needle felting

These are the finished needle felted pears. I feel like all together they make such a nice group that maybe we should try to sew them up into a nine square quilt.

The kool-aid, acid colors of the wool lead you to create hyper-vivid images. I mean these aren't your ordinary pears -- these pears are like a super juicy vision from the tropics. I find them very appealing on this gray day.

needle felting

We started needle felting this week. I got all this great colored wool (and the felting needles) at Rainbow Fleece Farms in New Glarus (608-527-5311). The wool isn't cheap, but we decided to use our special purpose holiday funds on the splurge. I think it is going to be well worth the $40. We will probably use needle felting in several upcoming projects and the bright colors and tactile feel of the wool is really appealing to the kids.

I was worried about them poking themselves and not being mature enough to use sharp felting needles, but they did great. A few kids did prick themselves, but I can report no major injuries and the pricks were not due to negligence. The art club was unusually quiet and concentrated while they felted. The whole day had a dreamy quality about it. The primary sound was the rhythmic beat of needles pricking through wool and foam.

We broke two needles during the day (by pulling them the wrong way when they were stuck in the foam) so buy a few extra when you are planning a project.


I started the needle felting project with flat felting because it is easier for beginning students to remember to keep their other hand away from the needle when they flat felt. I cut up old wool sweaters for the flat background and placed pears around the table. Students pinned the wool to the foam. I passed out needles and had the kids feel the ridges along the edge so they could judge the severity of the tool. This brought about a great deal of respect. Then I asked them all to flat felt the shape of a pear on their wool backgrounds. They selected an individual choice of wool palettes from the basket and began work on their simple shapes. I think the simplicity of the project helped them to focus on technique and developing ways of blending colors and creating a proper hand motion. When students were finished they were able to pull up the flat wool and see from the back how the wool fibers were stuck through the fabric.

Next week we will focus on developing some 3-d felted objects.




Leaf and Isaiah in a moment of total concentration.

Sometimes I noticed the kids shoulders getting tense and riding up to their ears. I had to remind them to relax into the felting motion and let their shoulders fall. Leaf is showing a perfect felting posture in this photo.

drawing game

Actually playing the drawing game can be frustrating. The easiest and most creative part of the game is drawing characters and creating a team story. It is much more difficult to role play the game and keep your cool. One of the teams pictured played for over two hours and ended the art club session without determining a winner. They were obviously enjoying themselves and their in depth discussions of point totals and plundering success never got out of hand. They didn't seem to mind much when they had to finish up early and it was inspiring to watch them. Their role playing was back and forth, creative, and generally fun. The other group just couldn't seem to agree on a general tone of fun and ended the day with one person quiting the game. This felt like a real drag to me because on the last day of the drawing game I was hoping everyone could have a more positive experience. I also had one parent call me before art club and say that her child didn't want to play at all. So two kids were not able to participate in a game on the last day. Overall, this was not the ending I was hoping for.

What do I think? Basically, I think that some kids don't feel comfortable role playing and gaming. It's a totally new skill to some of them, and therefore I think there is a risk of kids getting their feelings hurt with this project and of creating some insecurities. Would I do it again? Yes. The stories and details of the drawing game were amazing. I think it's important to match up kids who are inexperienced with gaming and let them develop their skills with other students who are at their level. I suppose if it seems like some of the students are absolutely opposed to the competitive aspects of the game they could get together and just role play with their characters. I have to think about this issue a bit more, but for now we are moving on.

Next week we start a section on needle felting. I will have to worry less about hurt feelings and more about safe fingers.

drawing game

As we finish up our section on the drawing game I will take a moment to highlight a few details.


