The Army Of Good fights for good just about every day, and the good they have done is incalculable. Bishop Gibbons High School is shocked at the packages that arrive every day, from books to old keys.

Ken and Caren from Rochester, N.J. sent a beautiful box of found metal objects (above) to Sue Silverstein at Bishop Gibbons High School for help with the found objects wind chimes project in her new and radically different art class starting up in September.

Other boxes are on the way from California, Florida, Texas, and Illinois; those are only the ones I know about. Sue has some revolutionary ideas about making art exciting, fun,  helpful, useful, and individual for the students at Bishop Gibbons, many of whom are refugees and inner-city students who could use some help and guidance.

Sue Wants to support their individuality and creative skills and connect the art they learn with their lives. The things they make should have special meaning for them, and they should have almost unlimited access to their art supplies and projects.

(We are sending $5,000 worth of free books from Alaska to refresh the stock of the school library, which has not had the funds to buy the books they wanted for some time.)

Sue says Ken and Caren’s box was especially creative; it included keys, parts of abandoned toys, and silverware, perfect ingredients for making wind chimes, which will be distributed to nursing homes, sick people,  and families in the neighborhood. (She says she’d love to get more keys.)

Maria and I are bringing old chimes, silverware, bolts, keys, and metal tools from the basement when we visit the school next week.

(The school’s address is: Sue Silverstein, Bishop Gibbons High School, 2600 Albany Street, Schenectady, N.Y., 12304. If you’re shipping,  check out the flat rates at the post office and free boxes.)

The Army Of Good supports this very unusual art program – small classes, eight different workshops, and a score of new and innovative projects. We’ve sent a truckload of art supplies, I just sent four boxes of beads, and Sue has a wonderful new idea that I am most eager to support: Dream Catchers.

 

 

The Dream Catchers (above) are special dolls and sculptures with feathers,  first made by Native American tribes who created their Dream Catchers to ward off bad and frightening dreams. That could be a godsend for the refugee students and many of the inner city kids.

“I got the idea,” Sue told me, “to have the students make dream catchers when I found a box of old mismatched wooden hoops. My own kids had dream catchers growing up. In a beautiful Native American tradition, dream catchers are tasked with blocking bad dreams and catching the good ones. I thought the art class would enjoy making these for their homes or soon-to-be college dorm rooms.”

Sue said they are relatively easy to make, and she would welcome a variety of elements: buttons, beads, colorful threads, feathers, and rawhide lacing.

She also hopes to launch a program aimed at boys and girls involving stitching lyrics on a canvas and turning it into a print. She knows some of the students will love stitching their favorite music on canvas and then printing it out.

Sue welcomes e-mails. If you need to contact her by e-mail, her address is [email protected].

 

 

If you have keys, beads, used or found metal objects like silverware or old tools (on the smallish side), please consider sending them to Sue Silverstein, Bishop Gibbons High School, 2600 Albany Street, Schenectady, N.Y., 12304. The post office flat rate is cheap, and they have boxes that are free.

 

This kind of print could be used for lyrics or quotes from books. Sue says she would be interested in receiving old jewelry with interesting beads.

I’m excited to witness Sue’s grand experiment with art in a diverse school with a committed faculty and supportive administration.

Bishop Gibbons has wealthy kids, middle-class kids, and poor kids, along with refugees from different countries. They all need attention, inspiration, and direction.

Sue has a lot of great ideas and an art set-up worthy of her imagination. She has eight different cubicles for her projects. I’ll be documenting her progress every step of the way.

The office staff can’t get over the daily parade of boxes – books, art supplies, metal objects, fabric. Welcome to the Army of Good.

If you can help with any of these materials, that would be great; send them to Sue Silverstein, Bishop Gibbons High School, 2600 Albany Street, Schenectady, N.Y., 12304.

And thank you.