In September 2025, the Hastings Tribune covered a week-long artist residency I led at Adams Central Elementary in Hastings, Nebraska — and it’s a great example of what an in-school glass art residency can look like from start to finish, so I wanted to give it a fuller recap here.

The Inspiration: Patty Talbert’s North Omaha Positive Affirmation Project

Every residency I bring into a school starts with an artist and an idea worth borrowing. For this one, we looked at the work of Omaha artist Patty Talbert, whose North Omaha Positive Affirmation Project uses public art to put messages of self-worth directly into the community.

Students spent time with Talbert’s approach — art as affirmation, not just decoration — before writing their own. Those affirmations became the design language for everything that followed.

What the Students Made

The residency worked on two tracks, which is typical of how I structure a school visit:

• A take-home project for every student. Each student used their affirmation to design a piece in Shrinky Dinks — a fast, accessible material that lets even the youngest students walk away with something finished and personal on day one.
• A large-scale, permanent installation. The fifth-grade class took the concept further, designing and building a glass-on-glass mosaic “legacy window.” It now hangs permanently in the school — this was actually Adams Central’s second legacy window; an earlier class built one a few years prior that still hangs in the cafeteria.That two-track structure is intentional: individual work that goes home with a family, and a collective piece that stays behind as a lasting mark on the school itself.

Why Schools Book Artist Residencies Like This

A residency like this does a few things a single art class period can’t:

• Gives students a finished, professional-grade artwork in a medium (glass) they don’t normally get to touch
• Creates a permanent installation that becomes part of the school’s identity — something alumni, staff, and families point to for years
• Connects classroom learning to a working artist’s real practice and a real community art project, not just a generic craft

Funding: Nebraska Arts Council Artists in Schools & Communities Program

If you’re a Nebraska teacher, PTO member, or administrator picturing something like this in your own school: residencies like this one are eligible for funding through the Nebraska Arts Council’s Artists in Schools & Communities (AISC) program. I’m on the NAC roster and can help walk your school through what that process looks like.

Interested in a residency at your school? Get in touch — I’d love to talk through what’s possible for your students.