Through the Emerging Visions program, Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art (Tephra ICA) extends its mission beyond the gallery walls, creating opportunities for students to engage with contemporary art in the classroom. Students and educators are invited to participate in this unique, ongoing program designed around Tephra ICA exhibitions or projects.
Each year, Tephra ICA works directly with Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) Art Educators to create an Educator’s Packet that includes themes and supporting concepts to integrate into classroom curriculum for K–12 students. Students and educators are invited to view the featured exhibition and respond to themes by creating their own artworks in a variety of media. Student artwork, as selected by Tephra ICA staff, is exhibited as part of the Emerging Visions exhibition at the gallery each Spring.
This year, Tephra ICA presents its fifth year of the Emerging Visions program featuring artwork by students from Cunningham Park Elementary School, Franklin Sherman Elementary School, and Justice High School. The 2022–23 program is based on What Makes the Earth Shake, a solo exhibition by Black figurative painter Dominic Chambers featuring vibrant paintings that simultaneously engage art historical models, such as color field theory and gestural abstraction, along with contemporary concerns around race, identity, and the necessity for leisure.
Emerging Visions is a free program. Please visit tephraica.org/education for more information on how to participate in Emerging Visions.
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Dominic Chambers, Window Gaze (Ghost Hand), 2021