SJ's MidEast Adventures

SOS Student & Teachers Slideshow

2008-05-12T21:02:00.000-07:00

SOS Student Slideshow 2

2008-05-12T13:58:00.000-07:00

House of Hope

2008-02-02T17:34:00.000-08:00

VOLUNTEERING AT THE HOUSE OF HOPE: The House of Hope is a boarding school for mentally & physically disabled children. Just like other schools in the area- the children here have no art courses either. Similar to the reasons for why it’s important for SOS Village Children to encounter art in their lives (building confidence, strengthening a different part of their brain, finding a hidden talent, expressing themselves…etc. etc.) the same justifications goes for disabled children. The photos below are of an art lesson I gave about the Olive Picking Season going on now (“Zei Tune” in Arabic). Using clay, because this was the medium that’s easiest for them to use, we formed an Olive Tree out of rolled balls & snake-like shapes.

SOS Student Art Exhibitions

2008-01-07T14:54:00.001-08:00

event: Café Sima features SOS Student Holiday Artwork
location: Café Sima, Bethlehem
date: December 16, 2007 – January 24, 2008
description: A local café owner, Ms. Sima, kindly offered to display holiday-themed artwork in her cafe, which was created by SOS Herman Gmeiner Students in Grade 5A. The artwork was visibly hung in the café windows, over the holidays, for all the local customers & visiting holiday tourists to see. SOS Bethlehem's Informational Brochures were also available on-hand at Cafe Sima, for those interested to take with them, to learn more about SOS Bethlehem. Coordinated with Café Sima, Bethlehem. http://www.cafesima.com/

event: Student Artwork Displayed in School Interior
location: SOS Herman Gmeiner School, Bethlehem
1) "Faces of Emotion" =near office of School Social Worker
2) Snow Men & Snow Flakes= hung from ceiling of Main Foyer
date: throughout the Fall 2007 School Year
description: Artworks created by SOS Students (of all ages) decorated the school's halls, and also helped boost students' self-confidence & pride. Such locations & themes like "Faces of Emotion" were chosen to help promote self expression & therapy for students sent to the Social Worker's Office. Such artworks, as the snow men & snow flakes, were intended to bring holiday spirit & cheer to the school's faculty & students. Worked with SOS Graduate & Student-Teacher in Training (Ibrahim)

event: Student Art Exhibition: UNICEF 18@18 Artwork Entries
location: Dar Annadwa (I.C.B.), Bethlehem
date: November 14- November 22, 2007description: Student artwork created for entry into the 18@18 UNICEF Art Competition was on display in this exhibition which was open to the public. Each artwork featured the name of the student artist, as well as a description of the specific article from the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child (CRC), which they chose to draw about. Coordinated with I.C.B. Art Director (Ingar) & I.C.B. Art Teacher (Rawan). h ttp://www.annadwa.org/

School Beautification

2008-01-07T14:26:00.001-08:00

event: Mural Paintings in School Interior location: SOS Herman Gmeiner School, Bethlehem date: throughout the Fall 2007 School Year description: The purpose of these artworks was to help create a fun learning atmosphere for all teachers & students at the school. Worked with SOS Teachers (Niveen, Mustafa) & a small # of students. NOTE: see formal mural project proposal for more info.

event: Student Artwork Displayed in School Interior
location: SOS Herman Gmeiner School, Bethlehem
"Faces of Emotion" =near office of School Social Worker
Snow Men & Snow Flakes= hung from ceiling of Main Foyer
date: throughout the Fall 2007 School Year
description: Artworks created by SOS Students (of all ages) decorated the school's halls, and also helped boost students' self-confidence & pride. Such locations & themes like "Faces of Emotion" were chosen to help promote self expression & therapy for students sent to the Social Worker's Office. Such artworks, as the snow men & snow flakes, were intended to bring holiday spirit & cheer to the school's faculty & students. Worked with SOS Graduate & Student-Teacher in Training (Ibrahim)

Local Palestinian Artist: Talib Dweik

2008-01-07T14:25:00.000-08:00

event: Art Exhibition Tour & Lecture with Palestinian Artist Talib Dweik
location: Dar Annadwa (I.C.B.), Bethlehem
date: Wednesday, November 28, 2007
description: SOS Students (grades 6 & 8) toured the "Waiting" exhibition, and then listened to Palestinian Artist, Talib Dweik, discuss his artwork and answer student questions. http://talebdweik.info/ Coordinated with SOS Field Trip Director (Rafat) & Palestinian Artist (Talib Dweik).

