The Godfather of Sanders-Clyde

We know that "music has charms to sooth a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak." The English playwright William Congreve told us so in his 1697 "The Mourning Bride."

But can art soothe, perhaps inspire, the inner-city students of the Sanders-Clyde Elementary/Middle School? And can it help a low-income community to avoid intrinsic challenges?

Artist Jonathan Green is sure of it.

When Green heard about Charleston County School District plans to build a new Sanders-Clyde on the East Side, at Morrison Drive and Huger Street, immediately he saw an opportunity.

About three years ago, Green met with then-Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson and then-Chief Academic Officer Nancy McGinley to pitch the idea of incorporating arts lessons in every aspect of the curriculum.

Art is an expression of culture, and learning about one's culture is essential for gaining self-confidence and a sense of identity, he told them.

Art exposes young people to the ideas of the world too often obscured by the realities of blight and the daily struggle to survive, he told them. Art stimulates curiosity, opens minds, encourages continuous learning during school and after school, and after graduation.

The arts, he said, should be a learning tool employed with every subject. Math is easier to manage when music is understood. History comes alive when students identify the cultural contributions of their ancestors. The discoveries of science are best appreciated when they can be visualized.

"I hope this school will serve as a beacon for new education," he said.

Charleston, Green's new home after relocating from Naples, Fla., last month, is a beehive of artistic activity, he said. And the South is about nothing if it's not about culture and heritage and architecture and art.

Children of every generation must have the chance to know that legacy and contribute creatively to the future of the region, Green said. Only through such understanding can young people hope to forge their own destiny, to break free of cycles of poverty, to succeed.

The community should be involved, Green said. The new building should host concerts and events not only for students and parents, but for everyone. Sanders-Clyde, visible from the Cooper River bridge and prominently placed along Morrison Drive, should be among the city's landmarks.

And parents, especially mothers, must accept their children for who they are and provide firm support, he said. "Mothers must promote human rights."

Goodloe-Johnson and McGinley were not hard to convince, Green said. Mayor Joe Riley and others like the idea, too. After all, it already had been proven to work at Ashley River Creative Arts Elementary School in West Ashley.

The 88,000-square-foot Sanders-Clyde, which will serve children from kindergarten through eighth grade, is scheduled to open in January. It will be only the second Charleston County elementary school to employ an arts-infused curriculum.

It is modeled after Ashley River and will benefit from ongoing cooperation with its faculty and staff.

Inside

Sanders-Clyde Principal Melvin S. Middleton Jr. said the school will start with about 400 students but can accommodate 550. Students will make individual art tiles and mount them in the school's "Gallery," a large entrance hall that divides the gym, performance space and cafeteria on one side from the library and classroom wings on the other.

The two-story interior features strong colors and tinted windows that let in natural light without much of the accompanying heat. Stairwells have colored glass panels in big square windows. The Morrison Drive side of the building features a pergola, or open porch, and niches for more artwork, according to Ed Neal, senior construction manager for Construction Dynamics Inc., which is lead contractor on the project. A garden in the courtyard will feature native plants. Classrooms are at least 800 square feet.

The goal, Neal said, is to create a pleasant environment that encourages learning and creative expression.

Construction plans had been set in motion by the time Green pitched the idea of an arts-integrated curriculum. So when the blueprints were presented to school officials, they did not include a distinct performance space, only a cafeteria that could be converted into an auditorium.

Green got mad, and backed away from the project for awhile, he said. It seemed the district wasn't serious about following through with the idea.

But James Braunreuther, fine arts coordinator for the district, never gave up. He knew about the value of making the arts an integral component of holistic learning.

The district hired Barry Goldsmith, former fine arts coordinator and once a principal of Memminger Elementary School, as a consultant. Goldsmith is working closely with Braunreuther, Middleton, Green and the trio of local mural artists to ensure that the school realizes its potential as an arts-centered community facility.

Goldsmith and Braunreuther organized training seminars led by Claudia Cornett, the guru of arts-infusion, and got people at Ashley River involved. They worked with Neal and the contractors to modify the building design to include a separate performance space. And they wooed Green back.

Goldsmith said that many of the Sanders-Clyde students are latchkey kids who will benefit from after-school music, art and sports activities.

Braunreuther said some of the children bring troubles from home with them to school and are sure to find some relief in drama or music class. The arts provide an important outlet of expression, he said.

The school will have full-time music, drama and visual arts teachers, he said.

"Those three teachers are going to be joined at the hip." They will work intimately with other teachers to integrate the arts into every classroom.

Collaboration

The school's focus on the arts presents an opportunity for citywide collaboration, according to Ellen Dressler Moryl, director of Charleston's Office of Cultural Affairs.

"I am absolutely thrilled with that whole project," she said. "An arts-infused school gives an opportunity to all those children to expand their horizons ... to discover their gifts and to learn disciplines that will pave the way to success in life in whatever they choose to do. Furthermore, it opens the door to all the arts groups in the city to work with that population."

The city already is collaborating with public school students, Moryl said. Earlier this year, 20 violins were provided to students, thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the young players joined Charleston Symphony Orchestra musicians for a performance during the Piccolo Spoleto Festival.

Other students were trained on African drums, culminating with a big performance at Hampton Park, she said.

"I see all kinds of possibilities," Moryl said.

For example, students learning theater production at Sanders-Clyde might become interns involved in Piccolo Spoleto events, getting hands-on experience working through an artistic idea from conception to realization, Moryl said.

Such experiences can be a source of tremendous satisfaction and pride, she said.

Infusion

During a two-day arts integration seminar led last week by Claudia Cornett, author of the textbook for teachers called "Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts," Green explained to a roomful of Ashley River and Sanders-Clyde faculty and staff the importance of the visual arts.

"When we have children, the first thing we do is give them paper and pencil," he said. To encourage a child to draw is to encourage his mental development.

No wonder some of the oldest surviving signifiers of culture are cave drawings, he said.

Unless you have the ability to create, you have no reference to the past, and no ability to make a better future, Green said.

Cornett went a step further, explaining that literacy itself, the ability to learn, is utterly dependent on the arts.

She said the mistake of the multibillion-dollar federal "Reading First" initiative is that it's been focused on the individual pieces of literacy such as vocabulary, phonics and grammar without the required emphasis on the big picture: comprehension.

"You can't get to comprehension by simply adding up the pieces," she said. What's needed is an integrated approach that applies the arts to every aspect of learning.

Then Cornett interviewed Green about his creative process.

"Where do your ideas come from?" she asked.

From a combination of sources, he replied. From one's immediate surroundings, memories, smells and textures.

"You need all of your senses to create art," he said.

And you need to draw on experience and identity -- childhood, ethnicity, religion -- bringing them "to a positive place" by affirming their value, even when experiences might have been traumatic, he said. If you are willing to confront the realities of the world, and present them in a positive light, it becomes difficult to ignore them, to remain indifferent.

The visual arts, he said, are the most important, and ancient, form of communication.

"Everyone, regardless of identity, can become involved in the visual arts."

Reach Adam Parker at 937-5902 or aparker@postand courier.com.