Monday, July 27, 2009

Fundraiser with Borders bookstores!

Borders bookstore has been kind enough to help us raise some funds for our fantastic programs! If you shop at the Borders in Richfield or Rosedale August 15 – 19, present the Urban Arts voucher and 15% of the net sales raised will be donated to Urban Arts Academy!

On Saturday, August 15, stop by the Borders in Richfield at 1pm or the Borders in Rosedale at 6pm to see us! We'll have Tread Print art made by Urban Arts kids on display, with supplies available for anyone to reinact - on a smaller scale - their own Tread Art! What is Tread Art, you're wondering? Well. The Urban Arts Academy's Kid Power program will be working with FullCycle bike shop to create some unique and fun pieces of artwork, known as Tread Art. Our kids will ride bikes through chalk across a canvas, leaving patterns that result in one-of-a-kind pieces of art. Still confused, or just curious? Stop by Borders on Aug. 15 and see what we're talking about!

And thank you friends and family, interns and staff for making Family Night a HUGE success! The kids had so much fun showing off their projects, and it was great to get to see everyone all together for the evening.

The World in which We Live

Its here, everybody, and all too soon - the final week of Urban Arts Summer Camps! This week's theme is "The World in which We Live". All week we will be creating art that can ONLY be made here in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

It's the Starfish's turn to venture downtown with their black and white film cameras to capture images of the city. They will be developing the film themselves, learning about photography as well as the images of the city.

The Dolphins will be spending the week at Powderhorn Park, creating sculptures out of clay found locally.

Sharks and Polar Bears will be spending part of their time this week cooking food native to Minnesota. When not cooking, the groups will be doing some filmmaking.

It's a busy week for everyone as we wrap up Urban Arts Summer Camps. Everyone has made wonderful artwork, learned new skills, made new friends, and had an overall grand time!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Pictures!

This is The Way We MOVE! And here are pictures to prove it! Everything from marionettes to catapaults, Rube Goldberg projects and paint, we have definitely made some movement this week.

Tracking our movement with paint, we got to get really messy outside in the best way possible!





















Creating our own catapaults combined a little physics with a lot of imagination!














































Here we are, making our own marionettes out of cardboard, papier mache and paint. Once our puppets are finished, we'll be able to put on a show about raccoons, bears, and all sorts of other animals from the forest!


























































































Our Rube Goldberg projects... Orchestrating a series of interconnected chain reactions takes a lot of work and imagination, but the end result is totally worth it!




























































































Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Week 4: The Way We Move

This week at Urban Arts it's all about the way we move !

Gustavo is busy teaching marionette making to the Dolphins and Sharks. Gustavo has worked with puppetry, theatre and set design, mask making and traditional dance for over 23 years. He is also involved in the Heart of the Beast Theatre May Day Parade held yearly in Powderhorn park just down the street. Gustavo brings a wealth of experience to Urban Arts and the marionette class is sure to produce amazing results!

Angela is channelling Rube Goldberg in her "Chain Reactions" class. The Starfish and Polar Bears are creating small to large scale chain reactions with blocks, marbles, wheels and whatever they can get their hands on! Think what you used to do with dominoes as a kid, but much more intricate, colorful and experimental. Angela showed us all a really cool video of two artists, David Weiss and Peter Fischli who make their living creating chain reactions, check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U82eWptFxSs

The Sharks and Dolphins are learning the science behind catapults with Tou. The catapult may seem ancient or outdated but it needs no gas or fuel to power itself, how green and 21st century! The catapult class teaches us about the mechanics behind the catapult. We learn words like velocity and distance, which play a big part in physics equations, while building and having fun!

The Polar Bears and Starfish are using their art history knowledge to re-create large scale paintings with Elisa. Jackson Pollack and Kara Walker are two extremely brilliant and talented artists who are acting as the inspiration for us this week. We made large scale splatter paintings just like Pollack and we will be creating dynamic body silhouette paintings. Each of these artists capture two different kinds of movement in their work; the movement of the artist's hand/gesture and the anatomic shape and movement of the body's silhouette.

Don't forget about Family Night this Thursday! Just read yesterday's post for more information.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Family Night & Lasagna Dinner

This Thursday is FAMILY NIGHT! Any student who has attended any week of our summer camps is encouraged to bring their family on down to Urban Arts to see all that we have accomplished so far this summer. There will be performances and art displays and chances to meet and greet other Urban Arts friends and families. As if we need another reason to come to family night, we will also be serving a delicious lasagna dinner for free to all who attend.

When: Thursday, July 23, 5-6:30pm

Where:
Urban Arts Academy
Fellowship Hall at Calvary Church
3901 Chicago Ave South
Minneapolis, MN 55407

Who:
Any student who has attended any week of our summer camps

Hope to see you there!