scrap books

Today we worked on our book covers. First we sanded the covers outside to smooth the edges. Then we ate banana bread. Then we painted the covers bright and fantastic colors. I was really curious to see all the hot color options the kids chose. Usually sketch books and such are so somber and neutral. I think there is a market for scrap books in lime green and tropical yellow, accented with fuschia stripes or blue polka dots.

Next week we plan on putting the books together. Glue. Glue. And more Glue. The students should be collecting materials to preserve and collage.

paper game

For those of you following the paper game, this weekend there was a battle in Northern Norway. Team Wenslydale was on the attack, forging through frozen tundra to retrieve the gold Ahindagindabaden stole last game. Wenslydale was geared up in mittens and cleats. They had piles of snowballs. They had hot cocoa. But alas, the children were no match for the hordes of wild, wolf-skinned maniacs. Calling themselves The fury of the North, the horde used brute strength, and a bit of help from their Italian allies, to capture the victory. All the children perished and Queen Wisteria barely escaped. Ahindagindabaden has the upper hand for now, but wait until next time when both teams meet in Egypt!

Transylvania party

I hosted a Halloween party for the art club this Saturday night. We celebrated our Transylvania project by dressing up like Dracula and the living dead. Timea, our friend from Hungary who led one of the classes on Transylvanian history and culture, was our guest of honor. She very much enjoyed the Transylvania movie and actually got a bit choked up after seeing it. I think hearing the music she loves put to these wonderful images the kids made was a bit more touching than she expected. This felt like a real success to me and I felt especially grateful for her enthusiasm and support.

The kids finally got to watch the original Dracula movie. I had shown them excerpts, but I needed parental permission to view the entire movie. Anyway, they laughed the whole way through. It's hard to imagine a time when this type of horror had real impact. The slow pace, jerky camera movements, and obvious theatricality was genuinely hilarious to them. As I watched the art club mocking this black and white film, I felt a great longing for the gentler, sweeter times of Bela Lugosi's Dracula. After the movie was over the kids suggested we play charades. They were eager to try on various roles from the movie as they reenacted the mock horror of the night.

Every year the art club wants to have costume making activities during class time. I have stayed away from Halloween projects in the past because I find it hard enough to help my own children make costumes, let alone a whole group of kids. I think the Halloween party is a great way for the club to get together and celebrate the performance art of Halloween in a manageable and fun way. They can make their own costumes at home, but what they really want is a stage on which to share their creations. I want to continue this tradition, and as the kids get older maybe we can learn a bit about installation art as we create a haunted house!?! I feel inspired.

Transylvania movie

pumpkin heads

We had time to explore the world of pumpkin heads this week during book making rests. The art students drew a grid of odd shaped circles on a piece of paper and practiced their caricature drawing styles to create funny faces. This is a simple and fun way to play with a Halloween theme while buffing up on cartooning skills.

scrap books day 2

We continued on with our book making today. The kids sewed their spines together, which took a lot of concentration and attention to detail (yours truly almost lost her mind, and luckily our guest teacher Heidi led us through the day with great patience and wisdom). I forgot how hard it is to keep the waxed thread straight and had one too many knots to undo. At one point I had to say that the next person who talked would have to untie Carina's knot, but the kids knew I was bluffing and they just kept talking. Alas. We completed the hardest part and everyone is still with us.

The books are going to be beautiful. Some of the kids have already brought in scrap folders full of photos, letters, and nice pictures of guinea pigs, horses and cats to scrap in when we actually have the books completed. Next week we will start on the covers. This project is a scrappy, month long endeavor I believe.

Transylvania opening

The opening was great fun -- lots of people and positive feedback. I think watching the art club with their parents and friends was the highlight of my night. At one point Henry was jumping up and down saying, "that one is mine," to his buddies and his two nine year old friends were laughing and saying "cool" over and over again. All the students seemed really proud and excited about how big the video looked on the wall and how loud and compelling the music sounded in the vast warehouse space. They had on artist nametags. I saw several other artists come up and comment on their piece, congratulating them on a job well done. Sylvia was around for the artist presentation section of the evening and she got a chance to talk about her experiences making the Transylvania video. She handled herself with great poise, as always, and I felt quite awestruck at her ability to charm a crowd of adults and speak articulately on artistic process and inspiration. I think many of the grown ups in attendance were inspired by the video and surprised that a group of youngsters could make such a sophisticated and smart work of art.

