What we did today

Earth Art Camp, Day 1!

We started the week with some great conversation about forgery versus inspiration. It came up as we wrote down some agreements for the week. Artists were airing some frustrations about doing art in school. I assured the group this was a place they could experiment, mess up, be inspired by others, get credit for unique ideas, and have space to do what works for them. Each artist filled out an Artist's Bio sheet, thinking about their unique preferences and creative habits. This lets me know how I can support them during the week. Lots of different styles in the group of ten!

We headed to the gallery to visit the Earth show for inspiration. Some favorites:

Making a list of things that come to mind when we think "nature" turned into making a crayon resist poster, which led to artists making their own. This "detour" seemed to be a hit - makes me think we need to let older kids draw with crayons more! We may return to it again this week, with thicker paper.

Today we colored on a piece of paper REALLY hard with light and dark colored crayons. Then we, painted the opposite color of the crayons on them. Like, if we had light colors for the crayon's color we would paint dark colors over them. Or, if we had dark colors for the crayon's color, we would paint light colors over them. But, before we painted over the crayon, we had to fold the paper,(Or crumple it) then we put the paper in water, took it out, dried it, and painted it.

                           Taylor

"Um... I don't think that's gonna work."

Then we headed outside to the yard, to make tiny terrariums. It's not easy finding a REALLY small plant with roots! There was lots of laughter and helping each other out. Corks are a popular item. Now we can take a little bit of springtime with us - many walked out wearing theirs as a necklace! 

"Today was awesome. I can't wait until tomorrow. Because it's more camp! We got to make some pretty cool artwork. I like when we used the crayons.  It's cool here because you can be yourself and make the art YOU want to make."

- Rex

Special thanks to the Marker Check Crew!