Shown are different Tippecanoe Valley School students’ drawings of an African animal. Individual pictures were provided by Angie Gillman, and the image was compiled by DeeAnna Muraski.

By Darla McCammon
and DeeAnna Muraski
Guest Columnists

Darla McCammon and DeeAnna Muraski

WARSAW — Our classroom visits this week are with the Tippecanoe Valley Community School district’s Mentone and Akron elementary school art classrooms, led by Angela Gillman.

Gillman graduated from the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne with a Bachelor of Arts degree in language arts and a minor in elementary education. A fun legacy story is that Gillman replaced the retiring art teacher who had taught her father art. Gillman has taught art for more than 25 years at Tippecanoe Valley Schools.

Last week’s article discussed the difficulty of quickly changing instruction between kindergarten through fifth-grade learners. Gillman also must switch teaching between both Akron and Mentone every week. That is a lot of children’s names to remember. All three of Mr. and Mrs. Gillman’s children have attended the Tippecanoe Valley School system. The Gillmans are proud, lifelong Hoosiers, with Mrs. Gillman still living on the same road she grew up on.

While Gillman might be firmly planted here, she likes to take her students on many artistic journeys. This year, their focus is on the continent of Africa and endangered species. The students learn about Africa and get inspired to create projects based on the idea/theme. This also helps keep Gillman inspired because when “[they] are excited, [she] gets excited, then art is amazing.” Her favorite project over the years was based on the theme of the Arctic in Antarctic where they built penguin popsicles out of plaster. Like all other schools, she must base her projects on the fine art standards from the Indiana Department of Education.

In her limited free time, Gillman enjoys recycling/up-cycling old wood and sculpting it with power tools. Her favorite museum to visit was the Art Institute in Dayton, Ohio, where she saw a Monet exhibit. Of interest to those who read through the Art in America series, they also house the Katy Dicke Gallery of Post-1945 American Art.

To Do

Donate! All our local elementary schools can use art supplies. The schools try to recycle but new art supplies are like gold. I created a list of elementary art staples: Ticonderoga pencils, colored construction paper, Kwik Stik paint sticks, Crayola Artista II Watercolors, Elmer’s glue sticks, Elmer’s Glue-All, Fiskars Kid Scissors, Big Kid’s Choice paintbrushes and Crayola oil pastels — to get you started. Elementary schools: Warsaw has eight; Wawasee has three; Tippecanoe has two; and Whitko has two.

To Go

Warsaw City Hall. Current artist Elizabeth Wamsley’s beautiful pottery is coupled with a metal works display — a great interplay on the textures. Location: 102 S. Buffalo St., Warsaw. Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, except holidays. All on the first floor and handicapped-accessible.

Darla McCammon is an artist, columnist and author. DeeAnna Muraski is executive director of Operation Read USA Inc. Send an email to the mother/daughter team at [email protected].