On Wednesday, June 6, from 5 to 7 p.m., Dia Center for the Arts opens its fourth annual exhibition of works created by students in Dia's Arts Education Program. The exhibition features a variety of works by New York City junior-high students affiliated with the program. On view on the fifth floor of 535 West 22nd Street, the exhibition remains open to the public through June 10, 2001.

The works on view draw on the students' visits to Dia exhibitions as well as on their classroom studies. Included are an inflated sculptural piece created in response to Panamarenko's Orbit; a collaborative mural, which will be permanently installed at the Clinton School, in Chelsea, that expands on the paintings of Bridget Riley; a video project that both refers to Diana Thater's installation Knots + Surfaces and draws on the students' study of Hispanic culture; and sculptural works that join Jorge Pardo's Project with Spanish language lessons and considerations of architectural space.

Dia and Arts Education
Dia Center for the Arts, which was founded in 1974, plays a vital role among visual arts institutions nationally and internationally by initiating, supporting, presenting, and preserving art projects in nearly every medium, and by serving as a primary locus for interdisciplinary art and criticism. One of Dia's primary goals is to foster art appreciation among young people. The Arts Education Program, initiated in 1993, offers students direct experience with the art of our time, both through exposure to major works and exhibitions, and through hands-on experience.

The program introduces teachers and students to contemporary visual arts and poetry through museum visits, lectures, and studio workshops with artists. In 2000-2001, this year-long program reached eight junior-high teachers and their students from public schools within Dia's vicinity. Providing direct support to teachers through training workshops and collaboration with teaching artists, the program aims to integrate art education into diverse curricula, including Spanish, math, and the humanities. The students, many of whom have little experience with contemporary art or museums as institutions, gain exposure to art through observation and hands-on creation, inspired by repeat visits to Dia's galleries and cooperative work within the classroom.

Participating schools include the Clinton School, the High School for Environmental Studies, Manhattan Academy of Technology, New York City Lab School, P.S. 137, SALK School for Science, the School of the Future, and the School for the Physical City. Artists who participated in teacher workshops this season include Jorge Pardo, painter Nina Bovasso, new-media artists Jennifer and Kevin McCoy, sound artist Steven Vitiello, and poets Marie Ponsot and Quincy Troupe.

Dia's Arts Education Program is supported, in part, by the Jean and Louis Dreyfus Foundation, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, and Tatra Press. In-kind support has been provided by Bottino, Jerry's, Odwalla, The Red Cat, and Sarabeth's. A tax-exempt charitable organization, Dia has become one of the largest organizations in the United States dedicated to contemporary art and culture. In fulfilling this commitment, Dia sustains diverse programming in the visual arts, as well as in poetry, education, and critical discourse and debate.

Exhibition hours during the 2000-2001 season are Wednesday through Sunday, 12 noon to 6 p.m., through June 17.