Pyschology professor Gerryann Olson doesn't normally think of a glue gun as a major tool.
But she brings it and fabric and hair and trinkets to students who
become immersed in her popular doll-making workshops, as high school students at Santa Rosa High School will do this week and next.
Olson starts today with a slide show of the role of figurative art throughout history, including the psychological role of dolls in different cultures. Then she will bring 27 inch doll "blanks" for the students to work with as part of the culmination of the high school Art Quest "A Child of Our Time" program which has been been running all school year.
The students will use the dolls as part of an expressive arts program that will encourage them to explore their gifts, strengths and fears in a time of economic and cultural unrest, Olson says.
An associate psychology professor at Sonoma State University, Olson will have visited 15 classrooms and 300 children this year with her expressive arts program by the time she is through. One school made doll heroes, a Jewish school turned out dolls of the Prophets. Others created dolls of the Westward Expansion. Some took on fantasy characters
The doll making is combined with writing assignments and research, expanding their social science and language skills. The project also explores how the arts can enhance learning and build self-esteem.
Olson started out making dolls as a teenager with motivational sayings like "I Can Do This." sewn on them. This was at the suggestion of her mother, a lecturer for a national diet business. She has been involved in the doll- making process for over thirty years and sees it as a tool for healing, creativity, self-exploration and learning.
Olson is an award-winning doll artist and known as an innovative educator who supports using the visual and performing arts as a part of learning. She has designed a service learning course that allows students to bring art experiences to the K-12 classroom at the request of area teachers.
Olson goes into the classroom at SRHS on May 2 and 3 to begin the project and she will visit the program several times the following week as students continue to work on the dolls.
On May 10, they will work on journal writing, poetry and reflection on the process as the dolls are completed.
