Spotlight on Mr. Rollins

 

 

     Martin Rollins is our new art teacher for grades K through 5.  He is a native of Louisville and attended the Louisville School of Art, where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.  After college, he began working as an Artist-in-Residence with the Kentucky Arts Council, working with teachers and students around the state of Kentucky. 
     Mr. Rollins then moved to Covington, Kentucky for several years while completing his Master's in Fine Arts at the University of Cincinnati. Afterwards, he served on the visual arts faculty of the Kentucky Governor's School for the Arts and taught in arts program for the University of Louisville, the Louisville Visual Arts Association, the Kentucky Center, the Speed Art Museum, and JCPS. 
     Mr. Rollins feels that a number of things led him to Walden, primarily the "desire to teach and learn about art with younger learners.  The artist Pablo Picasso was credited with the quote, 'All my life I have been trying to paint like a child,' and I believe he was expressing a desire to be more open-minded to ideas and ways of expressing himself. I relate to his quote both artistically and as a teacher, because many times I have found myself taught by students as much as I have taught them something.  I like that art is a subject related to all other areas of the curriculum, and that you can find connections between art and math, literature, social studies, science, music, etc.  Those kinds of connections help make for richer art experiences for everybody, and excite me and teach me more as an art teacher....Of course art is also about creativity and self-expression, and it is really great when students are creating artworks that are uniquely their own.  Their interest and excitement in ideas and in what they create are infectious and are another example of how you learn from them in an art room."  We welcome Mr. Rollins to Walden!

 

Compliment for our 5th Grade:

Dear Anne,

 Judy and the parents, students, teachers and administrators of Walden School,
    I was just reading your book and looking at the pictures of the residency. The stories and photos are fantastic. The joke about the chandelier falling on the hotel guest's head ( "My Cool great-Grandpa Jim" Jacob Lichtefeld) made me laugh out loud and the copy of the letter from General MacArthur accompanied by the poem (Letters from a mother to her flier son in the South Pacific June to October - 1944" Ashley Conway) made me cry. I noticed in the story that this young lady mentioned that he may not have died a hero to America - my father worked for Western Union when he was in high school and delivered these kinds of messages in service to his country. He later fought in Korea as a young man. Please tell Ashley that I am sure that if my father were still alive, he would have considered Robert J. Conway to be a hero, as do I. His service to this country was honorable and there is no doubt in my mind that he indeed was a hero.
    I am very proud to say that the arts council supports this work. Thank you for giving me yet another great reason to love my job!!
 
Have a wonderful week,
 
Carrie A. Nath
Arts Education Director
Kentucky Arts Council

Frankfort, KY