Kristen is a kooky, fun, sculpture/fabrics/installation artist originally from the west coast (Washington state). We talked about everything from our love lives to organic farming during the three weeks we spent working together. Kristen is very open and approachable. The best kind of laid back - which allowed for a flexible, evolving camp structure when things got confusing or harried. Her activities were the same for both age groups, which was easy on us as far as planning, and easy for the volunteers to follow/remember. I've included a photo of Kristen's work below from her show "Soak, Stain, Bleed, Bloom" - if anyone is interested, she also has a website (kristenchochran.com).
Christopher is a funky, slap-stick, sculpture/community-centered/installation artist from the Fort Worth area. He works a lot with photography in his own work, so the current show of the Modern's permanent collection photography was perfect for Chris' camps. I loved working with Chris - the five and six year olds were all about giving him high-fives because he would pretend to fall over and be mega-hurt from the force of their high-five. His work is very interesting to me because of the community involvement aspect. For example you could look up his piece called Noah's Ark - on Noah Street in Fort Worth - where the community came together to donate pieces that were used to build an ark. The community is historically African American, and they decided to take down the ark as a celebration on the anniversary of the emancipation proclamation going into effect. The pieces were put into storage and it will be rebuilt next year. I've included a photo below. Chris had two different pieces for the kids to work on each week - so the 5-6 kids had different projects than the 7-8 kids did - both were hugely successful.
The basic structure of the camps for the last three weeks was one week of prep work, then the 5-6 camp met for a week. During that time the kids were with Christopher Blay for an hour and a half roughly, would go have snack for 20-30 minutes outside somewhere, and then would work with Kristen for an hour and half before going home. So they had different projects, teachers, works to be thinking about all week. Then the next week (no prep week in between, yikes!) we went straight into the 7-8 ages. I have to say, I was not a fan. Yes, the kids being older allowed for things like them being able to go to the bathroom on their own, etc. but the kids were so much more hyper-active and rebellious. They had hit the age where they were testing out the boundaries of authority figures. I preferred working with the kiddos who just want to hug you and will listen if you tell them to hold onto the stair railing or to step back from an artwork!
So Chris had the kids in the 5-6 class look at Laurie Simmons' work "Walking House" from the show, and then decorate their own cardboard box houses to wear, with their legs poking out like Simmons'. I've attached photos of both the kids and the Simmons' piece.
The next week he had the kids looking at the photo show in general and they built camera obscuras, which they later turned into light boxes to display drawings they did with their camera obscuras. We even turned the lecture room into a giant camera obscura for them to experience.
Kristen's projects focused on cut outs inspired by Gordon Matta-Clark, mini-landscape boxes that we photographed, and dioramas inspired by photos one artist (name is failing me) who photographed displays at the natural history museum in DC, and finally they dressed up and took photos like Cindy Sherman. I've attached some photos below. All of them were very successful both weeks and the kids loved them! I've attached a few photos of the kids works below!
This next week will be prep for ages 9-11 camps! Hopefully they'll be a little less hyper/crazy. If not, I will endure.
Miranda,
ReplyDeleteI so love hearing about the different approaches everyone's museums take to their camp/storytime programming. I am sure it has been a special kind of adventure to get to work with these artists during camp. Children can be chaotic, but your photos make it look like they are having a blast (and getting to play with fun/unconventional art supplies, which I always love!).
It seems like you have had a variety of teaching styles and experiences in the last few weeks - have you developed a preferred age group to work with, or a preferred teaching style? What do you think of the formula the Modern uses for their camps (teaching artists, types of projects, etc.)?
Older kids can be harder to work with, for exactly the reason you laid out! They often love to test authority! Were you able to come up with any communication techniques to head that off? How did you deal with those issues? How do you change your communication/classroom management style to scale with age? That's been something I've had to work very hard at the last few years. As you pointed out, talking with a 5-year-old can be VERY different than with an 8-year-old!