Upper School Classes Combine for Interdisciplinary Learning Experience

Parker’s mission and values state that “our academic and artistic standards for interdisciplinary inquiry flow from classroom learning to life throughout the school and beyond.” For some, these could remain as simply words on a board, dusted off and repeated when needed. However, visual arts teacher Kay Silva and dance teacher Florence Walker-Harris brought this idea to life recently in a two-part interdisciplinary learning experience.

On Thursday, September 29, Silva and Walker-Harris combined their Dance and Fashion and Costume Design classes for a trip that began at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), where students viewed the Nick Cave: Forothermore art exhibit. The “Soundsuits” in this exhibit combined costume, movement and sound and “is an ode to those who, whether due to racism, homophobia or other forms of bigotry, live their lives as the ‘other’—and a celebration of the way art, music, fashion and performance can help us envision a more just future.” In the afternoon, the group toured the new Steppenwolf Theatre costume shop to observe the process and workings of theatrical costume design and construction.

Parker believes experiences in which the school’s fabulous faculty combine their efforts to bring “learning to life throughout the school and beyond” are a vital and invaluable part of a Parker education and allow students to explore connections that exist beyond the obvious, helping them gain new skills and confidence by developing new perspectives and points of view.

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