tin foil

As you know I love using easy to grab materials. I like showing how simple art making can be. And of course that doesn't mean beautiful rare expensive materials don't have their place too...they do...but for experimenting a little tin foil can go a long way. In our quest to do art projects that reflect different parts of the world, last week we made tin foil reliefs with guest artist Jenel Schaffer. These were meant in reference to the retablas made in Mexico that traditionally show iconic forms rendered in ink and pencil that are used for screens in religious settings. Look at what a great job the home-schoolers did. 

The Art Assignment

Hi there- 


I keep raving about this PBS youtube channel. So here is a link. One of the reasons I think so highly of it is that it introduces us to artists in an easy encapsulated format and gives us a snippet of an assignment that is bite-sized and easy to incorporate into our busy lives yet still meaningful. 

Check it out!



http://www.theartassignment.com/episodes/assignments/

art around the world from russia to japan

http://explorationinart.blogspot.com/2012/03/kg-exploring-work-of-yayoi-kusama.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatlin%27s_Tower


We are using a map this year to learn about and discover art from around the world. So far we have gone to Russian and studied the deconstructivist sculptor Vladimir Tatlin and next we strapped on our seatbelts and zoomed over to Japan to study the polka dot power of contmeporary artist Yayoi Kusama. Please stay tuned to see where we go next.

trick or treat!

Breaking Boundaries

HIGHLIGHT of the summer of 2016!

We, The ALBRIGHT EXPERIMENTAL ART LAB, were commissioned to design and execute this amazing wall installation art on campus at the shared WXAC/BCTV lobby. Please come by to see it and thanks to all who participated. Tours and educational programs related to this fabulous ground-breaking mural to follow. 

The Oven Bird

The summer has gotten off to a whip-fast pace and I fear will slip right by so I am posting some pictures right now midstream to capture it. Starting here with a lovely poem by Robert Frost to set the mood. 

The Oven Bird

BY ROBERT FROST

There is a singer everyone has heard,

Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird,

Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again.

He says that leaves are old and that for flowers

Mid-summer is to spring as one to ten.

He says the early petal-fall is past

When pear and cherry bloom went down in showers

On sunny days a moment overcast;

And comes that other fall we name the fall.

He says the highway dust is over all.

The bird would cease and be as other birds

But that he knows in singing not to sing.

The question that he frames in all but words

Is what to make of a diminished thing.

beauty, humility, desire and attitude

Its been a wonderful year for the Experimental Art Lab!

We ended our sessions with paper-mache vessels, some became hats, some castles and some tea cups. An ode to Alice in Wonderland.

NATHAN

PEONY

CAT COUCH

As we gear up for summer, longer days, starry nights, blueberry picking, bike rides, daydreaming, seashell collecting and reading under the shade of a tree- here is a lovely journal entry to get you thinking by Louise Bourgeoise. 

https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/08/17/louise-bourgeois-letters-diaries-art/

the running stitch

I love teaching children how to sew the running stitch. It is so fundamental and relates to drawing, math, making,

mending, decorative arts, fashion, domestic arts and more. Here we took our inspiration from Claus Oldenburg's soft sculptures from the 1960's and after drawing on pieces of muslin practiced sewing and stuffing them into shaped pillows. There was so much interest in the drawn patterns on the fabric we have set up a time this summer to have them printed in Philadelphia. 

Be an architect/designer for a day!

Working with several groups throughout the city; homeschoolers, TEA Factory kids, Freedman Kids and the kids from Centre Park Lutheran Church, young artists

have been rolling up their sleeves and creating these wonderful model spaces. We hope to exhibit them later in the year complete with stories and blue prints.

A Warm Winter and a Cold Front

As we move from 2015 to 2016 I wanted to share some of the final projects before the holidays. This is one that's an old favorite that I often bring out again upon request. Learned from a street artist in Oakland, CA. we re-purpose old vinyl records by drawing on and decorating with permanent paint markers. Somehow the circular shape, the velvety slide of the marker on the slick surface often inspire new types of images and patterns.

Below you can see the focus with which the students were working away, from the elementary schoolers at Perry Street in Hamburg who I did an outreach program with to the home-schoolers that meet with me bi-weekly at the T.E.A. Factory in downtown Reading from kinder age to teens. 

Stay tuned as we move into more 3D and collaborative projects this spring, in addition to   going on some field trips and offering drawing circles to parents. We are busy with Art Lab which still meets on Monday afternoons, 4-5pm but with a new focus: making crafts to bring to the seniors at the Reading Hospital through their volunteer department. If anyone is interested in an outreach or field trip program please contact me at bkrumholz@alb.edu

For teens, I can hook you up with tickets to any cultural event on campus, with a built in opportunity to meet some college students. And teens are welcome to join in on any of our Meet & Make sessions which are listed on the website. 

Looking forward to a creative winter and spring!