ABOUT ME
Simone Athena Scigousky (She/They)
is an interdisciplinary artist and educator based in Chicago, IL. After graduating from SAIC in 2022 with a B.F.A.A.E, Scigousky has taught visual art at Walter Payton College Prep High School, Gallery 37, and currently teaches an After School Matters program, Teen Arts Council, at Arts + Public Life.
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
I believe the foundation of a successful student-teacher relationship is built upon open collaboration and communication. I nurture my students’ desire to play an active role in their learning by providing opportunities to contribute to important classroom functions, such as the creation of community agreements, developing their social-emotional skills through community building. This encourages students to take ownership over their classroom and readily approach their responsibilities, creative processes, and overall role as a visual arts student.
Accompanied by the Artistic Thinking Process framework, I prioritize the development of interdisciplinary methods, skills, and techniques to empower students' self expression and communicative abilities. Regardless of artistic experience and/or technical skill, I believe any student can approach art-making through investigation of their personal perspective and past experiences. I do this through incorporating social justice approaches and topics, specifically restorative justice theory and Artivism, within an interdisciplinary art curriculum. Through these strategies, I seek to facilitate a supportive and engaging learning environment where students are motivated to experiment, explore, and ultimately express themselves.
TAC X Chicago Torture Justice Memorials
Fall 2024 - Spring 2025
SPRING 2025
"How do you define Unity? What is the value of Unity?” - Question posed by TAC Student for APL Showcase
In collaboration with Chicago Torture Justice Memorials (CTJM), teens utilized their knowledge of artivism (Art + Activism), book-making skills, and creative thinking to organize an art activation honoring the 10th anniversary of the passing of the Reparations for Burge Torture Victims Ordinance. Collectively the students conceptualized, constructed, and presented a large, interactive accordion book illustrated with 2D works inspired by the true stories of police torture survivors in Chicago. The art book activation sought to accomplish the goals below:
- The development of positive relationships between CTJM and the local community
- To spread awareness for the survivors and victims of Jon Burge and police torture/brutality.
- To Celebrate the Reparations Ordinance’s 10th anniversary.
Fall 2024
TAC explored how zines and art books can be used to build community, promote social justice, and accomplish shared goals. In preparation for their collaboration with Chicago Torture Justice Memorials (CTJM), students practiced various drawing, mixed media, and book-making techniques. Students utilized those skills to promote messages of liberation, radical healing, racial justice, and community through the making of a collaborative Art Book for CTJM. Students illustrated the stories and experiences of Carl Williams, Stanley Howard, & Michelle Clopton: survivors of racially-motivated torture by former Police Commander Jon Burge and his subordinates. The CTJM x TAC Art Book highlights themes of..
Trauma•Survival•Torture Systematic Change Reformation•Community Lost Time•Education Mental Health Justice•Freedom•Equality
TAC Summer 2024
South Side Home Movie Project x TAC: Bud Billiken Banners
Over the Summer 2024 term, TAC explored the visual, historical, political, and cultural intersections between African American and African visual art from across the global diaspora. Students investigated the significance of Pan-Africanism, the Black Arts Movement, and contemporary Black artists and collectives. This knowledge prepared students for their collaboration with South Side Home Movie Project (SSHMP) in which they created three original banners to represent SSHMP in the 95th Bud Billiken Parade. Students utilized embroidery, appliqué, piecing, and hand/machine sewing to construct banners that pay homage to the history of the Bud Billiken Parade and SSHMP’s mission and values.
If you had limitless resources, technology, and mobility, how would you redesign Chicago for the better? Inspired by the work of Afrofuturist sculptor and visual artist Bodys Isek Kingelez, students worked collaboratively to construct “extreme maquettes” (extreme models) based on their local communities, neighborhoods, and the greater city of Chicago.
Students learned...
- Mixed media sculpture, perspective drawing, and design techniques/skills.
- How public artwork that reflect themes of racial justice, queer acceptance/love, radical joy, and the culture of the local community can strengthen, inspire, and uplift its residents.
- Chicago’s history of city planning and architecture to reflect on modern day Chicagoans' everyday experiences.
ASM Summer 2023
Printmaking & Protest at Gallery 37
Over the Summer 2023 term, students developed advanced printmaking skills and techniques to create culturally and socially responsive artworks. Students explored art as a tool for self-empowerment, community organization, and social justice advocacy. For their final project, students designed, carved, and printed original, multi-layered protest posters. Each poster advocates for or protests against a topic personally relevant to each student.
Walter Payton College Prep High School: Fall 2022
Monsters, Marginality, and Mark Making
Payton Students in Painting and Drawing I & II studied the drawing techniques, color theory, and visual storytelling present in Emil Ferris' My Favorite Thing is Monsters to create own monster self-portraits. This project prompted students to reflect on the graphic novel's themes of self-expression and marginality as they re-envisioned themselves as surreal creatures and monsters.
Students learned...
- To synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.
- To produce a range of hues and values by cross-hatching with primary colors.
- Observational and anatomical drawing skills to create accurate facial proportions.
Artist Robert E. Paige guiding TAC Summer 2024 students through his exhibition The United Colors of Robert Earl Paige at the Hyde Park Art Center
TAC students guiding guests through the Fall 2023 Showcase at APL.
Hyde Park Art Center Resident-Artist Kushala Vora providing a tour of their studio to TAC Fall 2023 students.
Arts + Public Life, Teen Arts Council, and South Side Home Movie Project marching in the 95th Bud Billiken Parade.
Thanks for Visiting
Contact me at scigouskys@Gmail.com