At St. Aloysius, Art Serves as Inspiration

Part of an original collection of Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence artworks is on display in a most unlikely place in Harlem: in the hallways of St. Aloysius Jesuit School nestled on 132nd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues.The pieces, valued at more than the school’s annual $3 million endowment, were installed to serve as inspiration for the students.“The artwork was donated to the school in an effort to surround them with art from people who looked like them,” the president of St. Aloysius, Laurel Senger, told The New York Sun. “We felt it was important to expose the students to culture and arts.”The Bearden collection was donated to the school by a close friend of the artist, Russell Goings, who owns the majority of his works.The Bearden and Lawrence collection is the most extensive to be housed in a New York City school, Ms. Senger said.The paintings include Bearden’s “The Conversation,” “The Prevalence of Ritual,” “Noah’s Ark,” “Salome With John the Baptist Head,” “Amistad,” and “Mother and Child.” Also on display is Lawrence’s 22-picture John Brown series.“The students know about these artists and the history behind their works,” Ms. Senger said. “We have taught them how to look and talk about art. They are well prepared when they leave this school and area.”The school, which relies on private funding, has 300 students who participate in one of the city’s most rigorous academic and cultural curriculums. The students are in school from 8:15 a.m. to 6 p.m. The middle school students spend three weeks in a summer school program, followed by a 10-day camp in Lake Placid.“The main ingredient for the school is love,” the principal, Richard Burke, told the Sun. “We act as surrogate parents for the kids. We are very much involved in their lives in and outside of the school,” he said. The school provides $250,000 in scholarships to graduating middle school students who attend private schools in the New York area. The money comes from the Judith C. White Scholarship Endowment, which is matched on a one-to-one basis.The students have gone on to high schools such as Notre Dame, Loyola, Regis, Fordham Prep, St. Jean Baptiste, Mother Cabrini, and Aquinas. The high school graduation rate of former St. Aloysius students is 98%. They have attended colleges such as Yale, Davidson, Tufts, Wesleyan, and CUNY.“We make an arrangement with the parent and the school to help the kids,” Mr. Burke said. “We only require that the students come back every year and volunteer with us for 25 hours.”The school has an open admissions policy for pre-K through fifth grade that allows students who come from deprived backgrounds to receive a quality education.The school has a partnership with TIAA-CREF, which supplies the middle school with state-of-the-art computer labs. The company also provides fellows to assist students with the computers.

At St. Aloysius, Art Serves as Inspiration

At St. Aloysius, Art Serves as Inspiration

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