Throughout October, Blake's 2023-24 McGuire Visiting Artist Louise Fisher worked with Middle School students in Jon Van Bergen’s wood studio class and Upper School students in Brian Sago’s printmaking class. 

The Middle School students made preliminary drawings for a wallpaper design, learning how to make a repeat pattern from a simple black line drawing. The Upper School students then converted the drawings into screen-printable wallpaper. Once the screens and paper were prepped, the wood studio classes visited the Upper School to print out their designs with guidance from Fisher, Van Bergen and the Upper School printmaking students.

In addition to collaborating with classes, Fisher spoke about her work during an Upper School assembly and met with the Martha Bennett Gallery student curatorial team to discuss the exhibit, which showcased her work and the student work produced during her residency. At an opening reception in November, visitors had the opportunity to meet Fisher, students and faculty and participate in a screen printing demonstration. 

A second 2023-24 McGuire Visiting Artist, Kofi Bazzell-Smith, will begin a residency at Blake in January. The biennial McGuire program was established in 1993 by Dr. Bill and Nadine McGuire. The program funds residencies with visual artists who collaborate with faculty and students in grades PK through 12. Each residency allows the Blake community to learn from an artist’s unique talents, experiences, and approaches to creating art, learning, and teaching. The residency culminates in an exhibit of works by the artists-in-residence in the Martha Bennett Gallery on our Upper School campus.

The program seeks to enrich Blake’s visual arts curriculum by providing experiences not otherwise available in our visual arts programs and offer opportunities for visiting artists to work with the Blake community.