Stop Motion Photography

Hi! An art camp group from two weeks ago was introduced to photography. This group of eleven 9 to 11-year-olds were immediately intrigued upon learning about F-stop, shutter speed, aperture functions, negatives and emulsion, etc.

After studying the Poloroid photo collages of David Hockney and creating their own collages with images, they decided as a group that they wanted to do a project that involved more than just still photography - stop motion.

We got to work right away, preparing costumes, dialoging about ideas and themes, and the kids even composed their own songs using Garage Band to accompany the photo slideshows. We looked at some original "stop motion" photography by the photographer working during the 19th century, Eadweard Muybridge, to get a better idea of history and possibilities.

Enjoy the short slideshow and music while keeping in mind the involved process the children were so engaged in to create these pieces in only four days! (Also, I was only able to upload one video for now, but please feel free to view the other two on the Kidstreet Flickr site in the right hand column of this page).

Camps are growing! Trees are being created!

Last week, Jenny and Angela's camp conducted a Tree Study in which they first gathered natural materials during a walk around Lillstreet, then used printmaking and painting techniques to create large-scale trees. Enjoy the colorful pictures!

Please visit our new Flickr site for more images!

"The Magical Mango Tree"

Last week, the 7 to 11-year-old Clay & Multi-Media camp created their own screenplay and a feature film (only about 4 minutes long though). Their movie was shot on Thursday and premiered on Friday. I am so impressed with the children's unlimited imagination and motivation behind the making of this beautiful film, "The Magical Mango Tree."

Because one of my goals as an art teacher at Lillstreet is to help the children engage in community outreach, I invited a friend and filmmaker, who studies film at Columbia College Chicago, to bring a video camera, some lighting equiptment, and film knowledge to the kids. He enthusiastically agreed, and helped the children make their screenplay a movie! It was a huge success - about 40 people attended the premiere (thanks to all of you who were able to support our budding filmmakers' and actors' careers!).

If you're interested, please visit this site http://actionart.ning.com/ to see a new Community of Practice (CoP, or on-line discussion forum) I've developed to engage people in dialogue about children's art-making practices as a form of taking action in their communities. I was actually asked to create a CoP for an Erikson Institute school assignment, but I hope the discussions will continue to grow and advance well beyond the course semester. On this site, you'll see some new discussion forums, a few photos, and the children's screenplay for "The Magical Mango Tree."

Don't forget to check out our new Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/40063406@N07/

(lots of "Production Stills" have recently been posted!)

Quinn

Camp is in full swing!

Hi!  So far, the kids here at camp are creating beautiful works of art...and this is just the beginning of summer!  Please see the new Kidstreet sign below, designed and painted by the children in Lauren's class...it is truly an amazing piece of collaborative art.  (And personally, I think this should be printed on the next batch of Kidstreet t-shirts)

I just finished teaching an unbelievably spectacular week of camp.  The children in the AM Red Room studio worked so hard on all kinds of projects.  Two of the most inspiring seemed to be our Matisse collage study, and the anti-smoking extravaganza.  The Matisse study turned into a full-blown performance with paper puppets, performed for over 35 people (the children made and distributed tickets to the other camp classes).  I might be able to show the video footage we captured during tomorrow's Open House (12-5pm at Lillstreet!).  

The anti-smoking project was motivated by the children's dissatisfaction with people smoking near them at lunch-time on Wednesday afternoon.  The entire group picked up their lunches and moved away from the smoke in the air, and just a moment later an anti-smoking club was formed.  Please feel free to view the activist art work made by the children in response to their disapproval, just beside Lillstreet Art Center's front steps.   

Enjoy the images documenting these fantastic child-prompted, elaborate, fun, and inspiring art projects!

The Anti-Smoking Club:

The Matisse study and preparation for "Icarus in the Sea":

Camp has begun!!!

Happy summer everyone!  We are all very excited about such a wonderful start to a new camp session!  

Below are just a few images I took during wheel throwing and clay & multi-media. 

Teachers and students alike have been very focused on their art-making practices, and so far it looks like no one has forgotten to have FUN!

...Please check our blog periodically throughout the summer for more images of the artwork and your children working hard as budding talented artists...

Also, please don't forget to come out to our SUMMER OPEN HOUSE this Saturday from 12-5pm!!!  

For more info, see www.lillstreet.com 

Quinn

Our New Reading Area

The new reading area in the Yellow Room kids studio is really coming along!  Check out our progress below....

Before:

During:

After, and still in progress!

One of my favorite features of the newly painted wall are the black spots...we used CHALKBOARD PAINT!

Quinn

Camp has begun!!!

Happy summer everyone!  We are all very excited about such a wonderful start to a new camp session!  

Below are just a few images I took during wheel throwing and clay & multi-media. 

Teachers and students alike have been very focused on their art-making practices, and so far it looks like no one has forgotten to have FUN!

...Please check our blog periodically throughout the summer for more images of the artwork and your children working hard as budding talented artists...

Also, please don't forget to come out to our SUMMER OPEN HOUSE this Saturday from 12-5pm!!!  

For more info, see www.lillstreet.com 

Quinn