Zendalas

Students experienced a zen-like state of mind as they created these "Zendalas" - a hybrid of zentangles and mandalas. In a circle (eternity, the earth, so many symbols!), they created energetic bursts of lines and shapes, adding color to bring their designs to life.

Earth Day Art

To celebrate Earth Day, students made up a superhero with the power to help save the Earth. They even used recycled paper from an old book as their background. The heroes were drawn in pencil and colored with marker.

Spring is in the Air!

Here in Buffalo, it is a VERY BIG DEAL when winter finally begins to fade away, and the sun finally pushes its way through the clouds for the first time in months. The best part is when the flowers begin to emerge from the ground, and our gray, grey world is suddenly colorful again. At the library program, we celebrated the Spring flowers by painting all kinds of flowers, both realistic and imaginary. The results were mini gardens, blooming with all kinds of colors and patterns.

Imaginary Worlds

At the Library Program, we delved into the world of make believe. Inspired by the Candy Land, Dr. Seuss's creative landscapes, the land of Oz, Neverland, and Atlantis, we discussed how we can use our imaginations to create a land all our own, made out of whatever we can think up!

Students' drawings featured all kinds of elements, including candy, ice cream, butterflies, monsters, princesses, magic, and more. They used oil pastel and watercolor paint to bring their drawings to life.

Rizzi Buildings!

At the After-School Art Program, we learned all about the pop artist James Rizzi and his vibrant, playful cityscapes:

Students loved the buildings that looked like people, so we created our own versions, adding patterns and decorations in addition to faces.

Library: Magic Wands

At this past week's Let's Go to the Library Program, magic was all around. The kids made magic wands out of decorated cardboard, adding flair and style with pipe cleaners, beads, ribbon and more. During the event's big magic trick, they got to use their wands to bring their own magic to the show. Some even performed their own show, making up spells and wowing the audience.

 

*faces edited to protect identities of children

Animal Collage

At the Art Program, the students chose a favorite animal, and looked through books to find pictures as sources. They made a paper collage using construction paper, adding details and patterns with a variety of colors.

Art-Based Musical Chairs at the Library

At the library program, the theme of the week was music. We wanted to really make this a fun, collaborative project, as music should be for kids, but we also needed something connected to art. So we decided to play a game kind of like musical chairs, where the kids (and volunteers) walked around the paper-covered table while it was silent, and as soon as the music started they had to stop and draw with whatever art material was closest. We left out markers, crayons, colored pencils, oil pastels, and chalk pastels. The result was a collaborative conglomeration, with all different kinds of drawings meeting one another on the page. We had a blast :)