Ms. Bridget's Last Day

Hi my name is mason.

today we painted with scrap-paper and paint,paintbrushes.

it was so fun! try it!!!!

"Full Circle"... back to one of our first projects, painting with Primary Colors. Both groups remembered everything they'd learned way back in November - a couple even made their own Color Wheels! My favorite part was that every artist used the paints very differently from their friends, without my even mentioning it - true artists!

Watching "The Marker Song" video one more time!

Group photo, everyone!!!

and our last "chill" painting session with Ms. Courtney's Crew...

A Card signed by everyone! What a cool surprise! 

Holmes Elementary pride! Me, new official Holmes t-shirt, and two great artist-buddies.

Well my friends, it has been quite a year. I'm sad to say goodbye to so many creative people with so much potential - I'm so curious about where their lives will take them, and what they will create for themselves. Being a kid in school is so much harder now than it was when I was young - I can't believe how much homework these kids have, all of the testing they survive, and how long their days are. Being an afterschool teacher is really touch because part of you wants to just let the kids blow off steam, while the other has to keep everyone safe and sane, and make their time worthwhile. It's a difficult balance and I'm sure art time was a real drag sometimes when the moon was full and I was insisting everyone stay seated to contain the chaos. But over the year I saw very stressed out, anxious, and emotionally exhausted kids become able to soften and settle for 40 minutes with the help of some quiet music, art supplies, and permission to do what works for them without ever being corrected or criticized. I hope that their teachers and parents provide them with the same space to "just be" - and that these students know and value "what works for them" enough to ask for it and create it!


Thank you to the Eliot School of Fine and Applied Arts for hiring me to teach as part of their school partnership program, and thanks to the amazing teachers and administrators at the Lee, Academy, and Holmes for making the whole thing work "on the ground"!

And now, off to the farm to live with goats.
Take it, Ms. Dey! Enjoy the last art sessions of the year everyone!