Crazy creative at the Novato Youth Center!

This exciting evening was the culmination of a ten-week Youth in Arts residency at the Center.  Mentor Artist Melissa Briggs led the young theatre artists as they learned the elements of theatre and playwriting through improvisation, drama games and imaginative writing.   Melissa’s program (inspired by the Playmaking curriculum at the 52^nd Street Project in New York City) is designed to publicly validate the children’s creativity, maximize awareness of their bodies, voices, senses and feelings, and ensure a positive experience expressing their own authentic voice.

If you missed the show, DON’T WORRY,  you can still read the plays:

Sucked In

Playwrights from grades one, two and three wrote Sparkles and Sugar. Sparkles is “a just born puppy” who has been adopted and lives in “the Presidents house.”  Sparkles is wealthy but lonely and hungry.  After trying to eat Sugar, “a boy cookie age 20″, Sparkles tries to buy his friendship and learns that’s not the way to make a friend.  At the end of the play Sparkles tells Sugar: “I feel like I’m actually being the real normal side of me instead of being all sassy and rich.  Now I get a friend. I’ve changed a lot.”

Sparkles and Sugar

The fourth and fifth grade playwrights wrote Sucked In. It is about two arcade game nemeses who get  - you guessed it – sucked into a video game.  In the world of the video game the human kids are trapped on a “desert island” and have been transmuted into animal characters.  Stitch, a “long ears doxin dog”, and Lulu, “a girl sea turtle” must stop fighting and learn to “work as a team hard enough” to find the portal back to their human form and the real world.

NYC staff reading "Sparkles and Sugar"

This project was made possible with the generous support of the Marin Community Foundation.

Our line search turned into a MONOPRINT. Students inked their plates, then gently placed paper on top, and drew their designs onto the back of the paper.

Colographs are made up of layers of stiff paper cut or torn, and then glued into interesting patterns and shapes. Our choices of ink and paper color made the possibilities endless.

Colograph by Lolo in gold on purple

Colograph by Lolo in blue on orange: the way we apply ink affects the "mood" of the piece.

Colograph (abstract): how can we use found materials to create interesting prints?

Colograph Dove in gold on purple

Colograph Dove in blue on yellow: How do choices of ink and paper affect our prints?

"Ghost" colograph: We built up layers of cut paper to build interesting abstract prints

We stored all of our prints in portfolios with covers representing us: On each finger was written a word representing something special about ourselves: Smart, Funny, Friendly, Pretty, Good Reader! We used colored paper, sheet music, and maps to illustrate our hand, and then painted the backgrounds.

Work was kept in portfolios with collaged covers.

We spent several weeks creating skeletons, both printed and drawn. Many students created stories to accompany their skeleton pictures, so we decided to create a final project working even deeper with stories. Students formed into groups of 2-4, and brainstormed characters and stories on which they could work together.

Storyboard: each person designed a character to print for their co-illustrators

Storyboard: we worked in teams of 2-4 to create one book together: students brainstormed the plot

Storyboard

Close-up draft of drawing to be made into an etching for the book

Etching (on foam) was the method chosen for illustrating our stories. Each child created one or two etchings, and then printed enough copies so that each child would be able to construct their own book. In the end, the illustrations took center stage, and words became optional!

Book Illustration: Coyote at Night

Book Illustration: Princesses Flying to the Palace

Book Illustration: Each child printed copies for everyone in their group.

Book Illustration: Kids Playing, in black on purple: how do color choices change the way prints look?

Book Illustration: Kids Playing, in grey on green

Etching for the story: "Chippy and Flamey"

A final Day of Hard Work.

Cutting oaktag for colograph prints

More pieces make a more interesting finished print

Layering oaktag to add depth and texture

In preparation for this week’s project of printing on black paper with white ink, students practiced drawing skeletons with oil pastels and chalk pastel pencils. They experimented with lights and darks, contrast and composition. They looked at the works of Jose Posada (Mexico 1851-1913)

The students were so inspired by their drawings that many of them created accordion books and shared their stories with the entire class.

Just in time for Dia de los Muertos: students recreated their skeletons in line drawings which were then turned into etchings in foam and printed two different ways: White paper with black ink, and black paper with white ink.

October is a great time to select a program for your school celebrating the unique artistic traditions of Mexico, Central and South America and the Carribean. National Hispanic Heritage Month runs through October 15, celebrating the cultures and contributions of American citizens with roots in these regions, and the important Meso-American holiday of Dia de los Muertos follows right behind on November 1-2.

Youth in Arts is proud to offer your students a wide range of unique arts learning experiences with roots in these diverse parts of the world. Bring one of our artists to your school now, or throughout the year.

Click below to find out more about some of the 45-minute performances available through our School Assemblies Program:

• Balamcoatl Indigenous Meso-American Music & Dance
• Ballet Folklorico by local troupe Ballet Folklorico Netzahualcoyotl or San Francisco-based Ensambles de San Francisco
• Traditional Music from the Andes by Chaskinakuy
• Peruvian Music and Dance by De Rompe y Raja
• Brazilian choro music from Grupo Falso Baiano
• Calypso Songs and Storytelling with Asheba
• Brazilian Capoeira with Maestro Samuka and Capoeira Barauna

Our Artists in Schools program can also provide residencies of any duration in the above music and dance, or visual arts residencies in forms like Cartonería (creation of painted sculptures from recycled paper or cardboard), Huichol yarn painting or the making of traditional Meso-American musical instruments.

National Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates the cultures and contributions of American citizens with roots in Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. The federal observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week and was expanded in 1988 to cover a 30-day period that includes the September 15 independence celebrations for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, as well as Mexican and Chilean independence days on September 16 and September 18 and Día de la Raza (Columbus Day) on October 12. Many communities continue celebrations through October to include Dia de los Muertos on November 1-2.

The photos taken by the students will be used on the school’s website as a way to promote their school in addition to highlighting the hard work of the youth. Great job Lynwood students!

Students then worked collaboratively to pick the colors, mix paints and apply paint on the mural in small groups on a rotating basis. While students were waiting to paint on the mural they independently created other works of art such as maps and pressed tin mobiles.

The mural will be installed permanently on Lynwood’s campus.

Youth in Arts staff met with the Venetia Valley Arts Committee (which includes the new principal Cindy Jaconette, as well as teachers and PTA members) to brainstorm on possibilities for designing a parent-led art docent program for their school.

Questions included:

Do teachers want art projects to connect to classroom work?

Do teachers want students to focus on art fundamentals?

Does the school want the arts program to tie into school community events?

The Arts Committee decided to focus parent training on the fundamentals of Visual Arts. To begin the program, a Youth in Arts Mentor Artist will lead workshops for parents and interested teachers in the areas of Drawing, Watercolor Painting, Sculpture, Print Making and more.

The Mentor Artist will then model the lesson from the workshop in a classroom of the school’s choosing, with Art Parents observing and assisting. This will help to reinforce the workshop projects. The final step in the parent training program will be for the Mentor Artist to coach Art Parents as they teach the lessons in their “own” classrooms.

The school will get lesson plans, extensions for teaching the lessons in each grade level, and also enough art supplies to teach the class in at least five classrooms.

We are so excited to help Venetia Valley undertake this step toward developing a vibrant Arts Learning Community.

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!