Casey N.

Smith

ARE6933: Art Ed Beyond School Walls

Descriptive Case Study

Fall 2017

9/24/2017

Fabulon is a community art education program located in Charleston, South Carolina. It

was founded and is owned by Susan Irish. When I asked Irish how she came up with the idea for

Fabulon I got an interesting story that I personally felt connected to. Irish started out working in

the public school system as an 8th grade art teacher, however she felt her education and passion

for art was being wasted because the 8th grade students she was teaching were at a 5th grade level.

She decided not to renew her contract after she was physically struck by a student. She then

worked part time as her husband’s secretary while pursuing her art on the side. When Irish and

her husband moved to Charleston, South Carolina she struggled for some time to enter the art

scene. She discovered, much like I did, that the galleries in Charleston are often exclusive and

pretentious, making it difficult for anyone who isn’t a native of Charleston to get involved. Fed

up with the way she had been treated she decided to open her own gallery. She wanted to create a

space that is welcoming, approachable and attainable to all (Fabulonart, 2017). She wanted to

create a gallery where people wouldn’t just come to buy art but to enjoy and discuss the art

because they have a passion for it. Fabulon is dedicated to providing a place where people of all

ages and skill levels can come to create and appreciate art. Their mission is, “to become an

integral part of the community: a gathering place and a learning space” (Fabulonart, 2017, para

2). This falls in line with what Limon, Reclosado and Stevenson believe, “In community arts
programs, young people develop knowledge in art form and knowledge about themselves, their

communities, and ideas they wish to express in their artwork” (2014, p. 3).

Fabulon consists of a gallery, art classes, workshops, and drop-in professional critique

sessions for artists. Irish also provides private interior design services such as decorating,

furnishing, framing, and chalk paint furniture. The gallery is housed in the same space as the

classes and workshops.

Figure 1 Gallery space mixing with workspace

The current exhibit in the gallery is called “Souvenirs of Summer”. The artists included in the

exhibit are both local and nationwide. The works of art depict the emotions of the artists and

their reflections of the changing seasons. During an opening night at Fabulon there could be over

two hundred visitors. When the gallery isn’t showing a particular exhibit the gallery has work

from thirteen regularly shown artists. Some of these artists are emerging artists from the Fabulon

program itself and others found Fabulon and completed the submission application to be

represented by the gallery.

 Fabulon strives to be an educational leader in the community and thus encourages art

teachers to submit proposals for new classes. Irish considers the class and makes sure that the

teacher shares the same ideals that Fabulon does; the importance of exploratory learning,

creativity and being a non-elitist. Then Irish works with the teacher on the logistics to create the

class and schedule. Fabulon provides both adult classes and children’s classes. The adult classes

consist of Exploring Painting, Painting for Painters Who Aren’t Painting, and Portfolio Prep

Class. The children’s classes consist of Creative Endeavors for Kids 4-8th grade, Creative

Endeavors for Kids 1-3rd Grade, Creating Characters in 2D and 3D, and Portfolio Prep Class.

There are currently three workshops scheduled for the fall; Encaustic Workshop, Encaustic

Painting, and Chalk Painted Furniture Workshop.

Figure 2Workshop/adult class space and supply area

Figure 3Children's class space mixing with gallery space

There are two events that Fabulon hosts. The first one is ART NIGHT OUT. For this

event Fabulon partners with other events in the community to provide an art experience in

conjunction with what is already taking place at the event. The other event that Fabulon hosts is

the Artists as Professional Series. This is a lecture or demonstration event.

Fabulon is managed by founder and owner Susan Irish. Irish has a secretary who

manages the front desk and an assistant who helps with marketing, gallery prep, and workshop

and class prep. The classes are taught by either Irish herself or the teacher who proposed the

class. The program is in its third year of being open and currently is strictly funded by the class

and workshop fees. However, Irish is looking into applying to become listed as a Benefit

Corporation otherwise known as a “B Corporation”. By doing so it could provide the program

with more funding opportunities. The environment at Fabulon is a social one. Irish wanted the

space to feel inviting and relaxed. It is one large open space mixing the gallery area and the class

area. The walls aren’t painted with the typical white paint but instead a pale blue and green

giving the space a fun, at ease feel. The floor is concrete that has been painted but also has
obvious paint splatters and spills from the classes and workshops making the space more

contemporary. Art is hanging everywhere at Fabulon. When I visited there were also some works

of art laying on tables and leaning against the wall because Irish and her assistant were still

placing art back up in the gallery after having to remove everything during Hurricane Irma.

