Alright Ladies and Gents,
Looks like Adrienne and I have a full class of chillens signed up, and we start January 31st!
We have also planned our first month of classes already, and thought I would share! You can also check out more information on the class at Steel City's website, here: Onions and Gumbo Art Class at Steel City!
Week 1 : Junk!
This will be an experiment for all the kids and for Adrienne and I, where we explore the possibilities of re purposing found objects, recyclables, and donated junk! Our goal is to have the kids make free standing sculptures in which we will display in steel city.
I think this exercise will be a unique way to have the kids get to know one another, and collaborate creatively. Could it be possible that recycled milk jugs combined with paint, tape, and tree branches could come alive as a monster? Or maybe old silverware, and tin cans transform into a musical wind chime? Who knows, the possibilities are endless, and young people have an incredible sense of imagination, so what may start out as an ordinary, bland piece of junk, might in turn become one of your next great art piece hanging in your living room! We are excited to find out, that's for sure!
Week 2: Cardboard Mania, and Masks!
So everyone has cardboard, here at Steel City we throw boxes into recycling daily, why don't we use it for some good ol' creative fun, am I right!? Adrienne has quite some experience working with kids in New Orleans as a part of The Country Day Creative Arts Program (click the link to see what it's all about!) One of the classes she taught was puppetry! I think she will bring a lot of interesting ideas to this class, and the attitude that anything is possible!
With that being said, we want our kids to explore recycled cardboard to create LARGER than life sized masks for themselves. I suppose what I am imagining is a handful of young "bobble headed" kids running around. Adrienne and I discussed this class and are really looking forward to the relationship of costume/child and how it may create a new persona. There is something about stepping into a costume, or putting on a mask and how it can change the way you present yourself. Maybe our kids will become more confident, wild, or simply present a characteristic they may want to show, but are too afraid to let shine.
Week 3: Shadows!
This class I am actually REALLY psyched for... in college I focused on performance art and the idea of the human form as sculpture. This week, "Shadows" will be a collaborative project with the whole class, including the teachers. When the kids arrive Adrienne and I will have lights and a white back drop set up. We want the kids to really play with the idea of " shadow puppets ". Everyone remembers being little while tucked away in bed, flash light in hand, contorting our hands and fingers in a way to project an image on our bedside wall. Well, we want our kids to use their whole bodies as a group to create a scene together. This will be a class effort to experiment with their limbs, heads, torsos, and other objects to produce an image. Once we have all decided we will then trace our shapes, after tracing, we will block in the shadows with paint and as a group effort we will be creating a large landscape of forms against the backdrop to produce a life painting. I think this exercise will prove that in combination of working together and using our bodies as the material we can make a really beautiful piece of art, and in turn will be displayed in Steel City for all to witness!
I hope you may find these classes intriguing, Adrienne and I are really ecstatic. Her and I are looking forward to all the creative possibilities. I know that the kids will not be the only ones learning here.
