Improvising at Lee: a-last-day-of-school anti-craft!

We unexpectedly had to work in a new space our last day before break. It was a classroom of desks with little space for supplies. Schedules were off because of a fabulous, gifty- celebration for the kids before they left on vacation - so printmaking was definitely out. Thankfully, the afterschool program had a bunch of "crafty" materials (pipecleaners, glitter glue, foam shapes, beads, buttons, wikistix) that were beautifully organized by artists a few weeks earlier. So I set up a "buffet" of as much stuff that could be used somehow for a hanging ornament. I am THRILLED that this group didn't bat an eyelash when I said, "use the materials however you want. See if you can have an idea no one else has had. If you want to, use a hole punch so that what you make can be hung up, on a tree, or a window, or whatever. Also, a starting point might be cutting a shape from this thick paper." I had a stash of "mirror sticker sheets" and created a bunch of sheets of cardstock with a shiny side for them to use. They made the coolest, strangest stuff. Again, a sign of success. 

I'm sure some of the parents were looking at these off the wall objects, wishing for a candy-cane shaped ornament or a snowman card. If so, I appreciate the patience. Please, when you see these things, or when kids have nothing at all to show from "art class" - it's because they are learning to be creative. They are learning to experiment, to problem solve, to be courageous, to focus, to think for themselves, to think "out of the box", to recognize and appreciate their uniqueness, to imagine, to deal with failure, and define success for themselves. They are learning to find joy in what they do, besides doing things for the approval of others. This program aims to nurture parts of a child's self that doesn't get much space to grow in a packed school day. 

                                                                                                                   I hope you will support our work, and your young artist, by asking them questions that show you are interested in them as a one-of-a-kind creative genius! What are they doing? What materials are they using? What's their favorite? Why? What do they find difficult? Having a quick conversation like that with a child can have a HUGE impact - I get to see that myself every week, and I hope you do too!

Printmaking at Holmes!

 

Today at the achieve after school, we learned printmaking and made our own designs for Christmas cards. Also we did have lots of fun. My name is Fransico.

My name is Devontae. To make a print,you have to get a tray.Then,you have to create a design. Next,you have to paint your design. Then,get a paper,fold it up and stick it on your design for 20 seconds.Pull it off very slowly.Soon when you pull it off ,you have made a printmaking design!

                                                              

"Me" Posters at Lee

My name is Aria. I made a big poster in art. I drew a creative picture. You should sit with people you're comfortable that you don't fight with, to get more done and have fun doing your art.

It's been really cool to see  Lee students feel focused, inspired, and confident enough about their ideas to approach me after finishing and ask if they can do something artistic that has nothing to do with the project of the day. "Ms. Bridget, do you have any construction paper? Can I use a ruler? Is this a design?" I love it and it's a marker of success in my eyes.

 

The blue guy to the right illustrates another process-breakthrough. This artist was SO proud of his work. "Check your spelling there. 'Awesome" is a tricky one." (Lesson learned - when someone suggests you write your word on another piece of paper to copy from, she's talking from experience!) A typical exchange: "OH MAN.... what can I do?" "Work with it. This is where creativity saves the day." Just as proud as the first time around, the poster comes back with a higher-contrast color right over the blue mess up. Yes, you are awesome.

What great messages someone is offering these artists. "I am beautiful just the way I am, I love myself, I am Yo Soy Latino, I'm unique"...

Making a Poster

 

 
 


Hi my name is marques. i did a poster. i used high lighter yellow and orange pink light purple and baby blue on construction paper. i said "i'm c.............curious." see you later

After a couple of months getting to know ourselves as artists, unique individuals, and as students, we put our new Construction Paper Crayons to use on big black paper to create "Me Posters". Drawing and writing on a large scale, lettering, contrast, readability, composition, and working with mistakes were the challenges of the day. When kids finished quickly I walked across the room with their poster and asked if they needed to make any changes for it to be visible when hanging at a distance. The solutions were impressive and enthusiasm for working with mistakes is catching on... for some!

the day we colored

my name is mason.
i am seven years old.
i like to paint and use markers and crayons.

Today we used markers, crayons and construction paper. We got new construction paper crayons and they were awesome. We could use these crayons on construction paper and blue crayons worked in blue paper! We collected are old work for our journals and put them in our journals.


dec.5/2011

Lee Kids work on their art journals...

The bloggers.

Today in art we decorated our notebooks and Ms. Brigit let us glue and paste our old work into our notebook as well and she let us bring them home to work on over the weekend and we had fun. -Antonio

Today I learned to just express myself in art by being myself and to not be anyone else and I also got to make my own bio. A bio is like when you learn about someone. - Nailah

 Everyone used the little squares of origami paper in unique ways! Success!

Checking out the goods for the "creative challenges" on the materials table.  

Jean is going to write about her concept for this self-portrait.

"Remember when I said I didn't like it? I just kept going and now I love it."

"Today we drew in the journals and had a good time. We all worked so hard on it. I hope you like our work we love what we all do. Sometimes we don't know what to do so we just draw. It's fun to do drawings of different kinds of things. I wish you can be here and see what we have." (Author, unknown)