From time to time, you end up with this small amount of time that is too long to just let the kids talk amongst themselves until their parents arrive, yet too short to really begin the project you had planned for the next day.
I always like to have a few activities in my mind that do not take a lot of explanation, but also fulfill my need to not only have fun but also introduce a new skill or technique.
Below are a couple of those projects that I used during the Art and Animal camp.
With 20 minutes left on Wednesday before pick up, I created an arrangement of a few stuffed animals in the middle of the room. A dollar store went out of business a year or so ago and I happened to pick up all their sketchbooks for next to nothing. I keep them in my supplies for moments just like this one and gave each student a book and a pencil and introduced them to "life drawing".
We removed all the stools so everyone could walk around the arrangement easily and then, starting with one minute sketches, began to draw.
After several one minute sketches and ample opportunity for each child to explore drawing all the different stuffed animals on the table, I told them we would do one five minute sketch and to pick the animal they had felt most successful drawing.
Once that was done, I gave each child a piece of Bristol and told them to look for their very favorite sketch, and it could be a one minute sketch, and use it to draw a finished sketch on the paper.
Then until their parents arrived (and for some, that was very quickly) we worked on looking where the shadows were on the stuffed animals and tried adding it to our drawings.
This is a very quick, yet very sweet little project in the end.
8 year old
6 year old (my heart turns to mush every time I read, "monkey")
7 year old
8 year old
8 year old
10 year old
Then on the last day, the day they worked on the pastel projects from the last post, I ended up with far more time than I anticipated. Not only did I need a project that would engage them and that they would be able to finish before pick up, but I also needed one that took the noise level down a wee bit in the studio.
Thank you sumi-e!!
I purchased box sets for Sumi-e in Chinatown, full of brushes, ink sticks, stones, and water wells. I also bought LOTS rice paper for the studio because I know how much kids really enjoy exploring this art form. After bartering, it was an inexpensive art purchase...which kind of seems like an oxymoron when you are discussing art supplies.
While the students were grinding their ink stick on the stone to create ink, I reminded them this is a time for QUIET reflection and meditation, to spend thinking of the marks they will soon make on the paper.
Ahhhh, blissful silence as they all began to listen to the sounds the ink stick made on the stone.
It sounds a bit like a lovely rain shower and without fail always seems to calm the room down.
Then with a large stack of rice paper at their disposal, they began to try their hand at this beautiful art form.
It warmed my heart to see the friendships that had formed during the week come to fruition as they decided not to use the tables, but gather in a circle on the floor to work together. I gave them clipboards to make it easier for them to work this way.
And that was the last thing I had to do.
They became so focused on their work, several of them didn't want to go home when their parents arrived.
They enjoyed learning how to use the brush to create different strokes, how to create different tones with the ink, and how to create animals using the least amount of brush strokes possible.
Since it was the end of the day, I didn't capture everything but here are some of the works.
This dragon! As class ended I looked over and this eight year old girl had created a dragon that used several pieces of rice paper. She was so proud of her work and I was so excited to see this amazing piece she had created on her own accord. It was simple stunning.
And then as I was finishing cleaning up the studio at the end of the week, one of the last things I discovered was this impression left on the countertop by one of the sumi-e brushes.
I thought it simply and beautifully captured the amazing experiences of the two weeks of camps held at the studio.
Now I'm back to my regular schedule of weekly classes. It's been a fun week to reconnect with students who were on holiday the last two weeks and I have enjoyed the new bonds formed with some of my students who came to camp. Also exciting is welcoming some new students who just didn't want camp to end and so have decided to start coming weekly too.
Hope your spring break was as satisfying as mine and full of just as many lovely memories.
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