Cora, Jessie and Katie 

 Yarn - Starry Night

The kids used yarn to create this famous masterpiece. They became very familiar with the artwork after having spent a few sessions looking carefully at the colors and strokes of paint and trying to use yarn as the medium. The results were beautiful and they learned alot about tone and color by placing the different pieces of yarn next to eachother to achieve gradations of color. At times this was a frustrating task, because it took time and patience, lessons well needed, even in Art making.

Danica

Self Portraits using Make Up and Collage

The kids enjoyed this lesson because the idea of using make up as paint was exciting and interesting. People use make up to enhance or change the way they look. And here we used it to create an image of ourselves. It was fun. And mixing it up with collage added some extra self expression. The kids thought about the things that they like and tried to incorporate those elements into their composition. We talked about that, that in Art we should think about composition.
I loved how the pieces did actually capture the essence of the child in a very unique and natural way.

Ari

Loren

Jessie

Rachel

Record Painting to Music 

I went to the local Goodwill and bought old records. The kids Loved seeing the old fashioned discs! Each child got a different musician that I thought would be fairly interesting to them and we played the music of each artist as the kids painted directly on the vinyl. They loved it. Styx, Elton John, classical, The sound of Music....We later moved on to spin art which seemed like a natural progression....

hands

this month we experimented with plaster.

and our hands. and little gestures.

the results are beautiful and interesting but the process

was even better. the kids liked the sensation of having the

plaster wrapped around their fingers and then hardening.

like a cast. it is a cast. then it is a piece of art, made out of

themselves, their growing hands that can create such amazing work.

we talked about hands in Art, in the history of Art.

And we ended up painting the hands based on inspired Mendhi

designs, beginning with a mandala in the palm.

portraits

I've decided, there will always be a need for a good portrait drawing or painting.

I've thought about this alot because with such amazing photography these days; cool cameras, and lenses and high resolution iphones, people can achieve super creative photos so easily. Kids can use photo booth, and photoshop effects to make very cool images.

But people still react strongly to the expression achieved through a graphite drawing, or a hand made painting. I think it's because it's so raw and real.

The act of drawing comes straight from the brain of the artist.

That's not to say that a good photo portrait can't achieve emotion or raw feeling. I think that it can. I just believe that we still need that old fashioned hand made painting, or drawing in the world, to help us 'see' the emotion behind the subject. Perhaps the 'motion' is the answer, the strokes of the pencil moving around the paper, the paint moving on the surface, capturing

e-motion.

The kids spent some time drawing eachother - to prepare for their self portrait.

We talked about the uniqueness in everyone. I was hoping to get the kids to look at eachothers features rather than to draw the face that they have already become accustomed to drawing.

You know, the standard face, the happy smile, the perfect almond shaped eyes...it was a challenge. We also looked at some famous portraits. I was hoping that they could see how a painting differs from a photo in many ways. That if you include a hand resting on a cheek, and eyes are looking down, it can show that the person could have been sad, or deep in thought....

I've been looking at my daughter's school picture and thinking that she looks so happy, relaxed, mature, and ready for school in the photo. But I remember that on that day, she was a bit anxious, alittle nervous, and very conscientious about her look. The photo captured quite the opposite of the emotion of my daughter at the time. I wonder if that could even happen with a painting. Could a painter miss the inner feelings of the sitter with a brush? Perhaps, maybe the painter's emotions come through instead. Maybe it's a combination. Can a photographer project her emotion on her subject too, through an artificial lens ?

I remember times through the years watching parents take photos of their kids, at odd moments when the child is sad or crying and the parents insist on having him smile for the camera. I always wonder what they will they remember about that moment, the picture showing the giant smile? Or the weeping that came just before it?

Perhaps the best interpretation in Art- whether it be a painting, drawing, photograph, sculpture or any other mixed media piece, is the one that somehow manages to capture all the feelings, the mixture that one brings to life, the happiness and the tension.

Studio Time

The year is coming to an end -

time to reflect on all the time

spent in the studio--

painting, drawing, sculpting &

creating art. We've talked about famous

artists, about cave painters and

contemporary painters. We've had

cool field trips too.

As these kids grow up,

so will their art - becoming more sophisticated

in their experiences both in my

studio and out in the world.....

