“We had our second class this past Saturday, April 16th, at the Corona Library. Our students were lively and full of energy—ready to explore the world of Art through English! We started the class with a brief reintroduction to Mariam Ghani’s The Garden of Forked Tongues wall; this motivated our students to share what we had learned last week. It was interesting to see how much valuable information they had retained, and how much they still wanted to know about this eclectic mural—this afforded us an opportunity to learn/practice the meaning of expressions such as: ‘do you remember’ and ‘what else would you like to know’. Before continuing our exploratory learning experience we asked our students: ‘What is Art?’—their answers were amazing. They collectively answered: art is a feeling, a sentiment that requires imagination and talent; it is an idea translated into a material expression—be it a landscape, sculpture, painting, mural, song, or act. These are truly our students words (mostly said in English) paraphrased in unison. Thereafter, our class was introduced to The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass; we showed them breathtaking images of the iconic Tiffany lamps. When the students were asked for their reactions we practiced the use of adjectives like ‘beautiful’, ‘pretty’, ‘delicate’, ‘decorative’, ‘expensive’ and so forth. Before proceeding, we dedicated a space to explore the technicalities that involve using a lamp. Therefore, our students were asked ‘what lamps are for’ and ‘what lamps can do’; together we established that they are for: ‘lighting up a room’, ‘reading’, ‘decoration’ and we can: ‘turn them on’, ‘light them up’ or ‘turn them off’. Finally we ended our course by learning about the history behind the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany glass. Among many important facts, our students learned about the serious involvement immigrants—from the Neustadt family to the employees (artisans, chemists, managers, and women) of Tiffany—had in the realization of this extraordinary artwork. This was an inspiring moment for all of us because we are the immigrants of today and the hope is that whatever we create will one day be historicized too. Our next step is this coming Saturday, when our students will be able to finally view the great works we have been learning about as well as the many others we have left to discover!”

Jennifer Cruz-Marulanda