that dry up our lands; and encouraging all of use to get out into nature and enjoy the adventures our waterways offer.
Nalini Nadkarni: Tree Canopy Science & Conservation
Salt Lake biologist Nalini Nadkarni shares her personal journey of becoming a treetop canopy biologist. At a young age she faced a career crossroads. Her decision led her out of Paris and deep into the tropical rain forests. In this unit, Nalini reflects on how she makes big decisions, when to take the leap, and how she found her life's work, up in the treetops, the vantage point where she sees the world, big and small.