Chicago Sun Times Feature
“Traveling bard, musician and art teacher helps kids in hospitals take center stage.” Snow City Arts teaching artist Emmy Bean is featured in the Chicago Sun Times as part of their Hardest-Working Voices in Healthcare series. Emmy has been working with Snow City Arts for three years and as an interdisciplinary artist has shaped many of the projects within the program. She teaches at both the Children’s Hospital University of Illinois and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital and also leads the [...]
Monica Acosta: A Teaching Artist Profile
What do you enjoy most as a teaching artists? I enjoy observing a student move from apprehension to confidence. Then the student connects with a lesson and takes it to a level far greater than I would have imagined. Monica is the newest member of the Snow City Arts teaching artist team and so we thought we'd take some time to learn more about their artistic practice and initial experience teaching in a very unique environment. Monica is our visual artist-in-residence [...]
A Special National Endowment for the Arts Audio Feature on Snow City Arts
For years, Snow City Arts has been proud to receive support from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). That’s why we were thrilled when Adam Kampe, a media specialist with the NEA Magazine, asked to do a special feature on Snow City Arts. The first issue of 2019 was going to be on “the healing power of the arts” and Snow City Arts was a natural fit. “At the National Endowment for the Arts, we believe the arts have [...]
The Awesome Darius
“Wow. I. Am. Awesome!" Darius posing for his self-portrait. This was 18 year old Darius' response as the frame was peeled back from the white t-shirt, revealing the silk screen print he had just made. The image, a detailed silhouette of himself that he had composed and printed in black ink onto a fresh t-shirt, led teaching artist Jon Stein to question if he meant the awesomeness of the print, his artistic abilities, or just himself in general. [...]
Tamara’s Artistic Beginnings
As a part of our yearlong 20th Anniversary celebration, Snow City Arts has had the opportunity to reconnect with many former students. Earlier this Spring, at our Visual Arts Exhibition, Allie Spicer, one of our Visual Arts Teaching Artists, met up with Tamara, who created a painting more than 10 years ago when she was just six years old. Now an accomplished writer and visual artist, we wanted to know more about Tamara today and what she remembers from her [...]
Meet Student #1: Miguel
In the summer of 1998, Miguel was just 12 years old. As a patient in the pediatric dialysis unit, he found the long hours of sitting and getting treatment to be lonely and boring. One day, teaching artist and Snow City Arts' founder Paul Sznewajs walked into the unit and introduced himself as someone working with kids in the hospital. He engaged with Miguel in a variety of ways, but quickly realized Miguel had a natural talent for drawing. Most [...]