August at Homeboy Art Academy – Elsa Fishman BFA Sculpture 2026
The last month of my fellowship has gone by in a blur! Truthfully, I am a little behind on my blog posts, but August was filled with so many exciting events, projects, and classes with the students at Homeboy Art Academy. Over the past month, I really felt like I found my place as a teaching artist at the Academy. I feel like I have started to solidify my teaching style while also building stronger relationships with my students. As I watch them come and go, and see them navigate struggles that I myself have never, and likely will never, experience, I am left with so much awe and admiration for their willingness to immerse themselves in a program like Homeboy Art Academy.
Throughout the month, I helped with many different projects and classes, especially the 3D printing class, which the students have been incredibly excited about. We even had the opportunity to introduce them to Blender as a new software. We experimented with different colors and types of filament, which the students loved. I think there is something especially exciting about watching a material slowly grow into something tangible and seeing an idea become a physical object right in front of you.
Alongside the daily classes, a smaller group of students and I have been working on a collage project for a barbershop in Colorado. The shop employs formerly incarcerated barbers and is collaborating with Homeboy on several collage pieces made by the students, which will be sold at the barbershop. I was able to work alongside the students as they developed ideas for their collages, all of which center around the theme of transformation, and support them in bringing their individual visions to life. Most of the students were new to collage, so I was able to introduce them to different examples and demonstrate how to build an image, starting with the background and gradually working toward the foreground. I really enjoyed watching them experiment with a new process and discover their own ways of working with the material.
We also spent time wood carving in my sculpture class, which was especially engaging. The students seem to gravitate toward activities that are hands-on and have a tangible, rewarding result, and I felt that wood carving gave them a chance to slowly become more comfortable with sculptural materials. It was exciting to see them take their time with the process and begin to understand how much they could transform a material with their own hands.
As August came to a close, I found myself feeling more comfortable and confident in my role at the Academy than I had at the beginning of the summer. It has been really rewarding to see the students become more comfortable trying new materials and processes, and to see how each class can take on a life of its own depending on the group.