AAS "PLANETARIUM" CLASS AT COMET

When I was in 3rd or 4th grade, I remember having a special, one-off guest-teacher class inside a blow-up planetarium that was set up in the front lobby of our school. The portable planetarium was just large enough for about half of my class to crawl inside and sit at once. I remember it looking sort of like a large igloo tent that was held up by the air of a fan, with a special projector lighting the curved ceiling of the structure with maps of stars. I've loved planetariums of all kinds ever since, and all the imagery associated with astronomy. 

For the Art After School Planetarium class at Comet, we talked about constellations and constellation charts, and each child made her own. Holes were punched through the constellation charts with pins and tacks, and then each constellation map was projected onto a (very) homemade "planetarium dome" (much more like a small planetarium arch, made of sheets of foam core). I've so far been digging any classes that involve the use of flashlights, and I think I'll be trying out the Planetarium class in the ART BRAINS program in 2012, while we make Shadow Machines in Art After School at Comet. Here are some pictures from the class:

ART AFTER SCHOOL AT COMET PING PONG, EARLY 2012

The schedule for the Winter/early Spring 2012 session of AAS at CPP is set! *See updates! I'm looking forward to trying some totally new classes alongside some previously-tested classes that have been adapted a little to fit the program at Comet:

*The schedule of this session has been adjusted to account for DCPS holidays, resulting in an 8-class session, rather than the originally planned 10. Please email ArtAfterSchoolDC@gmail.com for info and to find out about the new rate!

MONSTER VALENTINES / MONSTERS IN LOVE. Monday, February 13; 4 – 6pm

Viewing Valentine’s Day through the eyes of imaginary monsters and considering how these creatures’ ideas of beauty may differ from our own, youth will create valentines either for monsters, by monsters, or both.

-- NO CLASS Monday, February 20; 4 – 6pm --

AQUARIACOSMS. Monday, February 27; 4 – 6pm

Using clear glass jars, wire, laminated drawings, food coloring, and other materials, youth will each create their own mini, underwater microcosms.

IMAGIN-ATLAS. Monday, Monday, March 5; 4 – 6pm

Youth will be asked to invent their own country or land, cutting out its shape, and filling it with drawings of the landscape, wildlife, people and resources it holds. They will also write some accompanying information describing these features, and will work together to create a collaborative map of their lands. 

SHADOW MACHINES. Monday, March 12; 4 – 6pm

Youth will create small cut-paper arrangements that, when illuminated with a light source, will create compositions of shadows on the wall of a darkened space. The shadows will be the final product of their work, prompting the students to think about incorporating light into their art, and visual mediums beyond drawing and painting.

ART-IFACTS. Monday, March 19; 4 – 6pm

Youth will engrave designs and embed small objects into shaped pieces of self-hardening clay to create their own collection of fossils and artifact remnants – perhaps fossils that represent a personal history, or from an imaginary world or society. Images of real-life fossils, other artifacts, and archeological dig sites will be shared for inspiration, and youth will be asked to consider how to represent an object that has been weathered by time.

KALEIDOSCOPE SHAKERS / MOVING COLLAGES. Monday, March 26; 4 – 6pm

Filling clear, plastic boxes with cut pieces of paper, drawn and painted patterns and textures and other objects, youth will make interactive, “collaged” works of art that shift and change appearance each time they are moved or shaken.

THOUGHT-O-MOBILES. Monday, April 2; 4 – 6pm

Cut paper, cardboard, string and other materials will be used to create colorful, suspended mobile works of art. 

TROPHIES AND MONUMENTS. Monday, April 9; 4 – 6pm

A monument to a beloved hamster, a trophy for a bowl of Lucky Charms, a medal for a good buddy…This class, we’ll discuss ideas about honoring and commemorating. Using various existing and fabricated objects, youth will create trophies and/or small monuments celebrating normally unacknowledged people, places, and things they appreciate. 

Anyone who is interested can email ArtAfterSchoolDC@gmail.com for more info and to sign up. Still working on posting the rest of the Fall 2011 pictures from AAS at Comet and also from ART BRAINS...more soon!

FALL 2011 MINI BIG WORLD

After the awesome results we achieved the first time around, I was happy to give this project another go this Fall with the older ART BRAINS group. It was just as fun this time as the last!

MINI BIG WORLD:  Using drawings, cutouts, cardboard, and paper, kids created  dioramas of imagined landscapes that were photographed and projected large-scale onto the wall.  They then had a chance to be part of the worlds they created, and were photographed within their scenery.

Holitiana in her ghost theatre:

Andrew and Arthur escaping Andrew's alien city at war! Note the poisonous gas clouds:






















 Amariah with friend in her playground on Mars:

Andrew and Arthur in Arthur's view of the city from the country at sunset. Drama!

A mass exodus - running and crawling away from the battle!

THANKSGIVING ON MARS AT COMET PING PONG

 

For the final 2011 Art After School class, the kids used self-hardening clay (LOVE this stuff!) and other materials to create what they imagined a Thanksgiving-esque banquet might look like on an alien planet. We've got snake tongues, slug creatures, bug pizza, 3-headed and many eyeballed creatures, tentacles, blue mashed potatoes, and more. Bon appetit!