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Click the gray arrow below to enjoy a creative poem/recording by Jackson 6th grade poets!

Click the gray arrow below to hear this great poem!  It was written by a Jackson 6th Grader who came to The Lab to write, record and perform.

In May, we participated in a wonderful collaboration between The Lab and Sarah Walbrusch’s 6th grade classroom from Jackson Elementary. The Lab staff, volunteers and four Lab High School Poets, mentored the 6th graders in writing, poetry/spoken word performance and recording.  It was an amazing experience.   We are proud of the 6th graders and all of the great poetry that they wrote, recorded and performed. We are proud of our 4 High School Poet/Mentors, Josh, Stephan, Donte and Rickeisha (pictured below).  These students were stellar role models & terrific mentors.  Keep an eye out for more photos, video, audio clips and poetry featuring the Jackson students.

Here’s one poem written
by a Jackson 6th Grader:

What Matters to me
is my family and friends.
What matters to me
is nature and life.
What matters to me
is my brother and sister.
What matters to me
is by baby sitter.
What matters to me
is my family who is in Mexico.
What matters to me
is The Lab.
What matters to me is
me, myelf and I.

In March and April, five middle school students from the Battle Creek PAS program participated in an exciting and unique Art Residency at The Lab.  The group was facilitated by Tess Pease, social worker, and Geriann, a Social Work graduate student intern at The LAB.   The students were exposed to several art materials and projects, mostly grounded in the art form of printmaking.  For example, one of the projects allowed the students to create their own t-shirt designs.

This Battle Creek Lab Visual Art residency culminated in a field trip to a place called Highpoint Center for Printmaking in Minneapolis.

While students were there, they learned how to mix colors of ink to print collagraphs that they had prepared at The Lab the previous week.  (Collagraphs are a collage of shapes cut out of thick cardboard, glued onto a main board, and rolled with ink to make an image on paper after going through the press). The raised image on the board prints onto the paper after being inked.  The students also learned how to run their own Collagraphs through the printing press, which was a definite highlight for them to actually bring the print to life.

The work of two of the Battle Creek students is currently being shown in the gallery at Highpoint as part of a student show running now until the end of May.  We are very proud of these students, and look forward to a continued partnership with Highpoint next year.

I Come Here To:

I come here to write
I come here to express how I feel
I come here to have fun
I come here to be heard
I come here to be free
I come here to learn more about myself
I come here to be myself
I come here to learn and get better at writing
I come here to learn more about my friends   

When I come here, I feel safe
When I come here, I feel free to just be me
When I come here, I see who I am and who I can be
When I write, I can be myself 

To me, writing is a way of life
To me, writing can be whatever I want it to be
I speak through my writing
To me, writing is a way to show who I am
I am who I am and only I can change it. 

~ A