Vashon Artists in Schools (VAIS) celebrates its 26th year with a new program manager at the helm. Holly Houston assumed her post in mid-July, taking over from Pamela McMahan, a longtime arts supporter and one of the founding members of VAIS.
New to Vashon but not the Pacific Northwest, Houston grew up on Bainbridge Island, where she roamed the island’s forests and shoreline, childhood experiences that she said influenced her decision to move to Vashon. Attending the Northwest School, Houston received a high school education at an institution where the arts were part of the core curriculum. She went on to the University of Chicago and then earned a master’s degree in art management from Columbia College. After 10 years living in the city, Houston and her artist husband longed to move back to the Northwest.
“The VAIS position popped up on CraigsList. It was too perfect,” Houston said. “It’s exciting to work with a program that fills a vital role in this dynamic arts community.”
The original inspiration for the development of VAIS, a partnership between Vashon Allied Arts and the Vashon Island School District (VISD), began in 1988 when a group of islanders dedicated to arts and education lobbied the school board to build a more comprehensive arts program in the schools.
“We wanted to bring what we considered some of the best features of our community — our professional artists with their energy and commitment — into the schools,” McMahan said. “We knew the arts enrich on many levels such as entrepreneurship and creativity. We wanted to produce more opportunities for artistic collaboration with subjects like math and science.”
Today VAIS annually sponsors about 20 to 25 artist-in-the-schools residencies. Teachers who want to enhance their curriculum choose from a roster of 40 to 50 professional island artists.
“It’s a big program,” McMahan said, “and a lot of students are impacted. Nearly every student experiences one of the residencies.”
While VISD pays the coordinator’s fees, grants from the Washington State Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, Vashon’s Partners in Education and individuals fund the program with about $50,000.
As the school year gets rolling, teachers assess what classroom art enhancement they want, Houston said. Residencies run from January to June.
Teacher and artist plan a residency by first defining the learning goals. One of McMahan’s favorite residencies took place at Chautauqua Elementary. Evidence of the artist, teacher and student partnership hangs in the lunchroom on brightly painted acoustic panels. Called “A Canvas of Food,” the panels are visual expressions of what the students learned about healthy foods, nutrition, botany and earth science. More than 70 multi-age students and their teachers brainstormed ideas and then painted the large-scale fruits and vegetables under the guidance of Vashon artist Kristen Reitz-Green.
Going forward, Houston’s been learning what’s on the teachers’ agendas, which are primarily focused on new media. To meet that need, VAIS is currently recruiting graphic designers and illustrators.
Meanwhile Houston and her husband are settling in on Vashon.
“It makes a lot of sense that this is an artists community,” Houston added. “The island is so beautiful, the community so supportive — it’s like no other place.”
