CRYSTAL VISIONS

Many profound and uncanny acts of scrying were witnessed this past Fall during the Art Brains Crystal Ball project, in which students pretended they had the ability to foretell the future by gazing into their own "crystal" orbs. Behind each crystal ball (aka plastic lid!), was a spinning paper wheel that could be turned to reveal various illustrated future scenarios. In the little gif below, behold: visions of thunderstorms and roller coasters!

HOUSES FOR MOUSES

When I was a pre-schooler, I remember taking some kind of pre-kindergarten ability assessment test. Countless hours spent drawing and playing with little figurines and toys that I set up in miniature abodes meant I had fine motor skills that were well above average. I was, however, pathetically lacking in the area of gross motor skills. I remember having a ball thrown at me (to catch) and my response being something like, "Umm, what's happening? Why?" Sadly, my athletic prowess  did not increase much after that time, but my love of arranging tiny little things remained, and is present in one of this season's projects, A House for a Mouse.

After talking about personification, the Art Brainers used clay, boxes, paper, fabric, and other materials to create cozy little homes for mice, turtles, snakes, hermit crabs, fairies, ducks and other small critters. They were asked to consider what a personified animal might want or need in a home, hence the long skinny beds for snakes, nest alcoves, mini ponds, and the cheese safe pictured above.  I love when the kids make projects with which they can also play, and these definitely fit that bill. Long live tiny little homes for tiny little things!

A family of hermit crabs tucked into bed ^

A little living room pond for a turtle (left) and cheese wallpaper for a mouse (right)

That's an open fridge on the left with a fish in it, for the cat sleeping upstairs.

Thanks to teaching artist Naomi for contributing some pictures to this post!

CAVE DRAWINGS

This Fall, the Art Brainers have been talking a lot about cave drawings, and then imagining what their lives might have been like in prehistoric times. After making lots of different illustrations on crumpled brown paper, and stenciled, spray-painted hand impressions, the kids climb into a dark, makeshift "cave" filled with their work to investigate and discover with flashlights. Below: some photos from this project with a mostly kindergarten-age group.

STORY-TELLING AND MOVIE-MAKING

Action/Adventure - Alice Dreams of Peru from Make slash Believe on Vimeo.

This Fall, Art Brains students will be doing a collaborative project called "Action/Adventure" in which they work together to create and perform mini movie scenes. Check out the adorableness of this abridged version of our first film of the season, above, in a class led by our awesome teaching artist, Eun. It details the dreams of our hero, Alice, finding gold, tripping over an exploding time capsule (which sings "Happy Birthday" when it explodes!), and meeting a talking snowman named Carrots. It is narrated by a talking tree.

OVER THE RAINBOW

As our little company grows, it's getting harder to find time to post about our projects, but the projects are definitely in full swing! This season, we've started out with a project called "Over the Rainbow", as in, "The rainbow? We're so over it!" We aren't, really, but it's been fun to see kids "inventing" their own colors and color sequences, and coming up with creative names for their hues, using imagery-filled house paint names as inspiration. Some students also invented their own rainbow shape, although most of the pictures I have here show some iteration of the classic arch. Finally, some come with facts about how a particular rainbow was formed, as opposed to the standard sunlight-refracted-through-water routine. E.g. rainbows formed when frogs sing, or when candy falls from the sky.

My favorite color names shown here: Grape Tiger, Friend's Money, Monster Glow, Golden Black Trash, Bird Feathers, and The Sssss.

THEMES FOR FALL 2014

Photo by Florian Maier Aichen

Too soon to talk about the upcoming Fall semester? Never! We have a creative season planned for the Art Brainers for Fall 2014, including:

- Action/Adventure movie making
- crystal balls/wheels of fortune
- houses for mouses
- cave drawings to be explored in makeshift caves with flashlights
- neo-rainbow paintings (that's "neo" not "neon"!)
- a Jekyl/Hyde Halloween project
- and "Thanksgiving on Mars" makes a comeback

Projects for the entire year are all planned, and include a couple recurring themes: theaters and/or cinema appears every season (including a "3D movies" project and one called "Shadow Show") as well as some seriously collaborative group projects involving city planning, print making, and art games. 

What's up, 2014/2015 school year! We're comin' for you!

Please visit our website to bring an Art Brains program to your school.