Michelle had so much fun creating art with your children this week. This camp was full of such thoughtful art makers- they were great listeners who really delved deep into all our art projects. They also asked great questions, and were completely engaged with (and knowledgeable about) art making- it was a fantastic group of campers! It was a real pleasure to teach and make art with them this week.

Meredith and the campers spent time in the kitchen baking, making components of our lunch, and sampling lots of things. We got to play around combining flavors and creating new versions of some classic snacks and baked goods.

Here is what we were up to around the art table and in the kitchen this week (recipes are linked or follow at the end) …

Monday

Monday

Book- The Dot by Peter Reynolds

2x2 Drawing Challenge

Inspired by London’s House of Illustration 1x1 drawing challenge, in which illustrators create a tiny 1x1 inch drawing every day for a specific period of time (say a month or a year), we decided to do our own 2x2 inch drawing challenge. Each child chose a theme and created six small illustrations to present as a grid. Some campers were inspired by food, nature, emotions, etc.- it was so fun to see the variety of themes and to see their final pieces.

Recipes: granola bars, guacamole, salsa, Cuban black beans

Tuesday

Book- Yayoi Kusama: From Here to Infinity by Sarah Suzuki

Batik Banners

Today, we experimented with the idea of using a resist and negative space to create art. Each child had a blank canvas banner to create their art piece. Campers planned their design and then used everything from blue gel glue, stickers, and contact paper to create their resist layer, which would later form their images.

Recipes: breakfast scones, Vietnamese spring rolls

Wednesday

Book- Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas by Jeanne Walker Harvey

On Wednesday, we took the next step in creating our resist banners. We first used small rectangles of canvas fabric to practice our painting techniques and create small works of art. We then moved on to gently painting over our resist layers on our canvases.

Recipes: handmade egg pasta, pesto (note: we added some spinach and arugula, and subbed almonds for the pine nuts)

Thursday

Book- A Life Made by Hand: The Story of Ruth Asawa by Andrea D’Aquino

Thursday was watercolor day. We looked at the art of Paul Klee, Sonia Delaunay and contemporary artist Leslie Roberts. We looked at how they used shape, color, grids and pattern to create their art. We created our own grids and shape patterns using rulers and pencils, and then got to work experimenting with color combinations using our watercolors.

Recipes: onigiri + whoopie pies!

Friday

Book- Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing by Kay Haring

On Friday, we wrapped up all of our projects. Some folks had more work to do on their watercolors from Thursday and we all finished our banner projects. Some campers were also able to create miniature dioramas using small boxes, watercolor, and colored pencil.

Recipes: ice cream, pan pizzas