Our goal is to create a language-enriched environment taught primarily in Spanish with English translations. Students from the Caribbean, Central America, and South America explored the principles of design and developed related vocabulary in both languages. The students work in groups to engage in research, drawings, and conversation. The collaborative nature of the class frees up creativity and promotes a dynamic atmosphere of support and community. Inspired by trips to the High Bridge Greenway Park the students studied and drew from nature and created poems inspired by the natural environment. They decided to focus on a large scale collaborative fabric and mixed media quilt called Nuestro Reflejo/Our Reflection. The students looked at the work of Tamara Kostianovsky and Lina Puerta for inspiration into symbols and for the innovative use of materials. Their work was featured at Morris Jumel Mansion in March 2025 in Washington Heights.
Con el objetivo de crear un mundo sustentable, los estudiantes de séptimo grado de la señora Guerrero en la M.S. 324, junto conmigo, exploramos la importancia de reciclar desechos y su impacto en el medio ambiente. La imaginación de los estudiantes fue estimulada al mirar el trabajo de Willie Cole, Pepón Osorio y Leo Sewell — todos artistas cuyo trabajo esta vinculado con la idea del uso de materiales reutilizados. Los estudiantes, inspirados por las visitas al parque High Bridge Greenway, estudiaron, dibujaron y crearon poemas de forma espontánea, inspirados en el entorno natural. Decidieron crear una pieza de gran formato titulada Nuestro Reflejo utilizando la técnica mixta colaborativa conocida como “quilt” (colcha de tela). Los estudiantes se inspiraron en la obra de Tamara Kostianovsky y Lina Puerta, utilizando símbolos y materiales de formas creativas e innovadoras.
– Esperanza Cortés, Teaching Artist
Nuestro Reflejo exhibition at Morris Jumel Mansion, Washington Heights, 2025
Nuestro Reflejo exhibition at Morris Jumel Mansion, Washington Heights, 2025
El Nascimiento De La Tierra exhibition at Recirculation, WordUp Community Book Store, 2024
Lissette and Ruby, Las Avenida de los Gigantes, acrylic paint on paper, 2024
Wiljer, Randol and Aytor, Pico Duarte, acrylic paint on paper, 2024
Luis and Alaniz, La Montana Everest, acrylic paint on paper, 2024
Individual self-portraits, Untitled, 2021, collage and sequins on paper
M.S. 324 Grade 7 Threads of History students with Teaching Artist, Esperanza Cortés and M.S. 324 Science teacher Mary Guerrero, June 2021
7th Grade students from M.S. 324 meeting online to present their El Ábol de la Familia collage projects, 2020 [A screenshot of a video call. Several students are smiling while holding up artwork that depicts their respective family trees. The art varies in size, shape, and medium.]
Student prototyping design, 2018 [A student sitting at a science room desk with a sink, drawing with a pencil on several sheets of paper. One sheet, foregrounded, has an outline of an airplane]
Collaborative team of students working on their design, 2018 [Several students stand around a large science room desk. One holds a model of a Delta airplane, smiling for the camera. The rest are busy at work.]
Collaborative team working on chandelier, 2018 [Two girls stand, cutting threads, while working on a handmade chandelier. The chandelier has a small number of flower petals, with a purple rose in the center]
Chandelier, 2018 [A handmade chandelier, suspended in the air. It has two disks hanging apart, sewn together with silver thread. A number of beads adorn the lower disk and string hanging down below.]
[Several students stand around a large desk working on mixed-media artworks. One reaches for something from another student towards the camera.]
Collaborative team designing butterfly, 2018 [Four people pose for a photo, leaning on a table with three drawings of butterflies splayed across the surface. A papier mache butterfly composed of saturated pink and gold paper and red, yellow, black and white cotton balls hangs above the people at the top right of the image.]
Reinventado, exhibition at Word Up Community Bookshop, 2018 [An exhibition view of various artworks. Several stylized portraits hang on the right; in the middle, a large didactic titled "REINVENTADO." On the left, several small photos of students in a classroom hang underneath a red-white-and blue airplane suspended from the ceiling]
MS 324 students outside Word Up Community Bookshop, 2018 [Students stand outside of a storefront in New York - Word Up Community Bookshop. In the window are several signs with Black Lives Matter and "Eat Sleep Read Local" slogans]