We saw beautiful princesses and wizards,



crock pots coveted by tramps.


dastardly skeletons,


and briefcases full of cash. (wild penguins, healing tea, fighting babies, fighting fish, elegant ladies in red dresses, whiskey, typhoons, bumblebees, wooly sweaters, quiet horses in fields of grass, magical spells, riddles, gems, and poison gas)

The drawing game inspired art club students to explore the full potential of fantasy drawing and storytelling. I am ready to move on to new things, but I will miss the enthusiasm and gusto of the game.

drawing game

The drawing game is a flexible role playing game based loosely on Magic the Gathering card game (or maybe Pokemon cards?) and Dungeons and Dragons (none of which I really understand). Basically, we are making it up as we go along and the kids understand more than I do at this point. Rules are of secondary importance to the role playing and drawing aspects of the game. The art club students all have teams with elaborate histories and pedigrees (see previous posts about the drawing game for details). It's hard to keep up. They draw all the characters and game boards themselves (many of them keep drawing things at home and at school to bring to art club) and last week they had their first tournament battles.

This being a very free form type game, I was a little nervous about the competitive play. I was relieved that all the teams displayed good manners and kept a sense of fun about them.

The storytelling was extremely detailed and imaginative.

My favorite part of the day was listening to the sound effects that the kids produced during the battles. Dramatic stuff. They sounded like little human video games.

Also, listening to them creatively argue their positions when faced with a particular game decision was inspiring. Such good conflict/resolution skills in these young kids! I was only called in to mediate one time.

Sylvia Hecht is very interested in creative writing. She agreed to reporting on the details of the games and I still haven't received her final draft. I found a list that is my other favorite part of the day. I think the list is from Sylvia's notes on the Wooly Sweater match up with The International Weird Dudes.

1. evil ballerina
2. poisoned candy
3. healing tea
4. transportation
5. black hole/whirl pool
6. (can't read)
7. poisoned alcohol
8. bad weather
9. same as #4
10. home people
11. bad things
12. odd creatures
13. bed

You see the excellent story material here.

Bottom line:
(for those of you interested in tournament standings)

International Weird Dudes triumphed over the Wooly Sweaters (see above list)

Skeleton Goth Guys trounced The Tramps (who had a hard time getting the hobos to show up and fight)

Laputa took down Horses Gone Wild (the horses aren't really about competition anyway)

The Magical Thingymabobs squashed The Shoppers (who just didn't have the numbers of magical penguins needed to put up a fight)


We will play again in two weeks. We have off next Monday for Martin Luther King Day. I can't wait to see what new strategies these teams come up with during the break.

community spirit

When I was growing up I made art by myself. I had my drawings and my carefully crafted doll house furniture. Sometimes my mom would display something on the fridge. I made needlepoint for my grandma. In high school a group of us would take our lunches and study halls in the art room. We were hiding out there because it was a safe place where we knew we belonged, but we were never really a community. We were more a bunch of misfits with separate sketch books. It wasn't until I went to art school that I was part of a real arts community. I knew a group of people who were all interested in making art and talking about art and planning new art projects. It felt good. The periods of my life where I have been the most creative and productive are when I have been surrounded by a supportive art community.

When I started the art club I didn't know what I was after. My son Henry was always making things, and I was putting up his drawings on my fridge, and I wanted to help him share his enthusiasm with some peers. I didn't want his favorite past time to be a lonely pursuit, or for him to have to wait until college to find a group of friends to make things with.

I don't think our school arts programs are very good at creating a sense of community for young people. Most after school programs are temporary at best. In our culture a soccer team can last from kindergarten until the teen years, but there are no models for team spirit in the arts. It just doesn't seem right.

I don't know how long the art club will stay together, but I don't see an end in sight. As we approach a new year together I want to articulate my own motivations for starting the art club. The art club is about helping a group of young artists create a sense of community. I need to give them a place to work, materials, consistency, and encouragement. In my mind it doesn't really matter what I teach, it matters that I am there every week and they can bring in things that they made at home and share ideas with a group of young people they trust.

My goal for 2007 is to see if I can share this vision with other parents. Maybe we can get a few more of these groups started. I know there are many young artists out there, crafting solo, like their world will crumble if they don't cut that last paper snowflake. I know that feeling. It is just better to be part of a group and share that snowflake with a friend.