Summer Arts Program Reflections

Whew! It's amazing to see how much art and play can be fit into two weeks! What a ride... I wanted to share some of the images here to celebrate not only the beautiful artwork, but the enthusiasm for creating that all the artists brought every day! 

We felt very committed to creating a program where the children were in a process art based learning environment. The ideas and use of materials and process to create streams of connections throughout the weeks were our primary concern, along with the fun of integrating multiple artistic processes. By planting the seeds of contemporary art theories, we knew that their individual greater thinking skills would be nurtured. 

In addition, 4 days each week, the children had yoga and creative writing.  During both of these times our creative art goals were again being nurtured. Ali Stevenson did a amazing job during creative writing and storytelling, developing ideas and having fun with telling stories without the pressures of academics. Susan LeClair our yoga instructor, helped their bodies, mind and spirits, playfully guiding them into poses to help them focus, think, and relax.

After a few weeks away from the craziness, the next thoughts move into how to support the community with a creative space during the school year for all school ages-elementary through high school. One thought is a weekend intensive on a monthly basis with a specific area of study.

Day Five (week 2): Last day & Art Show

So the morning was spent finishing the weavings, doing sand molds of our feet to represent our art journey and making an accordion books for our journal entries. Whew! We will all sleep well this weekend. Happy art making!

Day Four: Something's Fishy

Beginning with the idea of a journey and landmarks, the children focused again in yoga and creative writing to spur on their adventures.  Using local maps, collages were created as the base for their journey paintings; water colors and land marks were placed.

Day Three (week 2): Dodgy Paintings

Field Trip!
Although the day was cloudy, it was the first day that it wasn't pouring. We piled into the van with paper, buckets and paint (no paint brushes!) and headed to Dodge Point. We brainstormed what we could use to paint if we didn't have any brushes. Our finger Points! We looked at how the horizon lines divides the image and that we are looking at colors, not objects. The only rule was that we had to cover the page. The artists found themselves very quiet and observant.

Day Two (week 2): Weaving

So, one thing that moving can guarantee is cardboard. Lots of it. Summer art camp has been such a great reason to break down and up cycle all of these brown boxes. Next up... cardboard looms! We created oversized cardboard looms to weave fabric strips that we donated from a variety of sources.

In creative writing Ms. Ali spoke about how storytelling is like weaving, that ideas move around and through one another creating a tight unit. We carried this into the art room. The idea is to get weaving and have the looms and materials available to weave with throughout the week.