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           Ali Thunder School of Arts       

                          (ATSA)

             Visual & Performing Arts    

Founder:

B’Rael Ali Thunder, 

Chicago IL, Worldwide 

Painter, Poet, Dancer, Curator, and Educator

Master of Fine Arts, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Southern Illinois University Carbondale​(SIUC) (Bachelor of Fine Art in Studio Art / Painting and Drawing Minor in Art History and Art Education). 

www.braelali.com 

Available for Lectures, Murals, Classes, Workshops, Programs, Residencies and Events 

CPS Vendor, Guided Meditations. 

773-494-2391 / brael.ali13@gmail.com

Dear Interested Reader,

The following document is Ali Thunder School of Art (ATSA) Visual and Performing Arts Curriculum Guide.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Curriculum Vitae 

Program Overview              

Program Components and Framework

Program Philosophy     

Classroom Environment Statement 

Foreword

This art curriculum guideline has been developed by BRael Ali Thunder and is based on the newly published National Standards for Arts Education, which are defined as Dance, Music, Theater, and Visual Arts. The national standards for the Visual Arts were developed by the National Art Education Association Art Standard Committee to reflect a national consensus of the views of organizations and individuals representing educators, principals, administrators, teachers, parents, artists, professional associations in education and the arts, public and private educational institutions, philanthropic organizations, and leaders from government, labor, and business. 

The material described in this guide will outline the design of visual arts and performing arts lesson plans and are art comprehensive for K- College level courses. ATSA teaching philosophy aims to give each student the chance to master the content, deliver performance, and obtain great achievement. It is intended to give students a flexible guideline in the design and delivery of a meaningful and relevant arts program that is structured, fosters community, and is inspiring. 

The Ali Thunder School of Arts follows guidelines of

U.S. Department of Education

Illinois Arts Learning Standards Approved by the Illinois State Board of Education 

Madison Public Schools, Madison, Connecticut   

Curriculum Vitae 

B’Rael Ali Thunder​ (Legally known as Byron Taylor) brael.ali13@gmail.com / 7732 S. Honore Street - Chicago, IL 60620 /

WWW.BRAELALI.COM (773) 494-2391

SUMMARY​: Highly motivated and productive Chicago Painter, Poet, Dancer, Curator, and Educator, seeking the opportunity to activate urban communities via education, the arts, and creative events. 

Watch Wade in The Water Performance 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7BV3V-s3Mg 

Education

School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Master of Fine Arts​, Painting and Performance. 2018-2020 Teaching Assistant to Richard Hull, Painting, Richard Deutsch, Materials and Techniques, Mary Lou Zelazny, Figurative Painting, D. Denege Duyst-Akpem, Afrofuturism, Advisors, Romi N Crawford, Community Art, Peter Taub, MCA Stage Performance Roberto Sifuentes, Performance, Erica Mott, Performance Anne Harris, Fine Art, Mary-Jane Jacob, Sculpture/ Community Art

Florida State University ​(One-year resident in Interdisciplinary Arts).

2016 - 2017 (Gadsden Art Center & Museum, Assistant). Florida State University Working Method Contemporary Gallery Co-Curator/Gallery Manager.) 621 Annex Hip-hop Exhibition

Southern Illinois University Carbondale​(SIUC) (Bachelor of Fine Art in Studio Art / Painting and Drawing Minor in Art History and Art Education). 2010 - 2015

(Vergette Gallery, Black Affairs Council (Vice President and Secretary/Academic Chair, SIUC Museum attendant, Mentee/ Assistant Professor Najjar Abdul-Musawirr.)

Ace Technical Charter High School,​ Chicago IL (Architecture major). 2006 - 2010 (Newhouse Award 3rd Grand Prize Hand Rendering) & (US Empowered Scholar)

Murals

• Urban Ark, Chicago House Music/Dance Legacy, 50ft x 30ft 113th Wentworth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAdq6WRbCYc&feature=youtu.be

• Love is Law, Westside Justice Center, 601 s California 40ft x 20ft
• Chicago a Tribute 50ft x 30ft 81st Halsted  https://youtu.be/ejhPpS5hNSE 

● “The World Needs a Breathing Room” 20ft x 9ft @ The Breathing Room 1434 w 15th street, Chicago. Community Mural Design and Class, Illinois Humanities Envisioning Justice   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPNji_fhcAM&feature=youtu.be 

● Restoration of “I Have A Dream” Mural 20ft x 12ft in Chicago, 40th and King Drive. 2015, Mentored by Dr. Sciddah Webber

● Maker Space 15ft x 4ft @ Sayre Language Academy 1850 N Newland Music House Sponsorship

Curation/ Performance/ Exhibitions

Luxe B Studio, Bronzeville​, Resident Artist/ Gallery Assistant 2019-2021

Beverly Hills Art Gallery​, Resident Artist/ Gallery Assistant 2019- 2021

Dance Center of Columbia,  performance w/ Qudus Onikeku 2018

Hunter International Gallery​, Chicago (resident studio artist and curator). 2015 - 2018 Under the leadership of Africobra member Shahar Weaver. Developed an Artist in Residency program, curated artist studios, events, and festivals.

