here come the clowns!-circus-themed art camp

 

When you are describing,
A shape, or sound, or tint;
Don't state the matter plainly,
But put it in a hint;
And learn to look at all things,
With a sort of mental squint.
~Lewis Carroll

The circus has come to town!  Each summer for the past decade I've been teaching camp at the Evanston Art Center.  They are a time when as a teacher I can pull out the stops and let my imagination run with the kids.  We have a blast!

This year the theme was the circus.  Every circus must have a few clowns.  We  tie-dyed t-shirt costumes with paper hats, egg carton red noses and coffee filter bow ties.  I love doing tie-dye with children. They get into the alchemy of it, full of wonder on how the color appears.  Magic! I Love to Create's kit made it especially easy to do.  Everything was mixed ready to go. I just added water, a few t-shirts, some children and voilà!

Collagraphs are equally fun, easy to make and cheap to do.  A few old file folders, some glue, a couple of water-soluable printing inks, a brayer and you are good to go.  (A post will soon follow on how to make them, so keep your eyes open for it.)  The bold, graphic combo of the collagraph with the construction paper in this poster is gorgeous. 

Naturally, we had to make sock doll lions, clowns, dogs, and elephants.  They were so proud of their new creations and excited to go home and keep sewing. 

Here is Mr. Leo.  He is followed by Ellie the Elephant with of her colorful friends. 

  

The children wouldn't part with their dolls and costumes, but you can see more great art from this camp at the Evanston Library (main branch).  The opening reception with the young artists is from 6-8pm on August 30th.  The show continues through September 30th.

Comments

[carol giannasi]

All of these projects are just wonderful but I do have a favorite
...and the winner is the elephant !

[Lindsay Obermeyer]

I'm hard pressed to declare a favorite. I thought they all had wonderful character. :-)