BOO!

"Haunted House" by Murch Elementary students from Make slash Believe on Vimeo.

"Haunted House" by Oyster-Adams Elementary from Make slash Believe on Vimeo.

"Haunted House" by Chevy Chase Elementary from Make slash Believe on Vimeo.

Happy Halloween from Make/Believe! These Art Brains haunted house videos are a couple years old, but no worse for wear.

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.

POSTCARDS FROM SPACE

Oh, did I forget to mention that the Art Brainers traveled extensively in space this Spring? Well, they did. Here are a few postcards they sent back to Earth from their travels. 

We did these early in the season, and I'm hoping kids will have forgotten by about now, so that they're semi-surprised to receive interstellar mail at their homes during summer vacation.

All of the aliens' names are Jimmy.

Too many eyeballs.

From Gumball Planet

MINI MUSEUMS

"Mini Museums" is one of my very favorite Art Brains projects of the season. After looking at some inspirational pictures and talking about all the different kinds of objects one might find in different museums, each student created his or her own mini museum display case, complete with shelves and labels, and accompanied by detailed informational pamphlets. Take a look at some of the treasures the Art Brainers have invented and presented here!

Left: Is it or is it not? Was this a mermaid's bra? Which is Anne Frank's diary? Is this a spoon from the Titanic? Is this a unicorn's horn?

Right: "Taylor Swift wore this necklace. Katy Perry ate off of this plate."

This display case commemorates various surprising and untimely deaths of earthworms. Yep.

Thanks so much to teaching artist Eun Jeon for contributing pictures to this post! Eun is a talented graphic designer, and is on her way to North Korea for a summer internship at a non-profit that advocates for human rights there. Best of luck Eun, we'll be thinking about you!

STORY FORT

Last Spring, we told campfire stories, and this Spring, we're story fortin': using story spinner wheels, the Art Brains kids are working together to weave random spins into elaborate stories while huddled together in bed sheet forts. This has been nothing but bigtime fun so far, and I wish I had audio recordings of the kids talking and getting psyched about new ideas for our tales. The latter have thus far included classes living in giant underwater castles in swimming pools in the middle of the desert, flying sharks, magic booby-trapped gardens, and lots more.

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.

ART BRAINS THEMES FOR WINTER 2014

Snowflake photographs by Yuji Obata

Our Winter after-school Art Brains classes are underway. Themes planned for this season include:

- Snow globes "through the wardrobe" (Narnia-esque and as opposed to last year's Glow  Snobes)
- Hybrid creature casting with plaster
- Chrysalis metamorphoses
- X-ray Specs (also known as Superhero Specs)
- Trophies, monuments, and valentines for pizza, pet dogs, meteor showers, and more

Happy New Year!

POEM COLLAGES AT BROWNE ACADEMY

Sometimes, in the course of teaching art classes for kids, you want to steal the kids' artwork, frame it, and hang it up on the walls of your own home. Yesterday's "poem collage" project was one of those times for me. I love the look of these abstract watercolors paired with the silly, Dada-esque (and sometimes, surprisingly poignant sounding?) poetry collaged from children's storybooks. 

This project is actually from the Winter 2014 curriculum. We've started our Winter classes at several locations this month, and are excited to be working with a handful of new schools this Winter, including Browne Academy, whose Art Brainers did these poem collage paintings below: