<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Blatchley Middle School ArtistYear Resident Clare Sheedy (bottom left) poses with her 7th and 8th grade Art Lunch Bunch students (KCAW/Cotter)</figcaption></figure>



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A jazzy melody from “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” peppers the air outside of Blatchley Middle School’s art classroom, a friendly reminder that fall has arrived. Inside, sixth graders are at their desks, painting and drawing. Yellow fabric is draped over the harsh fluorescent lights, imitating the warmth of the sun. Spread out above the whiteboard are various cut-out paper letters spelling out “ALL ARE WELCOME,” with each unique letter showcasing a different student’s skill and style. The first period of “Art Lunch Bunch” is hard at work.

Sitting behind a desk with colorful markers neatly displayed is sixth-grader Mariana Diaz Mendoza. She shows off a drawing in her notebook –a face outlined in ink, with shaded lips and brows, the sides of the face intentionally distorted, as if they’ve been stretched out like taffy. Her notebook is full of sketches like this– with muses ranging from fabulously creepy clowns to biblically accurate angels– demonstrating  a level of skill and detail that signals she has been drawing her entire life.

“I was born of a disability, and so I wasn’t able to move half of my body, [or] either my fingers. So [doctors were] like, ‘Oh yeah, art could help you with moving your fingers,'” says Mariana.

<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">6th grader Mariana Diaz Mendoza is hard at work on her latest drawing (KCAW/Cotter)</figcaption></figure>

Mariana holds her arms apart as wide as she comfortably can, demonstrating her relatively limited range of motion.

“I didn’t know that. Mariana, that’s so beautiful. So you were, like, born to do it. You were born to do art,” says Clare Sheedy, the Resident Teaching Artist at Blatchley Middle School. She is one of four Americorps ArtistYear residents in Sitka this year. For the first time, the volunteer organization with a long-established local presence is piloting the program here, which connects art teachers in regions with little to no arts programming in schools. 

Sheedy was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. As the daughter of Irish and Scottish immigrants, she was surrounded by singing and dancing at family gatherings, and even learned to play the fiddle. She most recently served as an Art Educator at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, and studied art and writing in grad school. But she didn’t join Americorps with the arts in mind.

“I want to learn how to build a house. And then I started looking into AmeriCorps programs. And then I just came across artist year,” says Sheedy. “And I was like, this is something that I’m interested in and that I have real skills and passion I can bring to it.”

Sheedy hopes to help her students connect with the creativity they already have.

“Art is already in their lives. It’s in their families. It’s in the Sitka community around them. It’s in their notebooks. It’s something that we’re constantly co-creating, and that’s everywhere,” says Sheedy. “So I hope to just kind of be a facilitator of those touch points.”

Due to funding cuts, Blatchley Middle School has been without a full-time arts teacher for several years, so Sheedy arrived to a classroom low on supplies. But she says community members quickly stepped up to help, with donations of everything from  glue sticks to tempera paint. Sheedy has been incredibly moved by the generosity and strong sense of community amongst Sitkans, and says working with the students has been an absolute joy so far.

“They’ve been so fun and funny, just joyful and delightful to get to know,” says Sheedy. “Working with them has brought out a part of myself that I really like, that’s more playful and maybe a little chaotic, because there’s some of that chaotic energy in middle school.”

Above all else, the students are hungry for art. Right after Sheedy began teaching at the end of September she sent a survey to students, asking them what arts programming they want to see. Sheedy has incorporated their suggestions in her curriculum, like starting an after school art club, and the Art Lunch Bunch groups, which sixth grader Mariana attended, as well as 8th grader Claudia Teas-Klanott, who is painting a handmade cardboard guitar. 

“In the time I’ve been in this space and working with Miss Claire, it’s been really supportive and just like welcoming,” says Claudia. “You can connect with everyone without feeling like you’re gonna be judged, because everyone’s here to make art and stuff, so no one’s gonna judge you for the type of art you make.”

The arts programming at Blatchley got cut shortly after Claudia entered sixth grade. Now that it’s returned, they are able to regularly work on a wide variety of art projects more consistently. Claudia believes it is crucial that youth-centered art spaces like Art Lunch Bunch exist in Sitka. 

“It’s really important for kids to have creative outlets like this, because being in Sitka… There’s not a lot of art things and stuff that are, welcoming to kids,” says Claudia. “It’s really nice, because it’s during school, so you don’t have to worry about if you’re free after hours.”

Sheedy says it feels “exciting and a little overwhelming” to re-establish a middle school arts program. She is applying for grant funding for supplies, and making long-term plans for future teachers, even though federal Americorps funding beyond this year is uncertain.

“So that’s why organizing this room and putting a lot of emphasis on student involvement and setting things up in a way where it can easily be transitioned after a year or two to someone else,” says Sheedy.

While she initially applied to Americorp to learn how to build a house, Sheedy is building a foundation to help middle schoolers find a home in the arts.