So what is the ultimate goal of the Art Garage? Well, I suppose the primary purpose is to create community and spread a sense of goodness and joy in the world. But it would also be nice if it were self-sustaining. What if the Art Garage were a place to learn how to be an entrepreneur? The economy in Peoria is pretty lousy. Especially for the kids in my neighborhood.
The world is an ever changing place, and now more than ever people need to find new and innovative ways to share their gifts, make their way, and find success. What better life training than entrepreneuralism. So one of the ultimate goals of the Art Garage is to create avenues to show and sell our products. Well, just yesterday we had our first buyer. Melody, who is also honorary Art Garage member, was admiring one of the unicorns. She offered us $2.15 for it. Our very first sale! We also had our first donation--two tables, flowers and even an art fund to buy supplies. What a wonderful week!
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So just to update you all on the outcome of the Karma Award Project, indeed just moments after posting a member of our Garage came by to ask if we were doing anything in the garage. I told her about the sick neighbor and she immediately agreed to help mow the lawn. The lawn was two feet high, and there was a lot of garbage strewn around. Moreover, I have a manual push mower, so it is not an easy job even under the best of circumstances. She started by just using the weed-wacker, to get some of the most egregious thick sections. Then went to work with the manual mower. It didn't take long for the other kids to come and help out. Soon there were ten of us on the small lawn, mowing, trimming, sweeping and picking up trash. It was a beautiful sight. I wanted to do plaster again, and since we are having an end of school slime party next week, I thought to do it today. I let the boys go first, with hopes that I could hold their attention and they would have a great product.
Check out some of their work. This one is a winner. Fleece baby blankets soaked in the plaster and then molded around bowls and planters. I think we will have some great success. Fingers crossed for the unmolding! Last Wednesday we used epoxy resin to make all sorts of cool stuff. Everyone's favorite was the unicorn molds. Epoxy is generally easy to work with, but you have to mix the proportions just right, and mix it well.
The mix I use is 50:50 epoxy to hardener. So we poured it into one large cup to be stirred and stirred and then poured into each seperate individual's cup. Unfortunately, we didn't stir long enough and those who received the first pours got mostly the hardener. Ironically, those molds did not harden. I decided to re-do the two most beautiful ones and used the couple remaining spots in the tray to make my own resin unicorns. In on I spelled out karma. Ta-Dah! The making of the KARMA AWARD! So here is how it works. The good deed for the week receives the Karma Award for the week and then has special priveledges, not to mention good karma. I have a neighbor who is quite sick and so I am hoping I can get someone to become the first recipient by helping me mow our neighbor's lawn. I will keep you posted. This year I made a plan not to buy anything all year. Well, March came around and the third grade class I was volunteering with needed a good STEM project. I have a favorite project using Kool-Aid and wool yarn. So my non-buying was broken. Well there is always next year.
As I was left with extra yarn, I was trying to think of what would be a good project for all of the kids to do. Then one of my boys asked if he could crochet a phone case like the one I use. I thought, "Hey, why not? Boys can crochet!" Just check out this impressive young man who explains how to crochet kitchen scrubcloths. Such a great teacher and excellent handwork. Rudolf Steiner, the founder of the Waldorf schools, believed that boys needed handwork as much as girls. I cannot agree more. Handwork teaches patience, persistence, and can build attention and focus. It can also be calming once it is developed into a skill. It encourages pride in one's work. So many good things. So back to my favorite experiment with wool yarn. The experiment shows the different rates of binding. The red molecule binds faster and the blue molecule takes much longer to bind. Kids love this experiment. It is very experiential and sensory--from the smell of the KoolAid to the slowly changing colors of the yarn and water. This is just the right speed for high paced screen-based kids to slow down and smell the grapes. :) (or artificial grape as the case may be). If there are any teachers out there who want the lesson plan, just leave your info below, or contact me directly. Looking forward to sharing all the fabulous projects that are created! For the past two Wednesday's we have been doing Mother's Day projects. Blame it on my lack of date consciousness, but I did enjoy giving my Mom her mother's day gift last Sunday. Only then did I have the surprise that Mother's day wasn't until the next week. So my mom got her flower pen and glitter card a week early. And we had another week to make more gifts! Some of us have more than one mother, so it can be helpful to have more time. We moved from pens and cards to pillows. Everyone made some very nice projects. I was impressed with the ability to complete the work, with some making more than one gift. Heart pillows were only one of the creative ideas. My favorite was the Wall-ette. It is a felt wall hanging that has all the parts of a fancy wallet. So much fun! |
Abigail LarrisonEducator, Scientist and Art Maker. The purpose of all life is to spread joy. What brings more joy than making art? Archives
November 2023
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