Jocelyn Salim
Creative Connections: Building Empathy to Foster Ecoliteracy Through Art Education
Jocelyn Salim is an illustrator, designer, and art educator who loves telling stories through her work. She was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, and grew up in Singapore. She graduated from RISD Illustration in 2023 with a concentration in Nature, Culture, Sustainability Studies, and continued to pursue an MA in Art + Design Education in the Department of Teaching + Learning in Art + Design. Her research interest is deeply rooted in the belief in the power of art to foster empathy and environmental stewardship, particularly among young learners. Her thesis delves into innovative approaches to cultivate empathy and ecological literacy by implementing environmentally themed art lesson plans with K-5 students. In her personal artistic practice, Jocelyn finds joy in crafting picture books and zines around themes of nature, culture, and identity. Through her work, she aspires to spark conversations, evoke emotions, and ignite curiosity about the world around us.
Mini Makerz Weekend Program Session 1: Turning Trash into Treasure, Student Work
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Student work for a weekend community art program, featuring a project that invites them to explore how we can rethink the use of materials, beginning with the reading of a book, 'This House Once' by Deborah Freedman, that explores where materials come from and an introduction to an artist, Patrick Tagoe Turkson, who repurposes old flip flops as materials in his art. Through this project, students got to create a plant pot or a bird feeder using plastic water bottles.
Mini Makerz Weekend Program Session 2: Message from the Ocean, Student Work
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Student work for a weekend commnuity art program, featuring a project that invites them to empathize with the struggles of marine creatures by creating a message in a bottle through the perspecive of a sea creature. The lesson began with the reading of a book, 'The Tale of the Whale' by Karen Swann and Padmacandra, that takes readers on a journey under the sea and revealing the reality of plastic pollution in the ocean. Students also learned about the work of an artist, Tan Zi Xi, who created an installation, 'Plastic Ocean,' that recreates the experience of a fish swimming through an ocean full of waste.
Mini Makerz + Creature Conserve Week 1: The Amazing World of Pollinators, Student Work
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First session of 3-week after-school program, co-taught with Kaitlyn Lawrence (TLAD 2024), around the theme of pollinators at a local elementary school in RI. This session is focused on building a foundational understanding about what pollinators are and their role in the ecosystem. Students created collages in response to what they learned and what interested them about pollinators.
Mini Makerz + Creature Conserve Week 2: Stories for Pollinators, Student Work
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Second session of 3-week after-school program around the theme of pollinators, co-taught with TLAD peer, Kaitlyn Lawrence. In this session, students were prompted to create stories to share something they learned about pollinators with others. Students made zines about pollinators or featured them as characters in the story.
Mini Makerz + Creature Conserve Week 3: Designing a Garden with Empathy, Student Work
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Final session of 3-week after-school program around the theme of pollinators, co-taught with TLAD peer, Kaitlyn Lawrence. In this session, we discussed what empathy means and what it looks like to show empathy for other species. Students created 3D dioramas of a garden that they design with empathy for pollinators.