During my time at Fabulon I observed two Portfolio Prep classes. The first one consisted

of three adults. All three were women. The other class consisted of five children; four girls and

one boy. One of the first things that Irish said to me was, “You can’t teach someone unless they

know how much you care” (S. Irish, personal communication, September 19, 2017). This

comment resonated with me because I had never considered my passion for teaching others art as

a motivation for the students to learn. The adults could see the passion that Irish has for teaching

art thus deepening their own desire to learn and the children could feel her excitement making

them excited to learn about art as well.

The adult class started off with the students walking around the gallery looking for three

key elements in the art work; layers, print and line. The students led the way discussing which

pieces they felt had the strongest of those elements. I found that to be a great way to conduct

discussion about the elements of design, instead of the teacher leading the students around

showing them her picks and talking at them. This way Irish was able to see what the students had

learned from previous classes and what she needed to work with them on. Having the gallery in

the same space as the class and workshop area was a great teaching tool to show students

examples of what they are learning. The students were able to see how different artists were

using the same elements of design in different ways and for different reasons. Irish even used her

interior design background to make real world relationships between art in the gallery and

purchasing art for a home or other space. I was excited to hear those relationships being made by
teaching students how the artistic skills they are learning can cross over into their lives as

consumers.

Much like in a regular classroom setting Irish had the students using vocabulary terms as

often as possible. It seemed strange to me at first because this wasn’t a regular class in a school

system, but I now understand the need to teach vocabulary terms in a public program. Irish wants

to provide an authentic educational learning experience. She believes like I do that learning the

art terms is extremely important, especially for students preparing for art school. She even

incorporated a vocabulary game where the students had to match the words with drawings

depicting the words. The game also helped Irish learn how the students are interpreting the words

and if they are using them correctly. This let her know if she is conveying the terms to them in a

way that they understood and what she needs to do differently if they don’t understand

something. She said to me, “I’m teaching them as they’re teaching me” (S. Irish, personal

communication, September 19, 2017).

After the game with the adults we all sat down around the large workshop table and Irish

explained the project that they would be working on that day. They were going to be creating

layers by printmaking with gelatin. It was a thin sheet of gelatin that Irish then cut smaller

sections out for each student. The students picked out four different paint colors, a multitude of

objects of a box and many sheets of colored paper. Irish also cut out tiny pieces of the gelatin for

each student to hold and feel while she conducted a demonstration. She explained to me later that

learning should be a hands on experience and that she has a very “textualized style” when it

comes to teaching. She encourages the students to touch everything. I hope this example will

stay with me forever and I will definitely strive to have my students holding and playing with the

medium of the project while I’m doing demonstrations.

 The children’s class had a different project the day I visited. They were assessing the

prints they had made the week before and adding more layers to them. Irish had constructed a

map for assessing to help them understand what they should be looking for when assessing their

work.

Figure 4Map of assessment

The children struggled at first understanding assessment but Irish went back and explained it to

them in a different way providing them with more examples. Irish then went around to each

student giving them one-on-one attention and assisting them with figuring out which of their

pieces they would work on, which were finished and which were not worth their time that day. I

enjoyed watching the children work out assessment of their work. I had not experienced that with

children before.

Irish encouraged the students of both classes to have fun and explore where the prints

lead them. It was about learning the process and method not making a masterpiece by the end of

the class time. This idea really stuck with me. I feel that there are too many times when teachers
try to control everything that happens in the classroom and that should not be the case with art.

Sometimes the teacher and the students have to let go and just be excited to learn about evolving

their skills and method. While the students worked on their projects Irish gave one-on-one

attention and helped them assess different aspects of their art making process such as masking

off areas, what objects would dig into the gelatin and which would absorb the paint sticking to

everything. She would even refer back to art that is hanging in the gallery to provide references

for the students to look at and consider. Assessment is an important element of teaching for Irish.

