Coleman's Camp FALL 2013 - Large Scale Painting

Scaling Up of Painting Techniques with Nontraditional Materials

Coleman's Camp FALL 2013 - Creation Through Destruction

Controlled Destruction of Inoperable Electronic Devices for Art Projects

Coleman's Camp - Weekly Journal Entry: 1/21/2013

Week of 1-21: the Thursday group tested their critical thinking and problem solving skills by working through a few classic survival scenarios such as trapped at sea and lost in the wilderness.  Students read a scenario describing an emergency situation and then had to make choices about what to do and what supplies to take or prioritize.  Students then worked the same scenarios again in competing groups to see how group decisions and the decision making process compared to their individual choices.  We then looked at the suggested choices and explanations as given by the US Coast Guard and wilderness survival experts (http://www.wilderdom.com/games/descriptions/SurvivalScenarios.html).  

Students learned if they would have survived or not and why certain obvious choices were dangerous and how outside-the-box thinking is invaluable.  The Saturday group created fantasy worlds based on fabric and paper cutouts of their hands and feet.  The kids thought of how creatures would live in these words and they made a background world for them.

Coleman's Camp - Weekly Journal Entry: 1/1/2013

Week of 1-1: The start of a new year!  My Thursday group has been thinking of doing small skits or plays for several weeks to demonstrate and explore some of the concepts we have been working on.  However, we have consistently run out of time each week and this week they demanded they have the time and materials to create original performances.  We brainstormed a variety of surreal, humorous, and interesting ideas that the kids were passionate about.  Groups were formed based on interest in each of the stories.  We worked through outlining a story with a beginning, middle and end and then students began scripting out the actual story, parts, and building props.  The Saturday group I wanted to reverse the story writing process and give them a concrete object to build their stories around so we created monsters from scratch, using some high-quality fabric samples, wooden blocks, glue guns, and an assortment of eyes, metal pieces, and art supplies.  Next week both groups will be adding to their stories and will be performing their skits/plays - my plan is to record and post the videos.

Coleman's Camp - Weekly Journal Entry: 12/10/2012

Week of 12-10: Bonding with kids in Thursday and Saturday sessions about plans for winter break.  We feel like a real class sharing our excitement for the holidays.  Building off of our prior learning involving what our brain does and does not notice in our reality, we look at the work of several surrealist artists who worked at presenting reality in a new light.  Kids used mixed media to create surreal collages.  Students also requested we spend time practicing multiplication tests that some were struggling to pass in their classrooms.  Other students wanted to go further into surrealism and create additional pieces.  The Thursday session room split into 3 groups, 1) multiplication practicing (using the exact materials from their classroom), 2) additional surrealism collages, and 3) a group of boys beginning to make a surrealist film!