X-RAY SPECS

Feeling ho-hum about your normal, day-to-day superhero garb? Take some inspiration from the Art Brainers, who have been hard at work on the latest in superhero fashion and technology (SF+T): super specs that either endow you with a new power, or enhance the ones you already have. 

A word of advice to any criminals and arch nemeses who may be prowling this blog for intel: steer clear of the DC/metro area. These superheroes now have the ability to freeze time, read minds, shoot lasers, and turn anything they see into a cupcake. If you think that last one sounds like a cute joke, we'll just see who's laughing when you find your bank heist foiled by a sea of strawberry frosting.

Super Hamster with his patented sleep dust pouch. ^

 Pattern Girl shoots a multitude of patterns out of her eyes, which she can mold into absolutely anything she wants with the help of her Patterntron 101. ^

YOUR SECRETS ARE NOT PRIVATE! Mind-reading goggles pictured above. 

Click "Read more" to see more pictures.

FALL PROJECTS

Things are happening during our Fall 2013 Art Brains sessions! Pictured here, a potpourri of: portraits of our future selves (including advice from our current selves to our future selves), safari binoculars, ghost pizza, and some crystals from Bradley Hills Elementary, Chevy Chase Elementary, and the Langley School. Coming soon: dream theaters!

This safari scene is from an alternate world where antelope hunt lions and the sun is out at night!

I'd take spider spit syrup over zombie skin cheese any day. But I'm not a ghost.

GHOST PIZZA!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN from the haunted pizza chefs at Art Brains! Don't forget to make Ghost Pizza a part of your costume party celebration this year. 30 minutes or death -- errr-- less! 30 minutes or less or your money will be eaten by a goblin - guaranteed!

Click "Read more" below to see more creepy slices!

CRYSTAL FARMING AT BRADLEY HILLS AND CHEVY CHASE ELEMENTARY

Behold the lovely crystal, gem, and mineral forms we've been growing in the shimmering crystal fields of Montgomery County.

VOLCANO ISLAND AT BRADLEY HILLS

Hooooly moly, I love this project from last Friday at Bradley Hills, and I love the pictures from it, too! We made a good, old fashioned volcano island from homemade playdough and sticks/leaves/flowers/etc. found outside, and then created multiple eruptions of various colors (using baking soda and vinegar). The kids got a huge kick out of experimenting with different mixtures, adding glitter and other objects to the "lava" and also telling stories about each of the new lava overflows (e.g. "A rainbow fell into the volcano, and that's what made  the lava these colors"). I get to do this project two more times with other classes before the end of the Spring session, and I can't wait. On that note, Friday was our last Spring class at Bradley Hills, and I'm getting a little sad about Art Brains classes ending for the year. It's such a sweet deal to get to hang out with these cool (re: talented, creative, hilarious, smart, and sweet) kids every week, and I'm genuinely going to miss them over the summer!

In the meantime, feast your eyes on this gorgeous mess we made:

~ Fin ~

ICE CREAM TIME MACHINE

For this project, students work at an ice cream parlour called “Ice Cream Time Machine” that has the ability to transport ice cream sundaes backward or forward in time. They create sculptural treats they feel would be suited to the tastes of someone (or something) in either the past or future. It was a pleasure to look upon the pretty (or in some cases, gruesome) creations, just before space-time was bent to our will to transport these babies to their grateful recipients in days long gone or as-yet unknown. Unmelted and not a sprinkle lost in the wormhole, or your money back! That's our motto.

This one's for a vampire in the future. 

The one on the right is garnished with a scorpion tail

L: for a unicorn of the future; R: for a dragon of the distant past

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.

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.