Students drew studies of their favorite works from Dweik's exhibit into their sketchbooks.

Sketchbooks: Hand-made sketchbooks were created by each student in art class at the beginning of the year. We recycled found cardboard objects from the construction site at the school, and turned them into the front & back cover for each sketchbook.

I witnessed a wonderful site during our fieldtrip to Dweik's "Waiting" Exhibit. All of a sudden, my SOS Students appeared before me to look like university Art Students at the Louvre. Everyone had their sketchbooks out, and everyone was sketching away. It was at this moment, that I felt so proud & so good to be a teacher. In the above photos, you will see some studies the students drew from Dweik's work.

event: Art Workshop with Palestinian Artist Talib Dweik
location: SOS Children's Village, Bethlehem (Activities Room)
date: Friday, December 7, 2007
description: Approximately 20 SOS students from the village participated in an art workshop with Palestinian Artist, Talib Dweik, where they created artworks for the upcoming winter holidays. Coordinated with SOS Activities Director (Nabeel), SOS Village Volunteers (Leo, Thilo) & Palestinian Artist (Talib Dweik).

I can only emphasize the importance of art to a certain extent with my students because I am not a native Palestinian. Therefore,it's important for them to meet local Palestinian Artists, such as Taleb Dweik, in order to discover a connection to art through their own people & culture (rather than through a foreign teacher being their main source for art). During an openQ&A session with Artist Taleb Dweik, students asked such questions as "How is Art important to the Palestinian people? And Why?" and received superb answers that from Dweik which exemplified that unique link they must be made aware of -the link between art and people.

Student Exhibition: UN Convention of the Rights of A Child

2008-01-07T14:15:00.000-08:00

3-Step-Process:

1. Creation / 2. Exhibition / 3. Contact

1. Child Creation of Art

event: Art Exhibition Tour & Workshop with British Artist Paula Cox
location: Dar Annadwa (I.C.B.), Bethlehem
date: Friday, November 9, 2007
description: SOS students (grades 7 & 8) toured an art exhibition, while listening to British Artist, Paula Cox, explain her artwork. They then participated in an art workshop where they learned about the UN Convention of the Rights of a Child & how to create pictures about children's rights. These artworks were later submitted to the UNICEF 18@18 art competition. Coordinated with I.C.B. Art Director (Ingar), I.C.B. Art Teacher (Rawan), SOS Village Volunteer (Leo) & I.C.B. Bright Stars Students http://www.unicef.org/voy/index.php & http://www.paulacoxart.com/

2. Student Exhibition of Art

event: Student Art Exhibition: UNICEF 18@18 Artwork Entries
location: Dar Annadwa (I.C.B.), Bethlehem
date: November 14- November 22, 2007
description: Student artwork created for entry into the 18@18 UNICEF Art Competition was on display in this exhibition which was open to the public. Each artwork featured the name of the student artist, as well as a description of the specific article from the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child (CRC), which they chose to draw about. Coordinated with I.C.B. Art Director (Ingar) & I.C.B. Art Teacher (Rawan). http://www.annadwa.org/

3. Personal Contact with Art

event: Art Exhibition Tour- School Field Trip
location: The Peace Center & Dar Annadwa (I.C.B.), Bethlehem
date: Wednesday, November 21, 2007
description: SOS Students (grades 7 & 8) toured various art exhibitions and learned how to study artwork, and then sketch their observations into their sketchbooks. One of the exhibitions the students visited was their very own art show, made of artwork created by their peers from the SOS School. Coordinated with SOS Field Trip Director (Rafat) & SOS French Department Teachers (Mustafa, Eva). http://www.peacenter.org/

