Jeweler Nancy Worden, left, heats metal over a flame while Madrona K-8 students look on.
Middle School Students from Madrona K-8 School have been working with internationally-known jewelry artist Nancy Worden this winter, learning the lost-wax casting technique for making metal jewelry and small-scale sculpture.
Worden is an artist-in-residence with the Washington State Arts Commission Arts in Education program. During her residency at the Central District's Pratt Fine Arts Center, Madrona students are studying about the Asante people of Ghana and their long tradition of metalworking.
The students make a wax form inspired by African proverbs and come to Pratt to observe the casting of their forms in bronze. The residency is designed to integrate math, social studies, language arts and science with the visual arts.
Pratt's Youth Art Works program involves middle school students in the exploration of different art media. These classes are offered at no cost to participants and are sponsored by grants from the Lucky Seven Foundation and the city of Seattle's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs.
