NYC home to nation's only high school arts preservation program
From Newsday
NYC home to nation’s only high school arts preservation program
By EMILY ZEUGNER
Associated Press Writer
April 8, 2007, 12:21 PM EDT
NEW YORK — When Cleaster Graves noticed some crumbling mortar around the foundation of her family’s aging Brooklyn brownstone, she turned to an unusual expert for help: her 17-year-old daughter, Corrie Thomas.
“She said ‘You know what to do with this stuff. Go on and fix it!”‘ Thomas said.
Asking the teenager to restore the foundation wasn’t just wishful thinking. Thomas happens to be a fairly skilled preserver, as are all of her classmates in the Preservation Arts and Technology program at the Brooklyn High School of the Arts.
The program, founded in 2000, is believed to be the first and only preservation arts program in the country. It aims to prepare students for future jobs in restoration crafts or in related fields such as conservation and architecture. Students learn about engineering and city planning, and also take part in hands-on classes and internships in stone masonry, stained-glass restoration and timber-framing.
Because the High School of the Arts is so new, students find their way there largely by chance, Principal Robert Finley said. They come to the school wanting to be actors and dancers, and then realize there are different careers related to the arts that might be just as meaningful. Almost all the students go on to college, and last year two students were accepted at the prestigious Cooper Union School of Architecture.
The school uses an interdisciplinary approach to preservation arts, so all 650 students – regardless of major – are introduced to the basic ideas of preservation technology.
Teachers also plan their lessons collaboratively: When history teacher Mark Watson teaches his social studies students about the significance of Grand Central Terminal, a math teacher covers the geometry of the building and an Earth Science instructor gives an astronomy lesson based on the constellations in the ceiling.
Watson said the integrated curriculum not only challenges teachers to think creatively about their subjects but provides a focus for the students. Exploring different aspects of a topic engages the students on several levels, he said.
The fact that such a unique program has taken root in a city like New York isn’t all that surprising. That is because New Yorkers are keenly aware of the value of buildings and monuments to their communities, said Bonnie Vernon, president of the World Monuments Fund.
“The impact of 9/11 influenced a reflection on what matters in this city,” she said. “The World Trade Center was a historic, symbolic building.” Looking around, the city is full of important structures deserving of preservation, she said.
Kate Ottavino, director of preservation technology at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, said the there’s an increasing interest in preservation arts as Americans realize that the country is full of crumbling historic buildings and few people know how to fix them.
A large part of the collective knowledge about the building arts is lost with each generation, she said. When churches like St. Anne’s and the Holy Trinity in Brooklyn Heights need repair, specialty craftsmen must be imported from France because American tradesmen are simply no longer taught restoration techniques.
“It’s absolutely a crisis situation,” Ottavino said. “I’m one of the youngest people in the industry and I’m 48 years old.”
Although most parents don’t encourage their children to be craftsmen, the timber-framers and restoration tradesmen who teach master classes at the high school are quick to point out restoration trades can be very lucrative.
“That’s what gets the kids really excited,” history teacher Watson said. “They can make $100,000 a year, and there are jobs forever.”
Even if they don’t go on to high-paying jobs, students in the program say a greater awareness of what preservation arts teachers call “the built environment” is invaluable. Senior Jonathan Rice said he and his fellow students are inspired to take a closer look at their own neighborhoods, sometimes even spotting illegal construction practices.
“Some of those buildings just don’t fit in with the others,” he pointed out. “They’re built too fast, and the materials are too cheap.”
For Principal Finley, this is the true value of the program – teaching students to be good stewards of their communities, especially the historic sites and structures that they will inherit from previous generations.
“Ultimately, it’s about civic duty,” Finley said. “That’s what this program teaches.”
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.