January 22, 2012

Today’s class was particularly rewarding as we are now getting to know the students better and they are becoming more comfortable with us.

We met Ronalle and a group of 10 vey excited students at the DNA office. All of the kids had attended our previous classes. We walked with them to the Island Waves Community center. The children were particularly energetic today. The boys ran ahead chasing each other and jumping over puddles and off curbs while the girls walked behind us shrieking and singing Michal Jackson songs. The ages ranged from 6 to 13. They all lived in the slums known as the Peas and the Mud and least 3 of them were orphans.

We learned from the last class that this group of children very interested in music so we decided to make musical instruments with them. We had them draw on paper plates with markers and then we glued them together and filled them with beans to make maracas. We showed them how to draw starburst designs and spirals on the plates.

Many of the students are not confident in their artistic ability and constantly ask us to draw things for them so the challenge is to show them how to draw what we are drawing so that they can do it themselves. Most of the girls and the more artistic boys got really into the project and focused on drawing intricate designs on the plates while 3 or 4 of the boys could not sit still for more that a few minutes at a time. For the last half hour of the hour and a half class I ended up doing yoga and gymnastics with the boys out side while Jackie helped the other kids hot glue their plates together.

One of the students, Jonathan, who is about 10 years old, particularly reminds me of me. He is constantly running around doing flips and cartwheels and picking flowers. Although his attention span is short, he followed my directions well and was able to reproduce some of the designs I showed him how to draw. Ronalle mentioned to me before class to help encourage him to go to school because he has not been attending regularly. I explained to him how important it is to go to school if he wants to play sports and do fun things. He started to really open up to me and told me that both his parents are dead.

Ronalle later explained that he lives with his 15 year old and 13 year old brother in a tiny room with just one bed in it. He says the room messy and strewn with dirty cloths because they have no shelves or storage spaces of any sort. We decided it would be great to raise some money to build them a bunk bed and some shelves and maybe give them some posters or a tapestry to put up.

When all the students had finished their maracas we fed them a much-appreciated snack of green apples carrots and peanut butter. All the kids left reluctantly but with huge smiles of their faces. We look forward to working with these kids again next weekend.

Second Week at Hope Town School

On Friday January 20th, was our second week in the Hope Town Primary School. We worked on creating banners, posters, and a school mural encompassing their school motto : "Share our Care, Be Aware". Students told us about what they are doing in their community to take care of their environment. Some common themes were, picking up trash on the beaches, and throughout the mangroves; water collection, and conservation; growing gardens. One student told us what it meant to be an "Eco-Warrior", someone who strives to better our earth, which they all expressed was really important to them! 

Work from the first week displayed in their classroom.

While working on the mural, we discussed with the 5-6 graders how to include perspective and shading when painting.

Frist Class with Island Waves Community Center

Today Sunday January 15th we held our first class in the new building with the Island Community Center. We meet our students from last week who attended our last class, and walked them over to the center. There we worked on making individual sketch books, using rubber bands, copy paper, and construction paper. The children seemed to really take to this project, decorating their books, with drawings, their names, and stencils. We talked about how one can use a sketch book, not only drawing, but also writing. We had a small group of about 7 students, aging from 6-10. At the end of our class, we were joined by Devon Bootle, a local artist and member of the community center. He showed us some of his own work from his own sketch book. The students were blown away. He started to show them how to make shapes come alive by shading. Next week we plan on making musical instruments.

Hope Town School

Friday January 13th, was our first day with the students. We started our day working with pre-school, then 1-2 grade, 3-4 and lastly 5-6. Classes are small in numbers so they are combined into one. Today's objective was learning students names and getting a hold of the skill sets of each grade. We first talked about warm and cool colors, to shapes, and then to collaging. Older students worked on collaging their names, while the younger students worked on developing warm colored letters.

Our plans for future classes are to next work on color wheels, getting to know opposites and complimentary colors. Then will work on an ongoing mural on one of the outside walls of the school. Making t-shirts for the students, where they draw themselves picking up their environment, which will then lead into creating a mobile of ocean-life.

Examples of Student Work

Name Change

We have joined up with Island Waves Community Center in Marsh Harbor, teaching the art program. Our program is evolving to encompass both Bahamian and Haitian students on the Island of Abaco, we are changing the name of the program to Abaco Integrative Art Program.

Link to Island Waves Community Center- Island Waves Page

Monday January 9th-

Met with the local Hope Town primary school leaders/teachers today. We are going to be teaching art on Fridays during the school days. They do not have art at the moment, and the children seem very excited!

First Class-

Sunday January 8th-

Started our first class today. It was a success, had 15-20 students in total. Ages ranging from 6-14. We worked our simple shapes and colors while creating our own name tags!

                                               John working on his Name tag.

                                                Jessica working with students.

Jaclyn with students showing finished work.