Second Grade Girls Having Fun!

On Thursday, June 3^rd , The Twilight After School community came together to celebrate all the visual art created during year and to enjoy presentations by our many  performing arts classes. The after school  office became a beautiful gallery filled with high quality work. In the MPR we had theater pieces, dances, choirs and a special showing of the middle school kids video project from the MYC. Following the performance there was a pizza party. It was a happy event to mark the end of the year! Youth in Arts had an amazing year running the Twilight After School Program and we hope everyone has a fantastic and creative summer!

They have embarked on a “flag” project, and are thinking about “Our Community. Our World.”

What in the world inspires you?

If you could design a flag, what symbols would be present?

What do you want to share about your community with others?

We began by talking about the world and about our community and made lists to record our ideas.

The young artists are now working with oil pastels and tempera paints aka “wake up paints” on white fabric.

They are discovering that the oil pastels can be blended and rubbed into the fabric. It is a physical material.

“I like standing to paint. I can use my whole body.”

“The paint goes over the oil pastel. When it dries I like how it looks.”

The flags are starting to take on different identities and the students are excited about the combination of materials.

On Friday, May 7^th, the kids of the Twilight After School Program were treated to an excellent display of Mexican Folkloric Dance. The company of young women danced with passion, precision and grace. It was great for our kids to see what can be accomplished with hard work and dedication!

Beautiful, mysterious, and magnificent, cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) were the main topic during the visit from MMC. The Multi-purpose Room was transformed into a museum with real specimens such as bones, pelts and baleen. Second grade student, Fiona Nudd, was dressed up as whale to learn about anatomy and adaptations. This fun, interactive exhibit, presented by Barbara, also taught the kids about the bigger picture of caring for our marine environment.

Thank You Marine Mammal Center!

“How do artists get ideas?”

We have talked about the germination of an idea, and how it changes as one goes through the creative process. Students have been learning how to sketch out ideas, research ideas, be accepting when ideas change, and how to talk about ideas.

At Hall the 8th grade science classes created solar system prints. Each student had researched a planet, and they then took the research to a new level by developing a reduction linocut print. Over 4 sessions the artists brainstormed, and carved and printed images that had 3 layers of color.

planet sketch

the science lab became a print studio

example of a three color reduction print

Notice the physical nature of the carving......

In the 6th grade classes at Hall the students have been taking their knowledge of mythological beasts and creatures and developing their own entities. Students have been reading myths from all over the world, and  this introduction to mythology inspired the project: create your own mythological creature. The students started off the 6 week residency looking at different depictions of mythological creatures in all art forms. They then began sketching, moving into forming using newspaper, masking tape, tin foil, and cardboard. The skeletal structures were then covered with a “skin” of plaster, and then painted. The students appreciated the transformation of an initial sketch or “idea.”

mythological creature sketch in a sketchbook

the skeletal structure of a creature

the skeletal structure with the plaster "skin"

final creature painted

Students in the Twilight After School program have been thinking about the question of: “What is grey?”

• A rhino
• The sidewalk
• Some buildings
• A wolf coat
• The sky before the rain

Students explored color mixing using black and white paint. How many shades of grey can you create? Students also thought about how to hold a brush and what can the paint do on the surface of the paper?

paint set-up in the studio

working with grey....

exploring space with grey.....

COMING UP:

Artists with the Twilight program are almost finished with their Babybots! Stay tuned….

Arts integrated units with teachers at MLK and Willow Creek are getting started! Stay tuned…..

Sausalito Marin City School District

“Everyone is an artist.” – Joseph Beuys

What is Collaboration? What is Community?

“We learned that when there’s a problem, we should work together to solve it.”

students – Imara, Billy, & Jeremiah

Notes from the Youth in Arts Specialists:

Brooke Toczylowski, Visual Arts Specialist, Grade K-5

It has been a joy and an honor working with your children during this first year of the Arts Demonstration Grant! During the December Art Walk Event many of us had the chance to meet each other and enjoy the inspiring creations of our young artists. THANK YOU for your support of the arts! As a practicing artist and a visual learner, I believe the arts are an integral component to a quality education. Not only can art help to improve skills in the core content areas like math and writing, but I believe art can teach important skills like observation, reflection, critical thinking, leadership, self-confidence, and community.

During Open House in May a small taste of the students’ artwork from the art studio will be on display in their classrooms and in the multi-purpose room. And DON’T WORRY, YES your students’ artwork will be coming home at the end of the year for you to fill the fridge or frame for the walls of your home. We all know how important it is to show our students that we are proud of the marks they make in this world. I tell my students all the time, that when they put pencil to paper they are expressing themselves and constructing their futures.

Students in second grade are investigating Collaboration. We are reflecting and recording our experiences of making art as a team in a journal. So far, students have made newspaper sculptures big enough for someone to fit inside, a group painting with one color and its tints and shades, and now the students are working on clay communities.

Martin Luther King Academy Middle School Arts Classes

Evan Bissell, Visual Arts Specialist, Grade 6-8

At MLK we are working on projects that combine writing and photography.  In 8th grade we are creating mixed media pieces about “Where I’m From”.  In 7th grade students are creating external/internal self-portraits made from collages of photos they create.  In 6th grade students are working on mixed media photographs about personal

Willow Creek Upper School

Ascha Drake, Visual Arts Specialist, Grade 6-8

At Willow Creek we have been focusing on using the arts as a way to interpret the world, to tell personal stories, and to express a sense of self and community.  We have been experimenting with many different materials with each grade level.  In the 6th grade we are currently creating autobiographical (though some more fantastical than real) comic book strips with an emphasis on story telling.  In 7th grade we are finishing a printmaking project for Women’s History month where students were asked to create prints that promote ideas about women’s rights.  In 8th grade, students are continuing with acrylic paint on their Heritage paintings, combining patterns and figurative elements to speak about their personal history.

Twilight Afterschool Art Studio

Ascha Drake, Visual Arts Specialist, Grade K-8

Artists have been working on a sculpture project, which also requires thinking about shapes, but in a 3-dimensional way. The students began looking at reusable materials such as cardboard boxes, egg cartons, and tinfoil, and they thought about turning them into sculptural art materials. How do you make something stand and balance?  How do you attach parts so that they are secure? Students explored different ways to make sculpture; practicing skills and learning techniques to give them confidence.  The artists then embarked on a “BabyBot” project – creating baby robots that represent the perfect companion or “side kick.”  Once the skeletons were formed, the students began wrapping a plaster “skin” on the forms.  They then were able to paint the Babybots with acrylic paint – learning how to mix new colors and make wise brush choices.

Alpha Oumar “Bongo” Sidibe is a traditional drummer from Conakry, Guinea in West Africa. He is Musical Director of Duniya Dance and Drum Company and founder of the band Wontanara. Bongo currently lives in San Francisco.

Marin Theatre Company, Animal vs. Animal

The kids of the after school program were treated to a special live performance last Friday, March 19^th.  The Marin Theatre Company brought their touring production of Animal vs. Animal (an Aesop’s Fables mashup) to the Bayside Multi-purpose Room. The talented and versitile actors played a wide range of funny and flawed characters and in the end left the great message that with positive collaboration we can do anything!

Thank You Marin Theatre Company!!