Go and enjoy the summer, learn about life and interrupt it in your own

unique way and when you return to my studio, you will have more

opportunities to express the things that you need to, the things that you did

the things that you enjoyed- (or didn't !)

I am looking forward to it.

with love to you all.....xx

sculpture dogs

there is a certain magic between kids and dogs.

we decided that the

sole purpose of a dog is to give love.

and to receive it. what a simple life.

the expression though that i find in these

faces seem more complex....like the image

of the child projected in the dog. love & need.

check it out....

plastic sculpture

An idea is a point of departure and no more.

As soon as you elaborate it,

it becomes transformed by thought.
Pablo Picasso

a trip to the getty

A great artist is always

before his time

or behind it.
George Edward Moore

The mind which plunges into Surrealism,

relives with burning excitement the

best part of childhood. - Andre

Breton

kids began a study

of surrealism just when

the Japan earthquake

hit, it was uncanny to see

the images on TV - houses

in oceans, roads broken up,

cars piled on cars - surreal.

mosaics & shadow

At moments of great enthusiasm

it seems to me that no one in the

world has ever made something

this beautiful and important.
::: M.C. Escher :::

LOVE day

A bell is no bell 'til you ring it,
A song is no song 'til you sing it,
And love in your heart
Wasn’t put there to stay -
Love isn’t love
'Til you give it away.
--Oscar Hammerstein
The Sound of Music - (thanks Risa!)

February has already been a difficult month for me - i lost a close relative and then I lost my dog that I raised for 15 years....the loss is great

...the sadness greater. The wonder of Life and Afterlife constant.

Today is Valentines Day - a day devoted to Love - "there are all kinds of Love" I tell my kids all the time as they try to differentiate the Loves they feel...certainly there are many ways to Love, and to express Love. To express Feelings. Sometimes we

have to close our eyes to see more clearly....

Red is the color of Love and also of Anger; or Hate. Does

Love = Hate? Perhaps. Kids use the words Love and Hate so often and so interchangeably...

Today we painted with Roses and with the color Red...emotional and beautiful

results. I Loved them....

When Im in my Painting....

"When I am in my painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It is only after a sort of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about. I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well."-Jackson Pollack

I read this quote to my kids and when I asked them what they thought-if they understood this idea of being in a painting- the response was "of course I get it." Brittney closed her eyes and explained it to me- "its like my mind is nowhere else"

I am sure that 'teaching' art to kids needs to be about exploration -

about allowing oneself to get into the work - then incredible art will be made and it will be truly authentic - harmonious -

Its been an incredible year making Art with children - it is making my life more interesting, more valuable and more balanced - creating the most colorful part of My own collage -

Thank You Kids and Happy New Year !!

masters

‎"If your vision is one year, plant rice. If your vision is ten years, plant trees.

If your vision is one hundred years, educate your children in the arts."

Kids were very productive this month-we 'studied' Picasso and Matisse and talked not only about the art that they were famous for but about the artists themselves-about their relationship with eachother, and their own personal history. The kids seemed very interested in them as people. I think that it is important to connect kids to the 'masters' as human beings so that they can appreciate the art and feel more connected.

I feel blessed and thankful this month to have the opportunity to meet with these special kids and 'educate' them, alittle bit, in this world of Art-from exploring techniques and reading about Artists-

Magic

Its been awhile seen Ive blogged-the summer came and went and workshops began in October. It felt like magic -time - like art - from nothing there is something and that something is amazing. beautiful. interesting. inspiring. kids are natural at this. at magic. they accept that things are whatever you want them to be. and i love this about them. and i love setting up the environment for them so that they can imagine something and then, poof, they can make it happen. Its been fun this month and Im grateful, tremendously happy to have these children come in the studio with me. They inspire me to keep making magic and to remember not to forget....

We began with Drawing-my fav- and Printing-kids' fav. -cause to see your image re-produced again and again is fascinating for them-Sculpting-everyones fav-Magic Wands-we we all need one-Masks-for our alter ego's-and Feeling Boxes, inspired by my friend Randy Gold, a Doctor of Childrens Feelings...this was most interesting as we all discussed where In our bodies our feelings lie-in our stomachs? our legs? our necks? when we feel scared or nervous or angry where does it hurt? The kids were receptive to this notion-they got it-and then they created external boxes to store feelings, so that they dont build up Inside. Fantastic . Thank you Randy.