Chalk4Peace

2008-01-07T13:55:00.001-08:00

-CHALK4PEACE: "Painting the World the Color of Peace". This was a worldwide chalk art project that took place the week before the International Day of Peace. All my students participated & drew pictures about peace ("salaam" in Arabic) outside in the school courtyard. I found out about the Chalk4Peace project when I was searching the Fairfax County Public Schools Website (they were participating in it also). Photos from each school's event were then published in an online Global Art Gallery, besides SOS Bethlehem. http://modernarf.smugmug.com/Art/386020

event: Global Art Project "Chalk4Peace"
location: SOS Herman Gmeiner School, Bethlehem (Outside Courtyard)
date: Week of September 17, 2007
description: SOS students (of all ages), along with other children from all around the world, used sidewalk chalk to paint the world the color of peace during the week of International Peace Day (September 21, 2007). Photos from each school's event were then published in an online art gallery. http://modernarf.smugmug.com/Art/386020

Bethlehem

2007-12-07T07:32:00.000-08:00

WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING...
Since June 20th, I have been living in Bethlehem and volunteering for the "Bright Stars" Summer Academy, a branch of the International Center of Bethlehem (ICB). The ICB organization provides the local Palestinians, living in Bethlehem & surrounding refugee camps, with a wide array of educational resources and cultural activities throughout the year.

THE ICB's DAR AL-NAADWA BUILDING & BETHLEHEM STREETS:

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF SJ...
I am teaching art courses to Palestinian children at the "Bright Stars" Summer Camp. I am one of 4 international volunteers here. The other volunteers are Ina (20, Germany), Johannes (20, Germany), and Jonathan (31, USA).

HOW I WAKE UP EVERY MORNING

I love what I am doing here & so it is easy to get out of bed every morning (especially when my bed is as big as it is). *I will add more photos of my beautiful flat later on.

ON OUR WAY TO SCHOOL: INA & JOHANNES IN TAXI

Each morning we take a taxi to the school for 2 Shekels (approx. $0.50)

ARRIVAL @ DAR AL-KALIMA SCHOOL: INA & STUDENTS OUTSIDE

Each morning I am greeted by this beautiful mural painted at the front of the school. The above photo is of Ina, my roommate & best buddy here.

The pic above is Ina & the older girls who attend the camp.

INSIDE THE SCHOOL: COLORFUL HALLWAYS

This photo is of the inside of the school building. Donations from around the world (majority being Lutheran Churches) were the main source of funding for the school. The children attending the summer camp are funded by international sponsors who pay for them to go to camp and school when summer ends.

INSIDE THE SCHOOL: POINTILISM LESSON

This photo is of one of my classes working on a "Pointilism" project, where we learned about George Seuratt & Paris, France and used q-tips instead of paintbrushes for creating a pointilism technique.

MY FAVORITE CLASS: OUR ART STUDIO ON THE FLOOR

Its odd, but my best class is held in a classroom with no desks or chairs, so we must work on the floor (but the kids are so focused that it doesn't even bother them). And it certainly doesn't bother me because I enjoy the "group-feeling" of working with the kids on the floor.

INSIDE THE SCHOOL:MATISSE LESSON

The above photos are from a lesson I taught about the artist Matisse. My goal is to teach the students about one artist & place around the world each class period. To see some of the art lessons I've planned with the kids, go here>> Camp Art Schedule.

MY STUDENTS @ SCHOOL:

These are pics of some of the children in my art classes (ranging from 6-12 year olds). I work with a translator in my classes. The kids are brilliant, excited & happy to have me as their teacher. Everyone at the camp (both staff & students) appreciate having volunteers from abroad come to Palestine to see how they live here & help out where needed.

