I plan on using collaborative art making with every grade, every year I teach. I think that creating a piece of art together in a group gives students such a sense of pride and school spirit along with developing their communication and copperative skills. Since being in the art education program I have learned so many amazing projects to do as a school that hold each student accountable for part of it and also allows them to show their place in the school community. I especially loved the totem pole idea from chapter 5 of From Ordinary to Extraordinary.
There are so many places you could fit service learning into the curriculum because pretty much any meduim could be turned into a collaborative project that in turn can be manipulated to fit what ever aspect of community service you are trying to acheive. It would be important to view the service learning project as simply an extention of any other project you would do in the art room. Students would still be learning about the materials and art making processes but instead of it being for personal use they are giving back to the community and in turn learning also what it means to be a citizen.
When I was in elementary school each year the 6th grade class did a legacy project which was a group installment to be placed in the school for rememberance. I was "graduating" from grade school in 2000 so for our legacy project why teach cut out a huge wood "2000." Then we each painted a small portriat of ourselves in the inside of the numbers. Although I enjoyed the project and was really proud when it went up in the hallway, I was disappointed because my teacher had tried to "fix" some of my small mistakes and ended up painting my portriat for me. The installment is still hanging in the school along with the various other legacy projects and I think the kids really enjoy looking at what other students have done and how dated somethings are now.