Insight: Artful Perspectives

By Ginger Ellingson, Director of Fine and Performing Arts

In what has become a tradition at Convocation, (a mere week ago, although it seems much longer! Whew!) EPS colleagues came together in a festive song and dance to reveal the choice for the spring musical—Matilda! This moment of whimsy each year models for the students the importance of play and risk-taking, and it also keeps in the forefront of my mind the perspective of being a student; how hard, scary, and exciting it is to learn new things. I am reminded that learning is uncomfortable, even more so in front of an audience. I am grateful for and inspired by the students and my colleagues here at EPS. We are all learners, and keeping the student perspective at the forefront of my planning as a teacher and program director improves the experience of the students at EPS.

In storytelling, the work of an actor and director is to understand the perspective of a character beyond the lines in the script. The middle school actors auditioning for Ramona Quimby this week approach the script asking, “What does Ramona want, and how does she get it? Why is she motivated to act this way toward her sister Beezus? Where might I feel this complexity in my body? And, are these feelings valid?” Other students in the auditions might take on the perspectives of the sisters’ parents as they navigate a challenging year as a young middle-class family. Perspective will be further explored in Mr. Duncan’s upper school play As You Like It, where several of the characters adopt disguises and new identities throughout for a classic comedic set-up.

Perspective is also a visual art technique, using lines and shading to make a flat surface look three-dimensional. In the community-wide art project currently underway, we hope to demonstrate that two people can look at the same thing and yet see something different. Stop by the TALI Gallery on Back-to-School-Night to check it out!