Improvisations and improvements...

Hi this is Pia, the blogger for today! 

   Today we started by reading the latest BAM newsletter, then Panda shared her scrapbook. After that we went over what we would do today. First we did free draw. During it, Al came in and showed us an art piece that he made at an art workshop. It was a piece of bent-up metal mounted on a (beautiful) piece of wood with poems written on it. 

Then Oktakugirl22, Sparkle04, and Panda made a mixed media abstract landscape, complete with splatter paint fireworks. It's pretty awesome. 

After that we worked together to finish the bathroom stencil project that we started last week (transforming the dingy basement bathroom with cutout stencils and spray paint).

Maria, making a contact paper stencil.

One bathroom wall beautified!

After that we put some stuff away in the supply closet and cleaned up. 

PS... during Share, Pia braided Alice's hair:

           

Creativity AND focus???!!!

Finishing up some old stuff - sand art dragon gets some bling (sequins).

Putting a bag of wooden blocks from the supply closet to good use!

Gold paint makes the horn.

Claudia's Mom checks out the finished art puzzle.

Elias and Athena improvise a conceptual piece called "Hat Dance".

I think Elias summed it up best today when he said,

"If Bridge was McDonald's, I'd say I'M LOVIN IT, but it's not. 

It's a lot less greasy and a lot more fun… and my gold fingers are the proof." 

The Old Group (Almost) is back together!

Today we worked on our alphabet poster for our art show, to sell. We made art using oil pastels to make a piece of artwork to go with the letters we have chosen. So far we have C, X, U, D and Bridget did H. C for cat, H for hippo, X for xylophone, U for unicorn and D for dragon.
The group was wicked small and it was fun. We're looking to add a couple of more people.
Elias shared a drawing he just did of root beer with ice in it.

Shadow puppets

Shadow of part of the real Chinese shadow puppet

Today we made shadow puppets. We watched a DVD of a lady from China who makes shadow puppets out of leather. We used paper instead. During our work we got to hear some piano players practice for a upcoming event on the 20th; which was great.

Athena's jointed dragon wing..

 

Elias' looks great as a shadow or as a papercut
on a background.

Bridge Visits the Print Studio at Waterfall Arts

Today at Bridge we did Monoprints and we made all kinds of cool designs and we used the press to make the prints. It was so cool.
We had the full Bridge group of new kids and today was just so cool!
Thank you Karin for teaching us monoprints. I wish I had the press at my house so I could make them and show my family how.  - Athena

Suminagashi !

Today we did Suminagashi. A Japanese art where we dip horsehair paintbrushes in sumi ink. Then the paintbrush is dipped in water, and after a while we spread a piece of paper into the inky water. Then there you have it! A beautiful of Japanese artwork.

An artist noticed the beauty of ink
falling from the surface.

 

Working to the sound of bamboo flute...

Artists decided to make and sign their works with a "chop".

Picasso Mind Babies

Dear readers,

"Finally we got the whole group totally together!! It felt like a full family again!" - Maria
We did shares and everybody loved them.
"I have to say we are getting very good at giving feedback!" - Katie

Katie presents new member Elizabeth with a well-earned Bridge Sketchbook.

 We have started an origami crane count for Joe's goal of 1000 cranes. We started setting goals for ourselves too. We have a list of them to keep each other accountable.

We watched a video and Bridget talked about Picasso's portrait style and we talked about abstract art... and then we cut our shapes and facial features. You couldn't leave any white paper. Katie thought it was really inspiring.

"I liked looking at other people's art styles - it's very different from mine - everybody's is unique. Thats what art is - unique. Fun and creative." -  Alice.


Trinity drew a wolf with dragon wings and Maria flipped out.  "Her mind had a baby".

Picasso Collage and oil pastel.

Today in Bridge we cut out paper shapes and made abstract self portraits and we also watched a video on how to make an abstract portrait. We put a lot effort in the portrait and colors, Picasso style. 

More Portraits

note from Bridget:
Many of us are seeing difficult times this week. After a personal-focus check-in that featured grief, stress, sadness, and "hanging-in-there", I'm not surprised today's photographic self-portraits captured the full range of emotions and the complex personalities of these young artists.

(I'll save the rest for our ART SHOW in May!! They are amazing!)

When not arranging their shot with the camera and lights, I let the crew listen to music and do whatever art they wanted, encouraging them to get their feelings out on the page if that worked for them. There were some goofy doodles, dark abstracts, focused sketches... and dancing around, and some singing. I'm really lucky to have the freedom to give the kids what they need (not what *I* want them to do/achieve). 
I humbly suggest we arm every middle school kid with a sketchbook, a pencil, and some headphones. 

Back to the Basics and Super Sophisticated in one day!

Hi. My name in Tinh Ton. I am one of the new guys in Bridge.
We made some flowers out of tissue paper and took pictures to express how we feel in black and white.
My favorite part is when we made flowers out of different colors of tissue paper.

Note from Bridget: I asked the kids if they'd help Waterfall Arts out with some decorations, as they are hosting a big meeting Belfast Creative Coalition is having tomorrow. I explained that BCC and Bridge have a lot of the same goals - to connect artists to each other and the community to artists, and to support creative work. Anyway I assumed these sixth graders had made tissue paper flowers - an early childhood stand-by. I was stunned to find almost none of them had. It was actually a challenge. Learning step by step crafts like this one is so much easier for little ones - the confidence and attention are there, and of course the brains-like-sponges. I was really happy to hear that the kids actually enjoyed this little side project... in addition to creating some truly, truly stunning self portraits. They had full control over the image: composition, light, expression, pose, etc. The camera's LCD screen was facing them so they set up the shot entirely without my even being able to see it before they asked me to click the shutter. They worked with me by the camera after considering a part of themselves they wanted to convey. A big list of feeling adjectives helped. Can't wait to get these printed and framed!