Thursday, July 29, 2010

kid art

This summer I am working at an art camp for elementary-age kids. They say funny things:

Camper 1: "Ooh, lets go to the modern art wing [of the National Gallery]"
Camper 2: "Uh, oh, watch out -- "modern" means "naked"."

At a cheesy performance about recycled music instruments:
Cheesy performer: "See, here's a drum made of a box, and a guitar made out of rubber bands! You can make instruments from just about anything, whateverr the f--, uh, heck you want!"
Camper: "Was that man about to say a bad word?"
Counselor: "Yes, that is why the counselors were all laughing so much."
Camper: "I was laughing too, because I know that word. My mom says it in the car all the time. She honks so she thinks I can't hear it, but I can."

Camper: "There is a lot of nakedism in art."


They also make pretty cool art. We did a pointilism landscape painting project using tempera paints and q-tips. Before they got to work, we brainstormed the things you can find in the landscape, and we talked about creating a sense of depth using scale and overlap. I did a demonstration about how objects seem smaller from far away, basically by doing this. We also talked about light and shadow, and I encouraged them to be imaginative in their use of color.

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