New Classes Begin October 15th

The next 5-week term of classes begins October 15th, so sign up now!

We have classes for students as young as 18 months old all the way up to teens.  Go here for the complete Kidstreet  Fall 2012 Schedule!

Students learn to use clay on the wheel in Handbuilding and Wheelthrowing.

Now for both 8-10 year olds and those students who are 10-14!

Want to take something together with your child, but you don't have toddlers anymore?   Family Metalsmithing is for students ages 10-14 and their families.

Your 5-8 year old can come create in All Things Messy, where kids explore textures and color while using many different media. Smocks, and even goggles on occasion, are provided.

Don't miss your spot!  Register online or call 773.769.4226 to get creative now!

Art Materials You Didn't Know You Had

In Roz Adam's "Build it Up" class, students ages 3 1/2-6 use many different materials to construct their tall masterpieces. For many of these materials, being used in an art project is a second job.


Some materials once held paper towels, some kept fragile items from breaking during shipping, and some kept "adult" grape juice fresh for mommy and daddy.

These types of materials are precious for young artists. They are open-ended and not manufactured to be used in a specific way. They can be colored with markers, painted, or covered with tape. And best of all? They are FREE! Non-precious materials are wonderful feeders of imagination. Artists of all ages can cut, tear, color, and attach without the concern for how much the materials cost.

Most of us have a space for recycling in our homes, so why not create a box of these free art materials for your child to use? Egg cartons, cardboard tubes, juice and milk caps, and Styrofoam packing material are just a few possible items that will keep your kids inspired. And those melt-able-with-water packing peanuts? You can dab the end on a wet sponge, stick them together on a piece of cardboard and make entire cities and giant creatures! To complete your recycled art materials area, give your kids access to scissors, string, and masking tape (regular or colored), and your child will get busy making cities, animals, and planes for their other toys or pets. My favorite activity as a 9 year old? I loved turning boxes, string, and paper bags into habitats and play areas for my cat. My cat really loved it, too.


Want additional inspiration? We have a new class beginning May 4th called "Recycle the Day Away" in which students ages 5-8 learn about recycling and transform items that are typically thrown into a landfill to create personal and unique works of art.

Happy creating everyone!
Melanie

Spring Term and Spring Break Camps!

Crocus flowers are up! That must mean it's almost time for Spring Classes at Lillstreet! Our Spring classes begin the week of March 26th, so don't delay and let your favorite class fill up without you!

This year we are pleased to offer Spring Break camps the week of April 2nd. We have multimedia camp for ages 5 through 12 and an Egyptian Camp for ages 8-12. Both camps run Mon-Fri from 9-3:30 and students will use a variety of media, including clay, paint, fiber, wire, plaster gauze, and more! Campers will have outside time at a nearby park, weather permitting, and the Egyptian Camp will have a Wednesday field trip to the Oriental Institute in Hyde Park for hands on activities and a tour at the museum.

Does your child have a different Spring Break? Gather 5 or more students and we can create a custom camp just for you! Contact Melanie Brown for details: melanie@lillstreet.com


This warm weather also has me incredibly excited about Summer Camps! Many of you stopped by for our Summer Camp Reunion to create have some ice cream. Kimberly and I had a wonderful time seeing you all and your amazing creations. For those of you who missed it, here are a few images of what was made with our recycled camp shirts and our building project:



Re-purposed camp t-shirts never looked so good!


Some students drew a plan of their nature-inspired creation before using floral foam, tissue paper, and pipe cleaners to bring them to life.


Some created a place to live among the wildly-colored trees...











And others created fantastic creatures using only string and rubber bands to keep the creation together! It was a wonderful afternoon and we thank all of those who came out to play with us!

Be well and enjoy this wonderful weather. I plan to take more good slow walks around the neighborhood with my son, a magnifying glass, binoculars, and a specimen jar and do some active looking.
-Melanie

Inspired by Grandma Moses

Grandma Moses

Kidstreet Instructor Heather Mercer created the Inspired Artists class as a way to introduce the 5-8 year old students to a variety of different artists and mediums. This week the class was introduced to self-taught painter Grandma Moses. I am blown away by the paintings the students have made in response!




Learn more about Grandma Moses and her unusual art career by visiting the links below. You're never too young OR too old to create!

The New York Times "On This Day"

Video "Women Artists: Grandma Moses" by Susan David

Summer Camp Reunion and Spring Open House!

We are getting ready for Spring and Summer here at Kidstreet! The Spring and Summer class and camp schedules are online and we're very excited about all the new programming we have to offer.



In anticipation of camp, we are hosting a Summer Camp Reunion on March 3rd from 12-3pm with free summer-themed art projects and ice creams. Come in your camp t-shirt or summer themed outfit and enjoy an afternoon with your camp friends and teachers Melanie Brown and Kimberly Pancoast. Never been to camp? No problem! Come and find out what summer at Lillstreet is all about.

We are also hosting a Spring Open House on March 10th from 12-4pm with free workshops for all ages, artist demonstrations, and open studios. You can see the schedule of events here. Come both weekends and make some art with us!

Project of the Week: Exploring Texture with your Toddler



At Kidstreet, even those under the age of 2 have the opportunity to take a class. Today in Colored Textures, students explored soft felt, feathers, and pom poms along with soft shaving cream paint. We mixed and painted on a tray and a piece of felt-covered cardboard. We used our hands, brushes, pom poms, and cars to make our marks. Want to try it at home? Improvise with materials you already have. No felt? Use a piece of old t-shirt or towel to wrap around a piece of cardboard as a soft painting surface.



No cloth? Go shiny and paint on foil. No paint? Use whipped cream, yogurt, or a flour and water paste mixed with food coloring- these are great alternatives for shaving cream for children who are enthusiastic oral explorers. Plastic toy cars, cotton balls, and washable plastic figures are all great tools for making dots and tracks. A highchair tray makes a great place to work! You can also add a little school glue to the mix and your paint will retain some of its puffiness and hold collage elements such as re-purposed magazine clippings, gift wrap, tissue, and string.
Don't wait until you have the perfect materials for the perfect project, just get creative with your kids with what you have!


Lillstreet in the News:

A big thank you to Karen Jordan from ABC7 who filmed a wonderful piece on Lillstreet for "In Your Neighborhood". Roz Adam's "Build It Up" class is featured enthusiastically painting their imaginative wood constructions. You can watch it here.

Winter Break Camp.

Here is a look at some of the projects kids completed during their first week of winter break camp. Congratulations to a wonderful group of kids on their creative and enthusiastic approaches to these assignments.

Frida Kahlo's self portraits are loaded with images of symbolic objects. In this project, kids created a set of symbols to use in their own self portraits.

Campers were introduced to the work of Judith Scott. Mimicking her methods, students created armatures out of various materials. They completed their sculptures by diligently wrapping them with yarn, string, and strips of fabric.

After learning about Papunya Aboriginal art from the western desert region of Australia, students created their own "dot paintings" on limestone tiles.

We ended the week by making whimsical puppets.