EARLY SPRING AT CONGRESSIONAL SCHOOLS OF VA

Here's a note from Reuben, one of our aforementioned, rad Art Brains teachers this Spring:

The past couple of weeks at Congressional have been very exciting! Make/Believe students have been able to stretch their art brains around new concepts dealing with self-invented holidays and tree trunk histories. Both projects have pushed students to experiment with new media, including 3D modeling with clay and paint, and water-based relief prints. I have been blown away by the level of engagement and overall output the students continue to show me. 

Cool beans, dude. Thanks so much, Reuben! 

TEACHING ARTIST REUBEN BRESLAR

Reuben Breslar is an artist, musician, and teacher. He received his BFA with Honors from the Corcoran College of Art + Design in 2006, and specializes in making conceptual art that includes a wide variety of media. I've been a fan of his work since I went to the Corcoran with him, and am so happy to have him teaching Art Brains classes this Spring! To view Reuben’s complete artist portfolio, exhibition profile, and CV, please check out his website: www.reubenbreslar.com.

*Fun fact: In June 2012, Reuben was hired by the prestigious Sol LeWitt Estate to install one of the famous artist’s “Wall Drawings” in the lobby of a Farragut North office building. This 50-foot-long by 10-foot-high installation took 3 weeks to complete. You can read the Washingtonian review here.

Reuben also works with ArtReach in Southeast DC, and AIDAN Montessori School in Woodley Park, DC.

TREE TRUNK HISTORIES AT BRADLEY HILLS

Totally in love with these coffee filter/marker/water-made prints by the kids at Bradley Hills. They're meant to call to mind the ringed cross-section of a tree, which the kids then labeled with imaginary, historical timelines after a brief discussion about Dendrochronology. A few prints turned out more like gorgeous, melty color orbs than tree trunks, and were so pretty I even borrowed a detail of one for the new Make/Believe blog header. I'm digging the combo of painterly color bleeds and kid handwriting, and am looking forward to doing this project with more classes this season.

TEACHING ARTIST AMY BRADEN

Reference Material by Amy Hughes Braden

Amy Hughes Braden, a DC area artist who teaches Art Brains classes for Make/Believe and who was recently described to me by a parent as "the magical Amy" was interviewed by ArtSee about her artistic practice. Her work is thoughtful, layered and beautiful, "[utilizing] imagery readily available in the public domain as an entry point and [coupling] it with personal experiences." Click click to read more about the magical Amy! We love having her as a teacher, and we love her work, too.

SPRING AT CHEVY CHASE

Some pictures from the first Spring Art Brains class at Chevy Chase. More "Family Trees" portraits with family members drawn as trees, strawberries, submarines, etc.!

family portrait as strawberries

in-progress family portrait as submarines, missiles, etc.

in-progress "family trees" portrait with cats and dog as bushes!

HOLIDAY ANIMALS

For this class, kids invented their own holidays with animals involved in the holidays' mythologies and traditions, and then sculpted and painted the animals. For a holiday involving people throwing candy at each other, the striped cat above delivers the candy. The imaginary creature on the left's body is divided into sections that each have different, impressive abilities (none of which include throwing or delivering candy, which some might say leaves something to be desired IF this guy weren't also from an asteroid that collided with Earth, which is pretty darn cool). On the right, you'll find a pony and a unicorn from Pony Day and Rainbow Day respectively, and the art-lover's Color Duck, below.

M/B ON PINTEREST

If you have been searching high and low for a Pinterest collection where Franz West and Kutnohorite-Calcite can be found side by side in inspiration boards for art projects for kids, search no further! Make/Believe can now be found on Pinterest pinning just that kind of thing. Who KNOWS what we'll pin next!!! Follow us to witness the sensational surprises in store.

http://pinterest.com/makebelieveart/

ART BRAINS OUTDOORS

Spring outdoor art classes officially started last week, and we're extra excited to be working on an all new set of projects outside in the fresh air and sunshine. After a small accident earlier in the week, I found myself with a sprained ankle and on crutches for my first class (with 16 kids!), and was grateful for the help of my assistant teacher Erin and some extra sweet students. In the class pictured above, we did a laid back drawing project called "Family Trees", in which we made portraits of our families, but as trees (or foxes, or raccoons, or beetles or ice cream cones) rather than human people. I'm looking forward to our second week of classes (I accidentally typed "crutches" instead of "classes" at first, and am in fact more than ready to rid myself of these awkward distractions!).

MONDAY INSPIRATION: ARTIST BONAIA ROSADO

illustration by Bonaia Rosado

Bonaia Rosado is a Wilmington, Delaware based artist, and, like most of my forever friends from DE, is one of the most talented, dedicated, and hilarious people I know. Please take a minute to check out this interview with her over at the Delaware Fun-A-Day site (and check out Fun-A-Day while you're there - it's an awesome project, and you do not have to be a DE resident to participate). 

Bonaia is a mama, and I liked what she had to say about how her daughter (pictured with her in the beautiful illustration above) influences and even participates in her work. The two of them frequently work side by side on a variety of artistic pursuits, and it's as inspiring to see as it is adorable. 

I'm excited to see what she comes up with for her upcoming exhibition at the Chris White Gallery. More Bonaia here: 

Bonaia's blog
Bonaia's Etsy
on Facebook
at Fun-A-Day