SOS Summer Camp

2007-09-06T07:38:00.000-07:00

SOS Village: Carnival (My First Experience)

2007-08-17T10:19:00.000-07:00

SOS VILLAGE: Volunteering to Face-Paint at Carnival

The SOS Village is another organization here in Palestine, committed to long-term family based care for children in need. One weekend we worked at a Carnival @ the SOS Village & painted faces of the children there, while other enterntainment & performances went on.

I heard about the carnival through a friend of Johannes', named Sammy (both pictured here), who was organizing the carnival bizarre for the kids. (The tiny community of international volunteers here is awesome by the way).

This is my friend Ibraheem outside the SOS Village gates. Ibraheem is from here, and now going to school at the University of Bethlehem.

The children at SOS village got hold of Ina's camera & began taking photographs. Many of the photographs here (from the carnival) were taken by the girl in this photo, who -as you can tell- is extremely talented.

Field Trip Frenzy

2007-08-11T13:23:00.000-07:00

...Every Thursday the entire camp (all some 200 kids + staff) go on a field trip...

FIELD-TRIPS:WATER PARK #2 (Beit Jala)

Johannes, Ina, Me & Campers @ Water Park

"Bright Stars" Campers

More "Bright Stars"

They Got ME!

I was too tired to go swimming in the pool this day, so the kids decided they would bring the pool to me instead. And before I knew it, I was caught in a war-zone of water-bottles being poured all around me and on me.

Said (1 of my students) having a good laugh after getting me wet.

Another camp staff member getting wet.

I got caught up in the middle of a water-bottle fight...But it was still loads of fun...

Johannes was attacked by a whole bunch of campers!

Dance Dance Revolution

I also had a fabulous time that day, dancing to the music playing at the park, with some of the other campers.

Jonathan Learning Palestinian Dabkah Dance

This is Jonathan (my 3rd roommate, American, 31)

FIELD-TRIPS:AMUSEMENT PARK (Ramalah)

The above photo is of the amusement park we just went to. It was hilarious to go on the "big-kid rides" with the other Palestinian staff & older camp students because there was one ride in particular, that made everyone sick. I remember Johnny (Assistant Head of the camp) next to me on the ride, trying to calm down the girl next to him in fast-talkingArabic, telling her to breathe deep in & out (as she kept screaming "halas! halas!!" -"done/ stop! stop!" in Arabic while on the ride). After getting off the ride, I noticed atleast 4 people with their heads in various trash cans around the park (not me though, which is also why it was so funny).

The kids waving in the above photo are in my art courses. Saba, is the one on the far right of the photo. He did not like the pointilism lesson when we first did it, but then just today (Mon. 7/9) he used the pointilism technique, in his picture, during our Georgia O'keefe lesson. I was so excited to see this and it was beautiful painting he did.

This is a photo of me & Jasmine. Before the buses departed for the water park, I met Jasmine when she was crying. She did not want to go to the park because her friend did not come to camp that day, and she had no friends to play with at the park. Luckily, she speaks German fluently and was able to befriend Ina easily & had a great time with us at the park.

FIELD-TRIPS:WATER PARK #1
This is a photo of the kids at the water-park. Since majority of the women who work at the camp are Muslim, many of them did not go swimming; which left me & Ina as being the only females swimming with the campers in the pool. It was difficult to try and entertain 200 some children, all grabbing onto us like monkeys in the pool. All females are required to wear funny-looking swim caps in the pool, to cover our heads. I thought this was for Muslim-religous reasons and it didn't make sense to me since we are all in bathing-suits, showing our skin anyways. But then I found out the reason is because they don't want our hair to get in the pool.

I wore a baseball cap, instead of a swim-cap (see
me with the white hat on?). I was playing games with the kids, but it was absolute madness in the pool that day (especially because there was only 1 other female staff member who went swimming) & I was exhausted when we left.

This is a pic of Nadya (16, my translator @camp), Ina, Jasmine and Johannes.

