Teaching in a City of Love: In the News at CWP

To celebrate the 4th year of their “Self-Portrait to Superhero” teaching artist residency at PS 84, Reuben and visual artist Valerie Hallier gave the 3rd grade (and themselves!) a new challenge: Community Comic Books! Each class worked together as a writing/illustrating team to create comic book stories about new heroes helping their communities. They then transformed their stories into mural-sized comic pages to hang in the halls and inspire the whole school. 

From Community-Word Project:

Once upon a panel: Gingy wanted to live in a place full of love. No one seemed to care, until they did.

This four-part comic mural, dreamed up and painted entirely by PS 84 students under the guidance of teaching artists Valerie Hallier and Reuben Sack tells a story of flood, fear, and a villain named Milkman… but it doesn't end there. It ends with community. It ends with rainbows, gingerbread friends, and a wall that reads: "Let's all live in a city of love."

Students don't need permission to imagine a better world, they just need the space, the tools, and an artist who believes in their voice. Valerie and Reuben gave them all three.

From pencil sketch to full color, this is what happens when creative expression meets real trust. 

Thank you, Valerie Hallier and Reuben Sack, and congratulations to every student artist at PS 84!