South Side Community Art Center​,

● Kwanza Exhibition and Performance WInter 2019-2020,

● Resident Artist 2018.

● Volunteer Open Mic Organizer 2018 ( Spoken @ 160)

● Curator of 74 and 75th Annual Art Auction Southshore Community Center and School of the Art Institute, Mclean Ballroom

● Round Table Discussion: Future of Black Art, Tempest Hazel, Rob Mckay, Joyce

Owens. Yvonne Orr-El, Joyce Owens, Gerald Griffin. Moderator: Angela Kenyatta,

December 2018

Zhou B Art Center​, Project Art Resident Exhibition/ DaSoul Arts Open Mic 2018

Miami Art Basel, ​Aqua Group Exhibition with Florida State University. 2017 Maafa,​ 

Group Exhibition at the Ashe Power House, New Orleans 2017

Silver Room Block Party,​ with ​Participatory Music Coalition​ as spoken word artist. 2018.

“In the Circle”, Art of Chicago Footwork exhibition w/ The Era Footwork Crew, Columbia College​’s, Hopkins Project 2017

New Years Eve event host and performer with Bronze Love at the ​Gallery Guichard​, Chicago 2016-2017

Museum of Contemporary Art​, MCA stage with Participatory Music Coalition as spoken word artist and dancer. 2018

National Youth Art Movement Against Gun Violence

16 BillBoards across Chicago neighborhoods Augmented Reality Project.

Workshop on Art and Technology at Nobel Peace Prize conference in Minneapolis @

Augsburg University). 2017

Illinois Humanities Envisioning Justice- Teaching Artist/ Open House Organizer

● Envisioning Justice at the Better Boys Foundation Family Services, Teaching Artist of the Power of Platform theme toward building the youth’s voice so they can become agents of Change 2018-Present

● Envisioning Justice at the Breathing Room, Teaching Artist of Rhymes and Rebellion, Hip-Hop and Visual arts class themed toward creating alternatives from the school to the prison pipeline system. 2018- Present “The World Needs a Breathing Room Mural”

● Envisioning Justice Exhibition at the School of the Art Institute, Sullivan Galleries Fall 2019. Honorable Mention.

● Citywide public exhibition of Community mural I designed and workshops with students and community volunteers to complete. CTA, Billboard, and Poster distribution.

Dance Center of Columbia College.​ African in America, Poetry/Dance Performance with International performer Qudus Onikeku Mentee of Kelsa Robinson and Brave Monk Fall 2018.

DeSingel International Arts Campus​, Antwerp Belgium 7 day Dance Residency, workshop and performance with electronic band Gravant Spring 2019

Envisioning Justice​ Exhibition at the​ School of the Art Institute​, Sullivan Galleries Fall 2019

Hip-Hop Theater Festival​, Kuumba Lynx Spring 2019

Links Hall​ Co-Mission Resident Artist, Summer 2019

Stony Island Arts Bank ​Soul Power Vol 2. Host and Dance Judge @, December 2018

Teaching Artist Service Locations

Moos Middle School Hip-Hop Theater, Music House Spring/Fall 2019

Brown Stem School Hip-Hop Theater, Music House Spring/Fall 2019

Southshore Fine Arts Academy, Sky Art at Dorchester Arts, 2018-2020

Bronzeville Lighthouse Academy, Camp of Dreams, Spring 2016

Holy Angels, Sky Art, Fall 2018

Chicago Public Art Prequalified list, City of Chicago Department of CulturalAffairs and Special Events. ​2020/2021 

Chicago Museum of Science and Industry (Black Creativity, juried art exhibition)

Awarded Exceptional Ability and Outstanding Achievement Award.​ 2018

Chicago Night Out in The Parks,​ Chicago Park District grant sponsorship recipient for

event series DaSouL! Art, Music and Dance Exhibition at Houston Park. Summer 2018

SIUC Rickert-Ziebold Trust Award​ competition cash prize (to outstanding graduating seniors from the School of Art and Design). 2015

SIUC Research Enriched Academic Challenge​ ("REACH") competitive award (one-year grant under guidance of an Art Education professor to produce survey-based artwork about national heroes selected by students). 2014 - 2015

SIUC’s Center for Inclusive Excellence ​Dr. Martin Luther King Drum Major Award for Social Justice SIUC 2015  

Program Overview

ATSA Strives for growth. We know students have a variety of learning styles and recognize the need for flexibility in dealing with students from all backgrounds. 

Students are encouraged so that they find their place in the community classrooms eventually become. Through our curriculum, students communicate, develop responsibility, and discover identity. 

The focus of our organization is to nurture the strengths students naturally manifest and develop skills to support their strengths as well as combat their trauma/concerns through the arts and on stage. 