My Most Challenging Class: Part 2 of 2 ...THE MASTER-PIECE: "A WALL ON A WALL"

2007-08-07T06:14:00.000-07:00

THE MURAL THUS FAR (Still A Work In Progress...)

Idea: "A Wall On A Wall"
Message: All Children Have the Power To...
1) Open Doors to New Worlds to Explore
*IN THE FUTURE*
...Realistically speaking: school, job, travel, people, etc.
2) Make Walls Dissapear With Their Imaginations
*IN THE MEAN-TIME*
...Dream-like qualities: exploration, fantasy, curiosity, etc.

Me & the Boys From My Class.

We didn't begin to work on the mural until after the "Bright Stars" Camp ended. I was so nervous that the kids would not show up because their minds would have moved on to other concerns once the camp was over. But the students continue to amaze me. Everyday this week (@ 5pm), the entire class has showed up ready & willing to paint the mural.

It's like having a paint-party outside. Everyone was having a great time.

We wear the tie-dye shirts, that we made during the summer camp, as smocks.

I am showing the kids the draft or planned sketch of the image we discussed painting on the wall.

Two possible EXITS which exist in this wall:
1) the Doorway in the Wall, leading to the Future (sunset on the horizon).
2) the Hole in the Wall, leading to their Present Dreams & Fantasies (underwater ocean).

PHASE I: Sketching the Image on Wall With Markers

PHASE II: Let's Get Some Paint On that Wall!

I made sure to write "Painted & Donated By:" on the wall because it is important for everyone to know what these kids decided to do for their community.

This is Fady when he yelled to me "Sarah, Sarah! Pointilism!", he was using the Pointilism technique, that we learned from art class, as a way to paint the wall.

EVERYONE JOINS IN: This is Muhammed, he's in charge of the school grounds, and has been at the wall to help us each day since we first started.

One day I brought pizza for the kids, because I had been so impressed with their commitment and enthusiasm to keep working on the mural each day.

TO BE CONTINUED...
(return back to see how the wall finally turns out)

The Final Art Exhibition

2007-08-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

INTRO: On July 27th, "Bright Stars" Summer Academy held its *End-of-camp* Performance Show & Exhibition.

"...Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we're powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us..."

"...We were all meant to shine as children, not just some of us but all of us..." -anonymous quote

ART SHOW @ ICB:

This art exhibition featured the work of all my art students. Setting up the exhibit took a lot of time & hard work. My friends helped me hang stars from the ceiling & frame the displayed artwork.

...ENVISION MY GALAXY OF BRIGHT STARS...

SELF-PORTRAIT CUT-OUTS:

Created by my youngest students, 5 & 6 year old's.

...Can you feel the power of these Bright Stars?...

WATER-COLOR FLOWERS:

Inspired by Georgia O'Keefe & nature. This artwork was created by 1 of my favorite classes (where we always worked on the floor in the classroom), ages 9-12 years old.

Hurray! for the students using the "pointilism" method (that they learned from the last class) in this project.

"You find any Palestinian Picasso's hiding in your camp?" -SC

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN BURLAP PAINTINGS:

Completed by children, ages 9-12.

COPPER ENGRAVINGS:

This copper engraving was done by one of my most memorable students, Saba. He showed it to me and said "Look Sarah, he's crazy!". I love it but it may be difficult to make out...it is an image of a person's head & body in the center, with an out stretched arm at the left.

Blind Contour Drawings:

Created by my oldest group of students, 12-13 year-old's, who were also my most challenging group of students. This was the first lesson we did together, but it was difficult for them because it required a lot of focus & patience.

STUDENT PERFORMANCES:

DABKAH (Palestinian Traditional Dance)

UNICYCLING (Johannes' Class)

HANY (Karate Instructor)

MORE PHOTOS OF ART EXHIBITION:

Art Lesson: Faces of Emotion

2007-07-22T05:35:00.000-07:00

This is a lesson I taught with my youngest class, ages 6-8 years old.

