[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 160 (Thursday, October 2, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2206-E2207]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             COMMEMORATING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF GALLERY 218

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES P. McGOVERN

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 2, 2008

  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the efforts of the 
administration, students, and faculty of the Franklin Public Schools in 
Franklin, Massachusetts for establishing Gallery 218.
  Gallery 218 was created by converting a storage room off of the high 
school's cafeteria into a pleasant and inviting space where exhibits of 
student artwork are proudly displayed. This gallery is open to the 
community to showcase how important a great art program is to a well-
rounded education.
  The faculty who provide art education in Franklin are themselves 
great artists. I had the pleasure recently of visiting Gallery 218 
where the current exhibit consists of works of art created by the 
faculty. I was extremely impressed with the quality and variety of 
artwork on display.
  Madam Speaker, I am certain that the entire House of Representatives 
joins me in congratulating the administration and faculty of the 
Franklin Public Schools for their exemplary efforts to promote the arts 
in their schools by establishing Gallery 218.
  I am including in the Record a recent article from the Milford Daily 
News about this terrific project.

             [From the Milford Daily News, Sept. 24, 2008]

                      Art Teachers Lead by Example

                         (By Heather McCarron)

       Franklin.--The old myth, ``Those who can, do, and those who 
     can't, teach,'' has been proven completely false by the town 
     schools' art faculty.
       Mike Caple, art director for the School Department, is 
     joining other members of the K-12 art faculty this fall in an 
     exhibit that proves ``these teachers can do.''
       To open the second season of the schools'' new art space, 
     Gallery 218, many of the 17 members of the art and visual 
     media faculty will be displaying their work to the public 
     through Nov. 7.
       An opening reception at the gallery, located at Franklin 
     High, was held last Tuesday.
       In addition to being instructors, ``we are all practicing 
     artists,'' said Caple, who teaches Advanced Placement studio 
     art, photography and introductory courses. ``To be an 
     effective visual instructor, you have to practice what you 
     do.''
       He said he and fellow teachers thought it would be a great 
     way to start off the year at Gallery 218, which debuted last 
     April, ``by showing what we can do.''
       He thinks it's important, especially for students, to see 
     ``one, that we are practicing artists and we go through the 
     same process as they do. And, secondly, to show them what 
     they can do.''
       It's also important to connect with the greater community, 
     Caple said, and demonstrate how meaningful a great art 
     program is to a well-rounded education.
       ``We really want to show the value of that to the 
     community,'' said Caple, whose main focus is photography.
       The teachers' work runs the gamut from abstract pieces done 
     in acrylics and oils, to watercolors, sculpture, photography 
     and film.
       Caple has included black-and-white images featuring his 
     daughters, as well as a photographic digital collage that is 
     an emotional exploration of the loss of his brother years ago 
     in a car accident.
       ``I've photographed my family since high school,'' Caple 
     said. ``Always black and white. It's just how I see it. I'm 
     interested in the non-posed moments. I'm interested in 
     capturing moments in between the poses.''
       Video production teacher Nick Bailey's work in the exhibit 
     includes ``The Director,'' his 15-minute thesis film ``about 
     a kid trying to make a movie to impress people.''
       Bailey thinks having the teachers show their work is a 
     great idea. ``We've got a lot of talented artists that are 
     teachers,'' he said.
       Lauren Jezierski, who teaches ceramics, sculpture and 
     advanced 3-D, has mixed media pieces in the show. ``They're 
     all self-portraits of different types, in different mediums. 
     There's wood, there's acrylic paint, even sewing,'' she said, 
     noting, ``I like kind of repeating the same subject, but in 
     different ways, telling different stories.''
       She thinks the show is not only a way for the community to 
     see the instructors' talents, it's also a way for the artists 
     to connect with, and inspire, each other.
       ``We don't get to see each other's work much,'' she said.
       Pam Ziegler, a graphic design teacher at the high school, 
     contributed abstract watercolors developed from photographs 
     she took in Italy, in addition to a ``found object 
     sculpture'' about the process of creativity.
       ``I always say teachers should live what they teach. 
     Otherwise, it's not really authentic,'' Ziegler said.
       Jane Hogan teaches the honors portfolio class and, besides 
     a portrait and some abstract works, has contributed a 
     handmade portfolio that, in part, explores her careers as a 
     teacher and an artist. She describes herself as someone 
     leading ``kind of a dual life of teaching and doing art.''
       ``It's important as a teacher to also do your own work,'' 
     she stressed. ``You stay fresh. Your creativity stays in 
     use.''
       Amy Radcliffe, who teaches painting, printmaking, 
     portfolio, drawing and introductory art courses, has prints 
     in the exhibit, made by running a painted metal plate through 
     a press. She also is showing two paintings which are 
     explorations of the same subject: An old, beat-up typewriter 
     she found in the woods.
       ``I just thought it was a real interesting piece that must 
     have had some history to it,'' Radcliffe explained.
       When she is teaching, Radcliffe said, ``I try to remind the 
     kids that I'm an artist, too, and I've been through the same 
     struggles.''
       She said it's also fun to see her colleagues' work. ``It's 
     a little more insight into their personalities and styles,'' 
     Radcliffe said.
       Artist Emily Ortmann included an acrylic abstract painting 
     in the show, and two pieces of hand-painted, sandblasted 
     glass.
       Having grown up on Long Island--``Jackson Pollock land''--
     she said, ``a lot of my influence is from abstract 
     expressionists.''

[[Page E2207]]

       ``There's so many different styles,'' she said of the 
     faculty show.
       Zachary Breeze, who teaches computer-aided drafting at the 
     high school, is a case-in-point. His piece, called ``The Pool 
     Hall,'' is a 3-D image created using a computer.
       ``I use a program called Solid Works,'' he said. 
     ``Basically, you create an object in the program and make it 
     three dimensional.''
       Remington Middle School art teacher Rosanne Gosch 
     contributed two abstract pieces which, she said, are ``very 
     different from anything I had ever made before,'' having been 
     classically trained.
       As a teacher, she said, she usually shares work in the form 
     of project examples and demonstrations. But the faculty art 
     show, she said, ``is a little bit more personal, inviting the 
     public, and not just our students, to have a peek into our 
     private selves.''
       ``I'm always very comfortable showing off other people's 
     work, but a little protective of my own, so this is a good 
     opportunity for me to just get over myself already,'' she 
     said.
       Jefferson Elementary School art teacher Jennifer McCarthy 
     created a still life in oil and a pastel from a class she 
     took this summer on Cape Cod.
       What inspires her, she said, ``is the message we can send 
     and portray with the images we create.''
       Being able to share the work is key, and McCarthy loves 
     that Franklin's art teachers and students have somewhere to 
     do that.
       ``I think the gallery really sends a message that art is 
     important, we appreciate its value and look at all the great 
     work that is being produced by our teachers and by the 
     students,'' she said.

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