Kayla Friedman, freshman in Media, and two of her fellow classmates spent the second half of the semester going to a local all girls’ school and introducing art from the Krannert Art Museum. They did so as part of their ART 199: Art, Community, and Global Civil Society course.

Kayla Friedman, freshman in Media, and two of her fellow classmates spent the second half of the semester going to a local all girls’ school and introducing art from the Krannert Art Museum. They did so as part of their ART 199: Art, Community, and Global Civil Society course.

With permission from Krannert, Friedman and her classmates brought three different paintings of various cultural backgrounds to the school and discussed the symbolism of them with the students.

Some of the paintings related to women and how they are portrayed in the media, and Friedman said she thinks the girls enjoyed discussing this because many girls start feeling self-conscious about their body image during middle school.

“Something that makes this class different than other classes is that it’s community education based,” Elizabeth Delacruz, associate professor in Gender and Women’s Studies, said. “Instead of just reading or theorizing notes about art, my students are actually bringing art into communities.”

Delacruz said in addition to students learning about local art, being in the class teaches students teamworking skills as well as how to make University students more aware of volunteering opportunities within the Champaign-Urbana community.

The class presented the final results of these community-based projects to their class Wednesday, and Delacruz said her class chose to focus their projects on a variety of issues.

In the beginning of the course, she said she told her students to each pick a communal cause of importance to them in attempts to integrate and make these local organizations more aware of University resources and programs. Some students like Friedman chose to volunteer in schools to promote University artwork, while others like Lihy Epstein, sophomore in Media, chose to focus on local health care.

Epstein went to a local health clinic to try and connect high school students who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgendered with University organizations such as Best Buddies, the LGBT center, and Volunteer Illini Projects to talk with these students about sexual health, coming out, and making healthy lifestyle choices.

Epstein said one of the main things she focused on during her class project was bringing these sorts of University resources into the local community because some teens may be unaware of these programs and could benefit from them.

“It’s interesting what happens when you take out the rigidity of education,” said Brittany Koteles, a sophomore in LAS who is enrolled in the course. “I will walk away from this class as a member of the community.”