TEACHER DEMONSTRATION:
I asked to have a volunteer come to the front of the classroom and express an emotion (such as surprised, angry, sad, etc.) The students had to guess which emotion they were making and I would then draw a picture of their face at the front of the class.

PRACTICE WITH MIRRORS:

I then passed out mirrors which I had bought at the "Library" (AKA: supply store) earlier that morning. I asked the students to look in the mirrors and practice making their faces of different emotions.

THE PROJECT:

I asked the students to pair up, and then passed out paper & black markers. The students folded their paper into quarters, and took turns modeling an expression & drawing, switching roles with eachother back & forth.

MORE PHOTOS:

I think the class enjoyed this lesson and I love these photos of the kids practicing their different facial expressions.

My Most Challenging Class: PART 1 of 2

2007-07-21T06:41:00.000-07:00

It was a rough road at the beginning with this class, but this is a fairy tale story with an amazing ending about how brilliant these kids really are...

MEET MY CHALLENGING CLASS:
The 2nd week into the "Bright Stars" Camp, I was assigned a brand new group of 8 students to teach art to. I realized, almost immediately, that they would be my most challenging class of all. For starters, they were not even interested in art, nor did they want to learn about art, and they had no self confidence in themselves & their artistic abilities.

SERBIAN JEWELRY LESSON:
This was how I captured their attention...I told them that I would take whatever jewelry they created & packaged in class, and I would sell it at the music festival I was going to in Serbia.

THE VALUE OF YOUR OWN ARTWORK- JEWELRY PRICE TAGS:
I created English-Arabic Tags for the students to fill out & include inside the jewelry packages, full of confetti.

They wrote their name, age, hometown, and price (in New Israeli Shekels) on the tag, and then wrote a message about themselves on the inside. I told them to write whatever it was that they wanted people from around the world to know about them. Some wrote about how they live in a refugee camp, many wrote about how they love their country Palestine. Ina (my German roommate) helped me create labels to seal each jewelry package, which included a photo of the student who made it & the ICB's web address.

Many of the students asked me about what price they should sell their jewelry for. I told them that the artist should be the only one to know the true value of their work. I wanted to help boost the students self-esteem, making them think their jewelry was really incredible and help them learn how to feel proud of their work.

WE WANT HOMEWORK!:
They loved this idea so much that they asked if they could take the beads home with them to work on for homework!

NADYA HELPING TRANSLATE MESSAGES FOR JEWELRY TAGS:

SALES WITH SASS IN SERBIA:
At the festival in Serbia, me & my friend Charlotte (from England) sold all the jewelry in one day! We took photos of each of the lovely people who purchased the jewelry so that my class, back in Palestine, could see their international customer-base & view their jewelry being worn by those very people who bought their artwork.

JEWELRY CUSTOMERS @ FESTIVAL:

A SUCCESS, BUT WHAT'S NEXT?:
When I returned from Serbia, all the students were extremely excited to see me to find out about their jewelry-sales. Many of the Palestinian Camp Staff members kept telling me to just give each kid their earned money and "halas" (be done with it). BUT I HAD A BETTER PLAN IN MIND...

PAINTING A MURAL:

It was an easy decision between the students. They wanted to do something really cool with the money: to purchase cans of paint to create a mural on a wall outside the school.

THE PRINCIPLE BEHIND THE PROJECT:

To give the Palestinian children the experience & oportunity to...

1) EARN their own money (like real adults)

2) View earnings as a "Communal Fund" (not $ individually earned)
3) Experience International Relations

(through photos & messages between students & customers from Euro-festival)

4) Responsibly CHOOSE what to do w/earned $ (& then agree together, as a team)

5) Feel empowered to "give back" to the community

TO BE CONTINUED...
(painting mural= see Part 2 of Blog Post)

The Revolution Begins

2007-07-21T06:29:00.001-07:00

ISSA & NITZAN: ONE PALESTINIAN & ISRAELI AT A TIME...

