Day Ten - Transcending Art

 It's finally time to put the puzzle together!

We have some expert puzzle solvers in my camp!

Mr Kevin was so excited when he got updates on the project, he had to come in for the install day.  Thanks for coming in and spending time with the kids!  They really had a great time.

BEFORE......

AFTER!!

A close-up of the center of the mural.  I love how everything came together. :)

Everyone got their photo taken holding one of the panels they created.

The kids were so appreciative to meet the artist who created the outline for their mural they made Mr Wenner a big thank you card.

A few individual cards were also made.  One of which said, "It was an honor working on that project piece for the mural.  I learned that one little thing can make a big difference."

Art is often thought of as a one person endeavor, but when you work together as a team you can create a much larger achievement.  These campers colored their panels with the information it would be part of something larger.  They didn't really grasp what the end result would be, but they trusted and completed their paintings.  When they finally saw the mural installed, they were overwhelmed with what they had achieved as a group.

Day Seven/Eight/Nine - Mural Panels

On day seven we began a large scale project.  Local artist, Kevin Wenner, was kind enough to create original artwork for a mural.  He painted it large scale to custom fit our 8x20 foot bulletin board.  (I know, it's a huge bulletin board!)  He then cut the mural into eighty 1x2 foot panels.  It showed up in a very unassuming box:

The campers were allowed to color the panels however they wanted (e.g. paint, crayon, tissue paper, marker).  The only rules were "make sure you cover all of the brown" and "don't paint over the black lines."

They all seemed to enjoy working on the larger panels.  One camper even commented, "Miss Jessica, painting makes me calm."  :)

Some took on the challenge to cut tissue paper to fit inside the sections.

They started to figure out that the panels were actually puzzle pieces that would fit together to form a much larger mural.  When they learned the mural was set to be installed on Friday, they really got serious to do their part.

Day Six - Joan Miro

 Today we learned about the Spanish painter Joan Miro.  We viewed a presentation featuring his artwork and discussed the techniques involved.

The Singing Fish

 

 

The Playful Ogre

The campers were excited to see a world class artist whose artwork was something they felt was within their reach.  The were asked to create doodle lines with a black marker and then color block the image with paint.  It went very well.  :)

Day Five - And Now We Decorate

After doing a great job making their Exquisite Corpses (by the way, in case you're wondering why they are called such an odd name, it is said that the first round of the parlor game resulted in a sentence that included the phrase "exquisite corpse," and the name stuck) anyway......they had awesome critters, but wanted to really turn up the volume!  They added sequins, feathers, stickers, and anything else they could find in my "doo-dad buffet."

She said he was just "too cute" to add anything to.  I think he's pretty cute, too!  :)

Never underestimate the power of feathers.

Speaking of feathers!  Check out this feathered camper!

Day Four - The Exquisite Corpse

It sounds much creepier than it really is.  The Exquisite Corpse is a parlor game invented by Surrealists that dates back to the 1920's.  It originally started as a word game in which players would write in turn on a sheet of paper, fold it to conceal part of the writing, and then pass it to the next player for a further contribution.  It then transformed to a drawing game.  


Campers would take a piece of paper, draw the top half of a body, fold the paper back, and then pass it to someone else to draw the bottom half.  They were encouraged to make it as wild as possible.  Not just basic people, but cowboys, angels, birds, squids, robots, ballerinas, .....
......it got really fun!  

Once they finished their drawing, they got to color in and cut out their new "critters."

Happy to show their new collaboration.  :)

Some campers even took on the challenge of dividing the page into four - head, torso, legs, feet.  They are reviewing their results.  I think they did an awesome job!

Day Three - The World of Watercolor

Instant fun - just add water!  After watching a demo of eight different watercolor techniques, the campers set out to create their masterpiece.  They did a fantastic job!

DeJuan worked very diligently and achieved tremendous detail for a beginner working with watercolors.

I bet Mom is going to love this as much as I do.

Day Two - Getting to know the Gang

We jumped right in yesterday, because camp is all about the fun, but I wanted to spend some time on Day Two to get to know my campers.  We played the Name Game, and I was shocked to see how amazing their memory was.  Within just a few minutes, some of my campers had the names of the entire group - over 20 kids - memorized!

Day One - This is where the magic happens!

This is our art room.  Can't wait for the campers to get here!

Working on the "Pick 3" drawings.
"Pick 3" is a drawing game to get the campers' minds thinking in new, imaginative ways.  
A box is filled with pieces of paper.  Each has a different thing 
written on it - tree, ladder, Saturn, robot, etc.
You pick three out of the box and then make a drawing with all three objects combined.
But not any ordinary drawing!  It can't be something we'd find in the real world.
One camper picked "pizza," "heart," and "cell phone."
Her drawing was of a heart-shaped pizza talking on a cell phone.  :)

This project was made possible through the Arts in Education Partnership of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. The Arts in Education Partnership is administered in sw PA by Pittsburgh Filmmakers/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.

Pittsburgh Filmmakers/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (PF/PCA) is committed to the artist and the advancement of artistic excellence in visual arts – specifically film, video, photography, digital media, and fine and creative arts and crafts; the provision of equipment and facilities for artists; the conduct of instructional programs; and the stimulation of public understanding and awareness through exhibitions, demonstrations, and sales.

School & Community Programs at PF/PCA is dedicated to bringing high quality arts services to tens of thousands of participants at schools, nonprofit service agencies, and community organizations working with both children and adults in Allegheny, Beaver, Greene, and Washington counties through our partnership with the Arts in Education division of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.. Our programs are designed to place trained, knowledgeable, and practicing artists into school and community settings where they can share the benefits of the creative process.