Community Art with Fort Hunt Youth Softball

The handmade paper "softball" was created by Fort Hunt Youth Athletic Association softball players in the 9 and under division at their annual picnic.

The process began with layering single sheets of handmade paper on top of a circular table covered in canvas. The sheets were formed from recycled paper pulp using a circular mold made from an embroidery hoop with a screen stretched across the top.

Players and friends added names, team names and messages written on tissue paper and pressed into the growing sheet of wet paper pulp.

Teresa works with players from the Leprechauns team, sponsored by Art at the Center.

Adding final pieces of paper around the edges to complete the circle.

The dry paper softball.

With the light coming through the window, the individual circle pieces making up the larger circles are visible.

A Blanket for Green

Our exploration for the day began with printing circles with various objects on large circular tables covered in white paper.

We offerd paint to add to the circle designs; Z chose purple and said she was making a blanket.

"It's a purple blanket for green." (the color she was covering)

There was another green shape that Z's mom pointed out because it looked like an elephant. Z added a hat.

"Night Night Green."

So, What's a Studio Lab?

We call ourselves a studio lab, a place rich in art materials available for exploration and experimentation. Our goal in our work is to provide a framework and structure within which young artists can work independently or in collaboration with peers of all ages. We offer guidance on how to use materials but not on what to make with them. You won't find us offering a recipe or formula to recreate a famous art piece or draw a certian kind of animal. You will find lots of visual material and intersting conversations about why the artist might have chosen a given media or combination of colors. You will hear ideas and suggestions for observing to gather information for a drawing, painting or sculpture and rich conversations among children about the choices they make and the media they use.
We are interested in the artistic and creative process and in setting things up to help artists of all ages slow down and enjoy and reflect on their process and their creations. We are a test kitchen of sorts for artistic materials and processes. (A metaphor familiar to the Evans family, see http://www.laprimacatering.com/) We hope your visits to the studio will bring ideas for how to set up a painting and color mixing station, experience in the care and use of clay, and insight on how to combine collage bits, paint, and paste into unique multimedia creations. We hope to demystify processes and to be a starting point for continued artistic exploration at home and in schools. To quote (the wonderful) Mary Rose O'Reilley, "Take away from it what forms in your own mind....come into my kitchen, but don't expect recipes."

Documentation - Inspiration from Keri Smith at AVAM

Documentation refers to notes, pictures, drawings, anything that records a place or event and what is happening. Artist and author, Keri Smith spoke at the American Visionary Art Museum event. She draws of inspiration from artists who are collectors of objects, actions, or experiences and focuses on how artists see potential in the world around them and create meaning out of everyday experiences. She connects the role of the artist with that of an ethnographer. Ethnography is defined as "the documentation and analysis of a particular culture through field research." Like an ethnographer, an artist is a keen observer of the world and culture they inhabit. Artists record impressions, look for patterns, organize objects and ideas, try new combinations and reflect on what they create. Practicing these artistic habits of field research can inspire new appreciation for the beauty and wonder in the everyday world around us.
In the studio, we find it helpful to turn this documentary observing eye toward our own work and the explorations of the children with materials. It is a way to do field research into the culture and community that is created by individuals and groups working in the studio setting. We find that by taking pictures of the process, we are able to go back and see more of what happened, to reflect and form hypotheses about what might be interesting to work on next. It renews our sense of wonder in the creative process and the ideas, intentions and capabilities of children.

Color Mixing and Relationships

We decided to return to mixing colors and exploring color relationships; interests that emerged in the group while painting the chairs. We began with plumb lines (a carpentry tool) to make chalk lines to form a design for a group mural painting.
After creating a design with lines, the children mixed paint in individual jars. They recorded their color "recipes" and named the colors they created.
Colors from the group palette. The cards under the jars record the names of the colors and the recipe (written in numbers of squirts of red, yellow, blue, and white). The children enjoyed helping each other figure out color recipes and names for colors.
The worked in groups of three to fill in the shapes created by their lines.
As they filled in more spaces, new colors were needed and created. The conversation returned to ideas about how colors relate to each other and what makes a color stand out or "pop."
The more spaces they filled, the more consideration was needed about what color would go in a space as there were more relationships to consider with a number of colors surrounding the free space. It became like a puzzle of creating or finding the right color for a free space based on the colors around it.
As with many group projects it required some planning as you go, as well as flexibility on the part of the participants. The group conversation became more involved as the color relationships became more complex as they filled the spaces in the mural.

Observing Chairs and Color Mixing

The Friday after-school studio time offers school-age children (6-10 years) an opportunity to explore and create in a studio setting. In the six short weeks of this session we've tried our hands at drawing, painting, collage, color mixing and clay.

The children who had been in the studio before arrived asking to mix colors and use clay. So we have mixed colors and used clay. The students used the colors to paint their drawings and we introduced the idea of "making the colors pop". Observing the contrasts colors can make gives the students another way of using their color knowledge.


We started with blind contour drawings of children's chairs. Without looking at the paper while drawing, the drawings look a bit like puzzle pieces that need to be fit back together.

After the warm-up, we challenged the children to choose a chair and draw it. We asked them to slow down and take the time to carefully look at the object. And we talked about how often we draw the "idea" of a chair (or house or leaf, etc.) without actually looking at the object before us.

M.C. noticed the wood grain. Her observation was shared in the studio setting with the other students thus improving everyone's observations.


Then the painting began. The drawings took on a life of their own with the addition of personally mixed colors.

We encouraged the children to find a background color that "made the chair pop" or contrasted. They love using bold bright colors.

Arts, Creativity and Other Outrageous Ideas: Brain Food from the American Visionary Art Museum

On May 5 Teresa and I attended a panel discussion at the American Visionary Arts Museum entitled: Arts, Creativity and Other Outrageous Ideas. The museum passed out the following list of education goals and the founder and director if the AVAM, Rebecca Alban Hoffberger, spoke about her vision and the museum's definition of "art" which she likened to the experience of primitive cultures who do not have a word for "art." Instead they had words for describing something well-made or beautifully performed - she challenged the audience to think of anything we do as being an art and of teaching as an art form. Rebecca and several other speakers spoke about a hope that visitors to the event and to the museum would leave inspired to find their own voice and explore their creativity.

Education Goals from the American Visionary Art Museum

1. Expand the definition of a worthwhile life.

2. Engender respect for and delight in the gifts of others.

3. Increase awareness of the wide variety of choices available in life for all...particularly students.

4. Encourage each individual to build upon his or heer own special knowledge and inner strengths.

5. Promote the use of innate intelligence, intuition, self-exploration, and creative self-reliance.

6. Confirm the great hunger for finding out just what each of us can do best, in our own voice, at any age.

7. Empower the individual to choose to do that something really, really well.