One of my closest friends from Israel, Nitzan, came to meet me and Issa, one of my closest friends from Palestine. It was the first time for each of them to have ever gotten the chance to meet a person from the other side and it was so amazing to hear them talk and learn about one another.

MAR ELIAS HOLIDAY:
The Palestinians receive permission on certain holidays,throughout the year, to visit Israel. This past Friday, July 20th, was Mar Elias Holiday. Out of the 1500 people (from Bethlehem & surrounding areas) who applied for permission to go to Israel, only 500 received it. At around 4 AM (YES I SAID 4 AM!!!) the bus with all the Palestinians (+ me & Ina) departed for Israel. Last year, the trip was cancelled because of the war in Lebanon, so I think everyone was extra excited to be going this year.

HAIFA & TIBERIAS:
We arrived at Marelias Church at 7 AM and the Palestinaians began to play cards and gamble outside the church (which is an ironic tradition they do each year). Then we went to a water park in Tiberias. Nitzan met us later that evening on the boardwalk in Tiberias, where we had a beautiful dinner on the water (where Jesus walked).

ISSA & NITZAN CONVERSE:
While we were at dinner in Tiberias, Issa showed Nitzan what his permission form for entering Israel looks like (see picture at left). Nitzan currently has 3 months remaining in the Israeli Army, where she has been in the education department; teaching the soldiers about Middle East History & Culture. I just asked Issa to tell me something he learned from meeting Nitzan, and he was surprised about how open-minded she was. I think Nitzan was surprised to learn about how Issa thinks of Israel as having a positive impact on the West Bank.

Another important observance to note, that Nitzan & Issah realized, is that the only other words they know of the other's language, are the phrases & words used at the checkpoints. Neither are fluent speakers of the others language, but both know English extremely well and used this to communicate during their conversations.

Art Lesson: Georgia O'Keefe

2007-07-18T13:03:00.000-07:00

THE CHAIR-LESS ART STUDIO:
As I mentioned earlier, one of my favorite classes is the one where we sit in a room with no chairs...

OBSERVING NATURE OUTSIDE:
One day, when I had lots of friends & extra volunteers visiting this class, we went outside. In the spirit of true nature enthusiasts, we observed the flowers with magnifying glasses. Not always noticable to the naked human eye, I pointed out how the flower's pedals are made up of many colors and not just one.

BAD IDEA:I then made a mistake of secretly picking a couple flowers from the garden to have as a point of reference for when we returned back to the classroom. Needless to say, one of the teachers saw my flower picking & did not approve. I tried to say I found them -already picked- and laying on the ground; but it was a bad stretch of the truth. I then tried to justify the sacrifice of these flowers for the sake of art & study of science; but I learned my lesson & will never pick flowers from a garden again.

LESSON ABOUT THE ARTIST:
I told the students about Georgia O'Keefe, the American female artist who is most famous for her up-close depictions of over 200 flower paintings. We discussed her life & learned about how O'Keefe gradually lost her eyesight as she got older.

FLOWER PAINTING PROJECT:
I asked the class to pretend they are ants crawling along the pedals of their flowers while they paint their masterpieces. We learned as well about composition, as I demonstrated how to zoom in using your hands to crop the view of the flower on our paper. We then preceeded to paint the flowers with watercolor.

MY OBSERVANCES:
I was amazed about how focused the students were with their flower paintings. Although some needed a bit of an extra boost at the beginning, when they had to sketch their flowers, everyone was right on target once they began painting. I could tell they were enjoying themselves immensely.

THE STUDENTS:
These 2 photos are of a set of twins in my class, named Said & Aseer.

We did not get the chance to complete the flowers in the 1 hour class period, especially because I explained to everyone that their papers had to be completely covered with water color. At the start of the next class, while I was grabbing a few extra materials from ths supply room, the children went ahead on their own, without any teacher guidance, and preceeded to begin completing their O'Keefe flowers. This was an extremlely rewarding site to see as I entered the classroom.