MUSIC FOR PLANTS (AND ANIMALS)!

Edward Hicks, Peaceable Kingdom, oil on canvas, 1837

One of our favorite projects this season was aural in nature - nature being a key word! For the first time in our after school program, the Art Brainers used a strictly musical approach in their art making. They were asked to imagine what kind of music plants, animals, and other elements of nature might like, and how that music might sound different from our own. Would a squirrel like to listen to wild, crazy music, or soothing sounds like wind blowing through the leaves of a tree? What kind of sounds might make a cactus feel happy? Each class used some instruments and their own hands and voices to compose and perform songs for a few select creatures. You can listen to some examples of the results below. 

These have not been market tested just yet, but I can say that my cat jumped up and exited the room upon hearing a number of these, so I'm thinking we've accomplished *something*, though that something may not be for cats. ("Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable," etc.) 

And because hearing the kids' voices introducing each of the songs was killing me with cuteness, I couldn't resist collecting a bunch of those in one place, too. 

Click "Read more" below to take a listen to the Art Brains kids' awesome tunes, and report back if your pet electric eel is into it!

GHOST BUSTERS

In years past, in the spirit of Halloween, we've made haunted house videos, ghost pizza, and Jekyll & Hyde masks.This year, we're back on the haunted house kick again, but in illustration form and with a neat trick (or really, just some basic physics) to accompany it. Kids made mixed media haunted house drawings in which the house haunters only become clearly visible with the use of our "ghost goggles" (aka red filter glasses!). The kids drew their creeps lightly in cool colors, and made them "invisible" by coloring over them completely with warm colors. When looking through the red glasses, the warm colors get filtered out, while the previously latent ghouls suddenly pop out and become more visible. A handy tool that the Art Brains Ghost Busters WILL be using to identify inconspicuous monsters this Halloween. So, watch out, creeps - we see you!

Thanks to Ellen, one of our outstanding Art Brains teachers, for contributing photos to this post! 

THEMES FOR FALL 2015!

Microscopic diatoms! Image via

I still have photos from *last* school year that I'd like to share on our little blog, but in the meantime, the Fall 2015 season of Art Brains is in full effect! This season, students will:

- create "micro zoos" filled with amazing "microscopic" organisms
- make fantasy trading cards
- craft "secret garden" diorama scenes that will be viewable only through small peepholes
- compose and record music for plants and animals
- fabricate kits of wizard's tools for working magic
- design flags for invented countries and...
- more!

We are so happy to be growing and working with more schools this season than ever, and I look forward to posting more amazing work by the Art Brainers here again soon!