She even used the word “assess” many times throughout the project to get the students use to

assessing their work and to learn the term. After about one hour of working on their projects Irish

had the students collect the pieces they had done and spread them out on a separate table. They

then assessed the works as a group discussing different elements of design, how they achieved a

particular print, what they can do differently and what they can add to certain prints. Irish asked

them to look at their prints and find what they want to emphasis or change. She then went back

to works in the gallery explained different ways the artists emphasized or exaggerated some part

of the piece.

When the students struggled with a decision Irish told them, “It’s not a bad choice, it’s a

learning choice” (S. Irish, personal communication, September 19, 2017). I love that quote! I

think it perfectly describes the decisions we make working in art. I hope that I never tell a

student that a decision was bad or wrong. I hope I can always remember that it is a learning

choice. Irish talked to me about how teaching adults is very different than teaching children.

Adults have trouble letting go of their control, they don’t catch on to art as quickly as children do

and they want a lot of direction and instruction. Whereas children are normally ready to dive in

to a project and experiment. She mentioned that she has to remind herself of that while she is
teaching, which helps her adjust her lesson plans as she goes. She also had to move quicker with

the children so they would pay attention. They had a harder time sitting still so she had to keep

them busy, keep them moving, and keep their attention. Irish also explained to me that you don’t

want to give too much instruction that it will influence the students own decisions and work.

They need to learn to bring it out of themselves, develop their creativity, and figure it out for

themselves sometimes. I found it interesting to see how Irish interacted with the adults compared

to the children. It is a very different approach that you have to use and I’ve never experienced it

until visiting Fabulon. Research has found that community youth art programs assisted in the

development of self-confidence, self-awareness, self-efficacy, their ability to express themselves,

and they were less likely to exhibit behavioral and emotional problems (Limon, Reclosado &

Stevenson, 2014). If there are so many benefits for youth involved in community art programs I

wonder what benefits there are to adults who are involved in community art programs.

I think the program at Fabulon is a very successful one. While it is still small, Fabulon

has only been open for three years. I foresee it growing exponentially over the next several years

due to the community involvement and interest in the variety of classes, workshops and events

that Fabulon is providing. Irish is working to strengthen the partnerships that Fabulon has with

the local schools, art educators, artists, and other public programs. Doing so is helping to expand

the reach of Fabulon to more people in the community. This reminds me of Kletchka’s article,

“Museums, Libraries, and Public Television: Partners in Public Service”. Kletchka discusses the

importance of partnering with public service organizations and I think that Irish is making a very

smart decision expanding her partnerships within those areas. She is even partnering with local

schools to host a show consisting of artwork from the art teachers in the area.
 I would only make one suggestion for improvement and that would be to work on their

marketing. The website is informative but still lacking information on the other staff members,

teachers and examples of work from classes and workshops. There is a Facebook page,

Instagram page, and Twitter account which are kept up to date but there is still a lack of

knowledge concerning Fabulon in the community. I only found out about them because I drive

past the building almost every day. I think that with today’s social media taking over our lives it

is easy to overlook something or miss important information that you’re interested in.

With this project and research I have become interested in learning more about how

community programs are marketing themselves. How are they reaching their intended audience?

What did they find that worked and did not work? Are they finding technology and the many

different social media platforms difficult to keep up with? I think that other people would form

those same questions as well as be interested in the different teaching methods and benefits a

community art program has on adults. I think that others interested in this program could learn

that there are many different reasons for a community art program. I believe this program to be a

successful one and one that I am looking forward to watch grow in my community.

References

Kletchka, D. (2004). Museums, libraries, and public television: Partners in public service. Art

Education, 57(4), 13-18. Retrieved from

http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3194120.pdf?refreqid=excelsior:3a14a6339cf3e4d95d46a

f8607952e5c

Limon, C., Reclosado, T., Stevenson, L. (2014). Community-based afterschool and summer arts

education programs: Positive impact on youth and community development. Expanding

Minds and Opportunities: Leveraging the Power of Afterschool and Summer Learning
 for Student Success. Retrieved from

http://www.expandinglearning.org/sites/default/files/em_articles/3_communitybasedafter

school.pdf

www.fabulonart.com