GOBBLE GOBBLE!

Let's Go to the Library! Another theme week: Thanksgiving. This time, students decorated a poster thanking the volunteers & library staff, and over at the art table, we made TURKEY PUPPETS! gobble gobble gobble (turkey dance).

Put googly eyes on anything, and it immediately becomes more exciting.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!!!

(we are thankful for googly eyes. and pie.)

Community Construction!

Back at the after-school program, students have been working on replicating buildings from their community. Each student picked a building they wanted to draw & paint, and eventually, we will create a miniature version of their community, mapped out with the buildings they made. In the coming weeks, we will be adding streets, transportation, people, and foliage.

Students did practice sketches in pencil to 

get the shapes down, then outlined in Sharpie.

The last step was painting, which was done in

tempera. Lots of buildings still to go.

Rome was not built in a day!

Let's Go to the Library - Halloween Theme

Monster Mania!

Every Saturday,we volunteer at the "Let's Go to the Library" program, a weekly event for refugee students led by Journey's End. Sometimes, there is a theme, and we develop an art project to go along with it (Sometimes, we just wing it. It's a relaxed atmosphere). For the Halloween-theme, we made torn-paper monsters, each with their own personalities. It was a blast.

Student Work: Flower & Lollipop...Sugar, Spice & Everything Nice Monster

Student Work: Trick-or-Treat Monster!

Captain Tracy & Dino Zoe show off their monsters.

 Student Work: ...Safety Fail.

Printed Homes

In our fifth week of after-school classes, students continued making art based on Do-Ho Suh and the idea of home. This time, they learned some basic printmaking skills, using Styrofoam and ink. They drew their homes, and printed them on colored paper.

Personal Spaces

Inspired by the art of Do-Ho Suh (see below), students examined their own feelings about the concept of "home". We talked about the different rooms and objects within their homes, and their feelings about their favorite spaces. They chose a color to represent the feeling they had about the space/room they chose, and a symbolic object to represent that part of their home.

Do-Ho Suh's "Home Within a Home"

Student Projects:

Sonic the Hedgehog, from playing video games in the living room.

Bunkbed, from the bedroom.

Zebra-striped lamp, from the bedroom.

Tree, from climbing in the backyard.

6-Word Memoirs

In our third week of after-school art classes, students learned all about 6-word memoirs.
They practiced writing three of their own, and chose one to incorporate into a self-portrait with blown watercolors. Here are a few of the results: "Likes to watch tv; Power Rangers", "Fayda likes painting, penguins, and popcorn", and "I love everyone the same way".

Clay Mini-Me

Our second week of after-school art, students learned all about the art of Antony Gormley, whose installation of mini-clay figures was made by people he met in the community where he was working.

Students created mini-versions of themselves using air-dry clay, complete with details to help show off their own personal style.

 

Silhouette Self-Portraits

This was our first week of class. We wanted to get to know the students, so we had them fill out a "facebook" page all about themselves.

Afterward, students helped one another trace their silhouettes onto paper, and filled the inside with pictures and text from magazines that showed characteristics of their personalities.

Welcome!

Welcome to After-School Art with Tracy & Zoe, two grad students from Buffalo State College who teach art at an after-school program in Buffalo, NY. Once a week, students from the community stop by to make art. This year, we are working with Global Voices and Young Audiences to create art all about the unique West Side community. Check out our students' artwork, all about themselves and their homes. Our interests, our homes, and where we live are a big part of what shapes our identity, not only as people, but as a community. Enjoy!