Belmont Elementary improvises to preserve artist residencies threatened by cuts to State Council on the Arts

A grin pressed Luna Nazariah’s almond eyes into guileless crescents, widening even more as she gripped her “dot maker” — known to unimaginative adults as a Q-tip — and squished magenta spots into her piece of plywood.

Musing over her piece’s “spring-y vibe,” the eight-year-old imagined what it might be like to someday become an art educator like Mark Ragonese, who, in his short time as the artist in residence at Belmont Elementary, has imparted meaningful lessons.

“He teaches us that we can make anything look pretty and cool but in our own way. He taught us that we can make art that doesn’t have to look perfect, like you can match them or make them in different colors in your own way,” said third-grader Eryn Catudal, stamping her own piece with pink spirals.

“And because mistakes can help you learn,” Luna replied, completing their shared thought.

Over the last two weeks, Ragonese, a Vermont-based sculptor and woodworker, has prompted students to celebrate their individuality and view themselves as parts working in concert to build a more complete, harmonious whole.

His residency nearly couldn’t take place after dramatic funding cuts besieged the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts last year. Creative problem-solving on the part of the Belmont Elementary School community became the project’s life raft instead.

Fourth-graders have posed for nine life-sized figurines comprised of smaller puzzle pieces designed by students across all grade levels at the school. One child, captured in fragments, clutches a paint palette and lifts a brush; another, frozen in position, grasps a baseball bat and readies for a swing.

On Wednesday, Luna and Eryn wriggled into their blue smocks in preparation for work on their puzzle pieces: parts of the lower leg of a basketball player on the descent from a lay-up.

Ragonese watched over them with delight. He has done more than 150 similar projects in schools across New Hampshire in his 35 years on the State Council on the Arts’ roster of artists in residence. The artist captivates students with his affable personality and enthuses them with “circle markers,” “straight-line makers” and glimpses of the more professional implements he uses at home.

What isn’t apparent in the classroom is how Ragonese came to Belmont. With the Council on the Arts bereft of any state funding, relying solely on business tax credits and donations for its operations and now reduced to a singular staff member, the school district stepped in to cobble together funds to support his residency. The district allotted $2,500 out of its budget for the project, while Belmont’s parent-teacher organization chipped in $2,500 and students themselves raised $3,000 through a read-a-thon, where community members pledged donations for each book read.

The dramatic cuts, carried out last year after the legislature nearly eliminated the council altogether, shellshocked the state’s creative economy.

“Hearing about all that was very heartbreaking,” said Belmont Elementary art teacher Katie Van Cura.

Her school has hosted six previous artists in residence through the Council on the Arts, alternating between performance artists like Theo Martey, who engaged students in West African drumming, and visual artists like Gowri Savoor, whose lantern-making workshops culminated in a parade through the streets of Belmont.

Parents, teachers and administrators alike see the value of exposing students to artistic experiences they wouldn’t otherwise receive through a conventional curriculum, according to Principal Benjamin Hill.

But school districts have other priorities to be mindful of, too, and continuing to fundraise intensively to bring artists like Ragonese back to Belmont Elementary wouldn’t be sustainable long-term.

“These artists are doing something very different from what most of the students are used to,” Hill said. “But it would be very difficult to do that every year.”

Ragonese, sleeves rolled up above his elbows, ready to work well before his third-grade pupils filed into Van Cura’s classroom, lamented the hollowing out of the Council. Artist residencies have become a part of the culture of New Hampshire schools over the years.

Before the Council had its funding cut, Ragonese had been slated to work with three schools that had secured grants. Belmont and Hudson were able to improvise creative solutions once the grants fell through. Merrimack, on the other hand, had to “cut it way back,” according to Ragonese.

For artists, the void left by the Council is significant. Ragonese has felt the absence of Council-sponsored conferences where artists could meet and connect with teachers.

It’s “a big loss,” he said. If there were other organizations capable of standing in that gap, Ragonese said he wouldn’t “even know who that would be anymore.”

“Those gatherings were, for me and I think for a lot of artists, just so important. You felt like you had a community you were a part of, everyone kind of had the same concerns and the same problems. To be honest, it’s too bad about that,” he said.

His disappointment, although palpable in private conversation, doesn’t blemish his interactions in the classroom.

Gathered around Ragonese, the children, courteous and engrossed, followed his movements as he demonstrated the function of stamping tools and motivated them to “practice, experiment and discover.”

They congratulated him on his “six-seven” birthday, which, in part because of the students’ thoughtfulness, Ragonese described as one of the best he’s ever had.

“Almost every residency I’ve ever done, I’ve done different kinds of projects, but it’s all sort of two things: If everybody does a little, we can get a lot done. And also, this kind of thing: You’re a part of this community. It’s like a big puzzle, and even if you feel like the least significant, if you were missing, we’d miss you. We would not be whole,” he said.