Prescott School is proud to partner with the Carnegie Picture Lab (CPL) for their Rural Art Initiative program! The Rural Art Initiative supports classroom workshops, regional field trips, local and national visiting artists, and our two long-term Prescott School Artists in Residence, Amanda Leigh Evans and Tia Kramer. Scroll down to learn more! 

Carnegie Picture Lab (carnegiepicturelab.com) created the Rural Art Initiative with Prescott School District as a mutually-beneficial, reciprocal relationship that addresses the unique opportunities and challenges of rural art education and contemporary rural art practices. This program has been supported by grants from the Sherwood Trust Foundation, NoVo Foundation’s SEL (Social Emotional Learning) In Action Award, AAUW, and ArtsWA’s Arts in Education Project Grant. 

When the River Becomes a Cloud / Cuando el río se transforma en nube

“When the River Becomes a Cloud” is a multi-year, collaborative permanent public artwork created by Prescott School Artists-in-Residence Amanda Leigh Evans and Tia Kramer in collaboration with our students, staff, administration, and families. Founded in 2021, this multi-year project uses a variety of art processes and artistic research to explore our local watershed ecology and investigates themes of belonging and migration. Together, our community is creating a permanent public artwork that moves like a river throughout the entire indoor and outdoor school campus. 

Learn more about this ongoing artwork on the project website.

Large past projects have included: 

Embodying The River (2021) is an all-school performance in which our entire school walked across the campus in the form of a river, moving through stages of the water cycle and ending on the baseball field in the shape of a cloud. 

Mapping our Watershed (2022) is a large wall drawing/mural created by first graders and high school art students as a portrait of our school community as a watershed.

Emotional Weather (2022-2023) is a collection of large ceramic sculptures created in collaboration with all students (preK-12) that are stone-like snapshot of the Prescott School’s collective internal weather during autumn 2022.

A Celestial Game (2023) is two basketball hoops facing east and west covered with images of sunrises and sunsets sent by families, teachers, and staff at Prescott School. 

Visiting Artist Mark Menjivar (2024) We are SO excited to welcome Visiting Artist Mark Menjivar. Mark is a San Antonio based artist and Associate Professor of Art and Design at Texas State University. Like us, his art practice focuses on participatory projects with youth, and he has exhibited his work around the world.

Press: We had some local press about this innovative creative work. Look at the Union Bulletin front-page Sunday feature article about Embodying the River, the 2021 performance that included all Prescott students and staff! When the River Becomes a Cloud was an excellent experience for all!