Art is everywhere at Battle Academy, a Chattanooga elementary magnet school on Market Street.
Stained glass windows, created by students, decorate the hallways. There are also collages, self-portraits and brightly colored drawings and paintings hung throughout the school. A large rendering of a cell hangs on the wall outside a science classroom.
“Sometimes, the symbols we see as adults make sense, but they aren’t child friendly,” said Scott Rosenow, magnet, technology and arts education facilitator at Battle.
Using art – visual or performing – allows the children to develop a stronger understanding of life around them, he said.
Rosenow and visual arts instructor Carla Guerra will address these observations at this week’s Arts Education Partnership’s Fall 2012 National Forum, to be held Thursday and Friday at The Chattanoogan. They will also talk about the family and community relationships vital to maintaining an artistically minded school.