Sponsors

Welcome to Simis Art Masterpiece 2025/2026 

 

Art Masterpiece is a Signature Program of the Madison Education Foundation and the Madison School District. Parents and grandparents can participate by presenting during their child's school day.

Each presentation includes historic, geographic and cultural relevance, artistic value, unique aspects, art appreciation and a class art project for each artist.

 

This year, here at Simis we have developed some new materials to make it easier to volunteer. There is a list of artists by grade level and then a folder. Each folder contains a slideshow handout with notes, an activity with instructions, a supply list, an example of the completed activity, coloring sheets for younger students who complete the activity and a take home sheet to share with parents. Our art closet (located in the Simis office) has been cleaned and restocked.

 

 

By providing the chosen projects, examples and supply list

our hope is that it will minimize the prep work for volunteers.

The chosen projects will give students the opportunity to experience and

create art using a wide variety of materials.

 

Simis Training:

 Art Masterpiece Orientation (Simis Office) 

 

Pick one:

August 19 @ 7:40AM

August 20 @1:00PM

August 21 @7:40AM

 

We will go over procedures, where to find artist presentations, how to edit slide show, show where the art supplies are located, how to order supplies, etc. plus, meet the AM co-chairs.

Please check in at the front office. Training should take about 30 minutes.

Reach out to artmasterpiece@simis.org if these dates do not work for you. 

District Training:

 District Art Masterpiece Workshop

Sept 6th @ 8:30AM (District Office)

 

 

Art Guide presentations in classrooms should begin in mid to late September.

 

  

Want to volunteer?

Here is how to get started!

 

Step 1: Complete Raptor registration through the Madison School District to volunteer on campus. You need to renew every year, so if you haven't volunteered on campus this year, we always advise everyone to double check their status before coming back on campus.

Step 2: If you plan to volunteer with Art Masterpiece, you must first register as an Art Guide by clicking the green logo to the left. Completing this step is the only way to ensure that we have your contact information for the current year. 

Step 3: Signup for a Monthly Presentation in the classroom! You can find open opportunities to present in your child's classroom by using the blue “Monthly Presentation” splotch and filling out the following information: email address, artist to be presented and time/date of presentation. If you are unsure, please come back to fill out missing prompts before coming on campus. This helps us know who is on campus and how many supplies to anticipate being prepped at any given time. 

Step 4: Browse our Artist Files, and begin preparing for your presentation. We have a massive Google drive loaded with resources and presentations on a variety of artists. They are divided up by grade level based off of curriculum and age-appropriate content. If you are interested in presenting on a different artist than the ones offered in your grade level, please feel free to explore new artists or artists unassigned to a K-8 grade level. We also ask that you use the Google drive to copy and edit each presentation.

Step 5: We are very lucky to have an amazing and well-supported Art Masterpiece program here at Simis. Our closet is located in the PATS room in the front office, and it is stocked with nearly every art/craft item you can imagine. If we don’t have something you want, we have a budget to take care of some of those items (within reason, of course). If there is anything you need and can’t find, please give us a week to be able to source whatever materials you may need. Keep in mind that we have between 200-250 presentations throughout the year, so please return unused/reusable materials to the closet for future classrooms to use. To see a quick reference of what is available in the Art Masterpiece Closet, please refer to the link to the left.

 

Questions?

 Please contact Meggan Coughlin or Lori Elliott at artmasterpiece@simispats.org if you have any questions or need help getting started. We are happy to help! 

 

Extra Volunteer Opportunities:

 

There are more ways to get more involved with Art Masterpiece this year!

 

If you are interested in volunteering time outside the classroom,

here are some ways you can get more involved: 

 

  • Sign up to be a lead volunteer per grade level.  To coordinate better this year we are trying by having a lead volunteer by grade level to communicate better between coordinators and teachers. 
  • Be a part of our "Night At The Madison Museum" committee. "Night At The Madison Museum" is a fun and artistic evening showcasing artwork made by Madison Students. Select a project per grade level that can be shared as a group display at Night At The Museum.
  • Present in other classrooms. Volunteer in a classroom outside of your child’s classroom.  Sometimes help is needed to support classrooms where teachers are without volunteers and/or a project needs an extra set of hands. 


We look forward to a great year bringing Art Masterpiece into every classroom. None of this would be possible without the participation and support you all provide!