ATSA Reexamines America’s curriculum to produce an Arts program that reflects the needs of the student. ATSA Teaching Artists infuse their creative skills with Essential skills. Subjects such as career education, financial literacy, history, current events, entrepreneurship, teamwork will be an active part of the ATSA curriculum. Students have their assignments when fused creates a supportive community event/virtual video. 

ATSA curriculum was developed in 2015 and its growth as an organization is still ongoing. It is based on the national arts curriculum and standards based on by the Superintendent of Schools and the Board of Education. ATSA's revised curriculum is in alignment with the national and state standards developed for visual arts and performing arts. The content of the goals and the objectives reflects the content contained within the national and state standards and their corresponding benchmarks.

Program Components & Framework

ATSA's goal is to foster great communication between the arts and essential life skills. Communication, interpersonal skills, decision-making, problem-solving, creative thinking, critical thinking, self-awareness, empathy, assertiveness, equanimity, and self-control are what we consider essential life skills.  

ATSA Teaching Artists prepare students for the world by dialoguing through the various arts such as painting, drawing, sculpture, spoken word poetry, music, instrumentation, and dance styles of Chicago Footwork, Hip Hop, House, Breakdance as well as newer social dance styles. By emphasizing the theme of the assignment ATSA students work through the materials of paint, energy, and sound to achieve awareness.

Sample Visual Arts/ Performing Arts Lesson Plan Structure. 

Step I: Identity and Assessment 

Teaching Artist and Students discover more about each other through drawing speed portraits and self-portraits, freestyling, dance, or rap cyphering. Strengths and weaknesses or goals are identified, written down, and worked on throughout the development of the course.

Step 2: Responsibility

Students discover the power of action and their voice. Through discussion and craft students voice their views on how they want to impact the world. As a group, we identify problems and voice how we can create solutions. Through research and implementation, each student will host a dialog and propose solutions within their creative work.  

Step 3: Evaluation and Collaboration 

ATSA classroom formations are lecture/cypher, focus groups/creative cohorts, individual presentations, class reflection, redevelopment, and additional support. By this time in the course, students should have a lot to say as well as complete several assignments and group projects.

Step 4: IV Community and Curation

Bringing it all together with community action, event curation via class presentation. ATSA’s focus on the community means our end goal is always in sight. From the very first day, Teaching Artists are working towards an open house and/or virtual event(s). The collective work the students complete during our program work as pieces of the puzzle for the community/virtual event. 

ATSA Philosophy 

All of the curriculum guides developed for the Ali Thunder School of Arts will include the following components…. 

Philosophy: 

In art and collaborations across platforms, one medium inspires another, forging connections across traditional boundaries. We are conductive creativity that enhances life. Become multi-disciplined, deliver high energy performance. Build community by preparing students for the world with transferable skills. We are problem solvers and the leaders of tomorrow.  

We believe the art program should include the utilization of current technologies in the creative process. ATSA uses the full Adobe Creative Cloud Suite, Zoom, and google meet. ATSA also has its recording equipment.    

The art programs' mission is to provide all students with continuous and sequential study in the visual arts which will simultaneously reveal the joy of aesthetic expression, the hard work of craftsmanship, and the necessity of art within the complete human experience.   

ATSA always incorporates the local school districts' beliefs regarding the calendar, content, literature, and the assessment frameworks that are referenced.   

Classroom Environment 

Students will be educated on Classroom standards of behavior, and course objectives

Ecosystem 

Students Are encouraged to speak, advocate, organize and participate. To foster growth in every child and that the class is focused so all students feel healthy, safe, engaged, supported. Assigned seating for a supportive classroom environment. A written/ digital copy of the Student Expectations. 

Fair consequences, freedom to ask about restorative justice, a system that focuses on ways to repair any harm that happens as a result of a conflict, and provides pathways to address healing within a community. Conflict between students in the class will be used on the spot for teachable moments about the community and the futures we are building every day. Information about class requirements, grading rules, and information on assistance to meet requirements will be distributed on the first day of the course.

Rigorous curriculum that prepares students for success in college, career, and civic life, and inspires students to think critically and contribute high-quality work. This curriculum should address academic and social-emotional learning opportunities for all students, including diverse learners, English learners, and advanced learners.

Health, nutrition, and personal care. Access to health care and protection from preventable illnesses; ATSA Teaching Artists are “mandated, reporters”. This means that if a student under the age of 18 discloses information indicating that they are being abused, maybe in harm, or maybe planning to harm themselves, the school counselor must notify the student’s parent/guardian and/or proper authorities.

ATSA classrooms are a safe, secure, and supportive school environment. Our students have the freedom to meet and communicate with others peacefully; to speak freely, share ideas and opinions, and protest in ways that do not interfere with school programs or rules. Be treated with courtesy and respect by all parties regardless of actual or perceived age, race, creed, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, religion, national origin, citizenship/immigration status, weight, sexual orientation, physical and/or emotional condition, disability, marital status, or political beliefs.