By: Reka Keller

Director of Communications & Marketing

Each year before Green Hedges embarks on another rigorous academic session, teachers pause over the summer to reflect on their teaching and best practices. As they do, many develop innovative new ways to tap into students’ potential, sometimes resulting in a new facet to our already successful feature programs. This year, Kate Emmerson, an Assistant in the Montessori program, took a step back to think about art in the classroom and how we can have students make meaningful connections between art, nature, and the real world around them. Now, as we embark on the 2024-2025 school year, Emmerson is excited to be spearheading a pilot program, The Atelier, in the Montessori classrooms. Her role, as Atelierista, will be to, as a teacher with an arts background, work closely with students to focus on producing art through different mediums.

The Atelier is, as described by Emmerson, “…a workshop of the mind, man-made materials, natural materials and what they do and how we can use them in traditional ways and in non-traditional ways.” Striving to bring rich, material-laden experiences to young students, Emmerson hopes to foster an environment where art is not just an isolated subject, but a bridge to understanding broader concepts and developing a richer appreciation for the world. Currently in the Master of Museum Studies program at Johns Hopkins University that completes in two semesters, Emmerson is passionate about art and cultural stewardship. The Atelier, in its design, will be a place where students have the opportunity to explore their creativity in a deeply meaningful way like the masters of old and new. 

Emmerson, an artist herself who is drawn to famed abstract expressionists like Joan Mitchell, Mark Rothko, and Helen Frankenthaler, hopes for the Atelier to be a place of exploration and shared an example of what a unit may look like. Taking the concept of marks on paper, students will spend time finding natural materials around their environment such as flowers, sticks, and plants, and seeing what makes a mark on paper, what color it makes, and when they apply pressure, how that changes. Students then have the opportunity to have the same exploration with man-made materials like crayons, markers, or Emmerson’s self-proclaimed favorite material, the tempera paint stick!  This exploration not only allows students to experiment with different mediums but also can potentially connect their experiences to the work of both indigenous and contemporary artists who use mark-making in their art.

Emmerson envisions The Atelier as a space where students build a profound sense of pride in their creative work, ultimately developing a “…dedication to creativity and expressing themselves while we examine the world around them.” In The Atelier, Emmerson will guide students as their Atelierista, helping them navigate their artistic journey. As she aptly puts it, “That’s what art is, just exploring what’s exciting and inspiring.” We eagerly anticipate the creative expressions and inspiring moments of discovery that will emerge from The Atelier throughout the 2024-2025 school year.