Category: Teaching
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Breathe: Art Lives in Community
“This morning I have been pondering a nearly forgotten lesson I learned in high school music. Sometimes in band or choir, music requires players or singers to hold a note longer than they actually can hold a note. In those cases, we were taught to mindfully stagger when we took a breath so the sound…
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Looking Back, Looking Forward
Four years ago this weekend, in the midst of concern over the potential for our country to unravel after the 2016 election, I had an opportunity at the last minute to create something at an arts festival in Ypsilanti, Michigan. My head was a mix of fear, worry, protectiveness, hope, connection, and disconnection. Although my…
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How to Make: Origami Jumping Frog
In honor of the Partners for Amphibian and Reptile Conservation’s first annual Amphibian Week, I will be publishing two amphibian related activities. Each activity will require about 90 minutes altogether if you do all the parts, and each contains some observation, some playful learning opportunities, and concludes with a Maker project and a chance to…
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Songs of Urban Ecology: Cathedral of M-14 Fugue
What spaces around you do you ignore? Stop, Observe, Listen. The Second Song to Urban Ecology, this one was actually begun first. It was originally a photo series that I took in one of my favorite parks, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. M-14 is an expressway that runs between Ann Arbor and Plymouth, which is…
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Make it Out of the Ordinary: Pixel Magic
Join the #pixelmagicmoon challenge and contribute to our collaborative reIMAGINEd FOOLmoon CommUNITY!
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Make it Out of the Ordinary: Faux Luminariaux
This post about making something Out of the Ordinary isthe first of several I will be doing in collaboration with WonderFool Productions as a part of their new initiative, FOOLmoon CommUNITY in which they will enable creative engagement with WonderFool artists both as a response to the current physical isolation, and to deepen and extend…
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How to Make: Shadow Puppet Machine for FOOLmoon Reimagined
Join the fun and create a shadow-puppet machine for FOOLmoon Reimagined 2020.
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UNTIED-UNITED: Stronger Together
FLY’s weekend was inspiring and magical. We made a web of interconnectedness at DIYpsi, which we titled “Untied-United.†It’s now hanging on our wall but the process was interactive and thoughtful. About 100 visitors contributed to the yarn-bomb over the two day event, and many many others peered in the door. Given the divisive climate…
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Math Arts with Kids
Teaching problem solving skills is an interesting exercise and watching young people address the design problems I formulate for them is inspiring. The last few weeks we have been doing math and art in the mobile program at FLY where I work. At the different schools the artists in the class come up with different…
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Contrapposto Cantilevers
Much like we like to take pictures and make sculptures of each other, the Egyptians tried to portray the human figure in sculpture and paint. See this example below, which is in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, AKA the Met. She is tall and slim, with great posture and huge eyes. QUESTION: What words would…
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Creative Universe Summer Series
Today was the first day of our Saturday morning series. Christine did Triangles with Art Play (a class designed for pre-school) from 9:00am to 10:00, and then I came in to do M. C. Escher, patterns and tesselations. We re-named Mad Science to Creative Universe since we look at the universality of Art to help…
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Mad Science: Calder; Mobiles and Paper
What do you think of kinetic art? Â Does it sound complicated and hard? Â It’s not, it is just a fancy way of saying “Art that moves.” Â This last week at Mad Science Saturday we explored motion and balance looking at the kinetic art of Alexander Calder. To make this project, our young renaissance artists…
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Brecht, Aelita, and other Inspirations
One of my other recent projects was at the same school where we did Charlie Brown, but with the “Upper School” students (Grades 9-12). It was the play by Bertholt Brecht, The Caucasian Chalk Circle. It takes place in the Caucuses region in what is present day Georgia. It is not about “white” people, though if…
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Goings On About Town
Though my drawing a day project has once again fizzled, I have in fact been making art nearly every day. When I started the project, my intention was to do all kinds of work, showing progress, drawings, sketches, and finished work as it went on. But as the project went on, my parameters got more…
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Symmetry
This week I was digging through some old image files for one reason and another. This one stood out as something interesting. It was done during one of my private lessons while I lived in Madrid. At the time, most of the drawings from those classes seemed un-interesting. During classes, I mostly did figural works,…
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Fractal Collars
Last weekend, I had an extraordinary experience. At the College Arts Association Conference, I met several people through my Fractal Necklaces. That’s not the extraordinary part though. As many of you who actually know me in person know, I’ve long been obsessed with pattern and structure in Fiber, be it beads, crochet, or paper. Before…