OSU Doel Reed Center partners with local Taos charter school
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
Media Contact: Katerina Weingarten | OSU Doel Reed Center Graduate Assistant | 518-231-8546 | katerina.weingarten@okstate.edu
More arts, more inspiration and more hope are on the menu for students at the Taos Integrated School for the Arts as a new partnership with Oklahoma State University’s Doel Reed Center has begun. The first event for TISA students was held at the Doel Reed Center in June.
TISA is a state-funded, public, K-8 charter school, based on a model that integrates the arts into academic instruction. Teachers focus on hands-on and project-based learning with lots of creative integration. Doel Reed Center Director Carol Moder reached out to the school to start the relationship.
The OSU Doel Reed Center in Taos, New Mexico, strives to extend the reach of OSU to communities of northern New Mexico and this partnership has allowed it to do just that.
“As a land grant university, Oklahoma State University is committed to contributing to its local communities,” Moder said. “The Doel Reed Center in Taos is pleased to give back to the Taos community in its new partnership with TISA.”
In June, Moder and her husband, Brewster Fitz, hosted a four-day workshop for fifth through eighth grade TISA students at the center. The workshop, taught by local Taos artist Luis Garcia and TISA art teacher Cassandra Bates, focused on teaching students about printmaking techniques.
“We hope that the workshops we are offering for TISA students will carry on the legacy of Doel Reed, the renowned printmaker, and that they will find inspiration from working in his historic studio in Talpa,” Moder said.
Fall printmaking workshops for TISA students occurred Sept. 23 for seventh grade, Sept. 24 for eighth grade, Oct. 6 for fifth grade, and Oct. 14 for sixth grade. Approximately 20 students attended each workshop.
In the summer and fall, the Doel Reed Center hosts Leisure Learning courses for OSU alumni and friends. Examples of past courses include fly fishing, a class focusing on the food and culture of Taos and Northern New Mexico, photography, pottery and more.
This year, the Summer Leisure Learning participants participated in a philanthropy project to provide TISA students with art supplies.
“We are particularly impressed with the mission of the Taos Integrated School for the Arts and its passion for educating the young, especially in the arts,” said Charlie Scott, chair of marketing and outreach.
“We asked the 58 OSU alumni and friends attending our July adult Leisure Learning classes at the OSU Doel Reed Center in Taos to help us support the TISA art program as a philanthropy project and they gave generously."
Alison Haney, a TISA science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) teacher, said, “We deal a lot with students not having supplies. … But we don’t have room in our budget to purchase all of those supplies for all of the students.”
Bates added, “Most families have struggled through this pandemic. It is amazing to see them light up when they actually have the materials to produce their art without this limitation.”
TISA is very grateful for the art supplies donated by the Doel Reed Center donors, however Haney said she sees the partnership being beneficial far beyond the generous donations.
“I think many of our students don’t feel like college is going to be an option for them,” Haney said. “But I think that over the years, this relationship will help us to be able to change some of those mindsets.”
