The JSU Department of Art is thrilled to announce its outreach program with Jacksonville High School. The pilot program, dubbed JSU/JHS Art Partnership, was designed to bring art education into public schools as well as to help MFA candidates at JSU develop teaching skills.

While the program recognizes that there are hundreds of forms of the visual and performing arts, many of these practices begin with or rely heavily upon drawing. Therefore this year’s JSU/JHS Art Partnership aims to share with program participants a variety of tools, techniques, and approaches used in drawing and keeping a sketchbook.

JSU Art wants to impress upon these students that drawing and keeping a sketchbook is a very easy and accessible way to embrace the arts. Additionally, drawing can even benefit those not particularly interested in the arts through increasing hand/eye coordination, visual and conceptual problem solving, and stress management.

The Partnership’s pilot program is serving selected seventh-grade students at JHS this year but hopes that it can expand both its reach and funding in the future. Principle Bill Singleton of JHS says, “We are excited to have this partnership with JSU in the area of art. After just one week, the students are already looking forward to the next lesson. We look forward to continuing the Art partnership with JSU and are looking at ways to expand it next year to include upper grade students.”

For more information, contact the JSU Department of Art, (256) 782-5626.

JHS student learns and practices the technique of blind contour drawing, where you look at your subject—in this case a classmate—while you draw, but you CANNOT look at your paper!