I felt happy to see the students interacting with many of the other works in the show. There were quite a few challenging pieces of contemporary art that really pushed them to discuss what was and wasn't art. At one point they were walking around pointing at things saying, "That's art, and that's not. That is. Yes. No. Art, not art." They all decided that the edible paper guy definitely had some art about him. All of them unanimously agreed that their piece was the best of show.

I will be posting the video on YouTube soon for those of you who are interested. We are waiting on hubby Frank for this one.

scrap books

My friend Heidi was a guest teacher yesterday. She started teaching the kids how to make scrap books. Heidi showed the students some of her own personal scrap books and talked about her interest in the visual diary. She has saved special images in homemade scrap books for over ten years. She uses these as a source of future inpiration and reflection. They include photographs, show cards, receits, tickets, letters, images ripped from newspapers and magazines, drawings, text, diary entries, and many other strange and wonderful things she has decided to hang on to. Some of the kids couldn't believe that Heidi stuck paint sample cards and plane tickets in her visual diary. It's true.

The scrap book project needs to be done in several seperate stages and demands a great deal of precision and concentration. Yesterday the students measured and ripped pages, and then folded them neatly at the center. Next week we will sew the pages together and start on making the book covers. I hope this project inspires the students to think about what it means to create their own visual diaries. Sylvia said she has already started her own poetry/sketch book, but for many of the other students this is a new concept.

Heidi, thank you for the inspiration.

Transylvania project

We finished the Transylvania project yesterday. This Saturday night is the big opening (149 Waubesa Street from 4-7)! Most of the students made two or more mini films. I edited them with my computer guru husband last night (thank you, Frank) and they look excelllent. The Transylvanian folk music sets a crazy, creepy tone and jumps and jerks at all the right points. I have the feeling that we could have just kept making videos all year. The kids didn't want to quit. When I asked them what they learned about Transylvania they were still pretty stuck on the whole Dracula myth (and the fact that there was a real Count Dracula that impaled people who displeased him). Anyway, I know they absorbed more than just the gruesome details -- although gore sells itself pretty well. I asked each student to tell me what they will remember about Transylvania and I got some nice responses. One student told me she will remember that they like to eat cheese there and so do we. Another thoughtful remark was that one student was thinking about the poverty and unrest in the country (which Timea had talked with the kids about). Some students were curious to hear about gypsy culture. I know that the style of wearing babushka head scarfs interested some of the fashion savy students. And did I mention that there was a real Count Dracula that impaled people? Yup, it's true. If you want to see a beautiful book of photographs taken in Transylvania, I recommend a book by Korniss Peter entitled Leltar, Erdelyi kepek 1967-1998. The images will stick with me for quite some time.

coats of arms

Almost all the kids finished their coats of arms yesterday. I snapped a shot of them showing off their shields outside. When I looked at the photo again I was surprised to see how different and individualized each crest turned out. Henry's, for example, is strictly abstract, while other art clubers took time to select personalized symbols, letters, and color fields. Several of the students said they were going to hang these up at home in their rooms. I think they were quite proud of them.

Transylvania project

Week three of the Transylvania project was all about non-stop action, stop-action video. The art club went totally nuts making little characters out of clay and building castles out of legos. There were stories involving dracula, cheese, lollipops, ghouls, impaling, stabbing, swordsmanship, cute little children, and children that turn into cheese. I can't say enough about the simplicity and fun of claymation sessions with young people. The art club was able to navigate the software completely on their own and enjoy the pure magic of moviemaking . It was a delight to watch them laugh and tell their stories. Throughout the entire session the kids were picking out their favorite Transylvanian folkmusic as background sound for their movies. Imagine the whirling dervish of a Hungarian jig, Dracula impaled on a lego sword, and red clay clusters of blood, and you will just about catch the crazy, zany fun of the day.

Transylvania project

My friend Timea is Hungarian. She has visited Transylvania and I asked her to share her stories and photographs with the art club. I think the opportunity to hear a first hand account of the region was invaluable to the project. How did Timea's personal stories about delightful cheese, colorful farmer's markets, salt mines, packs of wild dogs, and political unrest resonate with the art club? We shall see. I am asking the students to integrate what they have learned about Translvania -- from Timea's tales, the Dracula myths, the regional music we have been listening to, the folk dancing video, and the various photo books I've gathered -- and make a short stop action video related to the theme. It was a good work day. The group seemed motivated, and I can't believe how quickly they are catching on to the conceptual process of translating a mass of information into a work of art. Amazing. Anyway, thank you Timea.