HYCC kids explore greenhouses

Another Spring - another fun project with kids at
Hawthorne Youth and Community Center's after
school program. Last year's project was Green
architecture, this year's focus was  greenhouses.
With a grant from the Boston Foundation for Architecture
we helped the kids learn about different types of
greenhouses, their construction and uses. Then had
them visualize, plan and make a model of their "own"
greenhouse.

During  initial discussions of greenhouses, we looked
at pictures of different styles (super fancy to simple),
locations (urban to rural) , and elements (glass, plastic,
metal or wood construction etc. ) Next we took a field
trip to the nearby working greenhouse on the top
of the Roxbury Community College. Ms. Nasreen
Latif,  in charge of programs using the greenhouse,
showed us the seedlings growing there.

 The kids took lots of photos inside and outside and

and checked out the solar collectors on the roof  as well.

Back at the center, the kids began exploring ideas
of how they might design a greenhouse.
They drew designs, thought what they would
like to grow inside, then turned to construction
ideas. The youngest kids (K1-1st grade) worked
on their ideas via blocks.

The older kids (2nd to 6th grade) used leggos:

We combined elements to come up with
a collaborative design and talked about scale.

A  small group went on  a special tour of the

greenhouse at the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum,

Ms. Johnetta Tinker showed us around and
explained how the staging greenhouse in the
new wing is used to hold plantings used
elsewhere in the museum, as well as used
for art activities.  The kids took notes, photos,
and reported back to be able to report back
to the entire group. They explained how
they saw some of the nasturtiums which hang in the
courtyard in the Spring, talked about the flooring,
metal mesh tables and ventilation.

Then the serious model making began. ...Working on a
1"= 1 foot scale we created a 20" x 28" model on a
plywood base.  Colorful duct tape made a border, and
vinyl tiles the flooring - the kids wanted to be sure it
looked waterproof. Using model magic, self drying clay,
and other materials the kids created flowers, benches,
fountains,planting  beds etc.

 
Dowels up from wood kneewalls, wood cross supports,
wire curved roof beams...and the basic structure took
shape with liberal use of hot glue.

The kids had observed fans and watering systems in
the greenhouses, so made fans from popsicle sticks
and linked straws which stretched across and down the
walls offered the illusion of a sprinkler system.

Our finished walls were of heavy duty plastic stapled
to our structure.

The final model was displayed in the Isabella Gardner
Museum greenhouse as our contribution to the
Community Creations celebration. It's always
exciting and a real affirmation for the kids to see
their work exhibited, especially at a museum.
The model will be there through all June and
July for everyone to enjoy.

 Later we will take it to the Dudley Library to put on
display for additional viewing.

This spring the kids planted their own garden
plot behind HYCC and helped plant raised beds in the
lot next to HYCC. Maybe HYCC can have its
own full sized greenhouse someday. It's such
fun seeing kids excited in the presence of nature.

For now, I'm turning to working in our garden
and spending the summer  with our grandchildren.
Although, I hope to finish up a commission or
two as well.. I'll try to get up some process
photos.

My best to everyone for a wonderful
action filled summer.

Adventure on,  Wendy

HYCC kids create thrones

 
Hawthorne Youth and Community center is one of the
organizations connected to the Community Partnership
Program of the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum www.isgm.org

Last year after noting all the mythic creatures at the museum,
the HYCC kids created Sedred, the dragon for the
Community Creations exhibit. See my blog post:
www.wendyellertson.blogspot.com/2011/06/hycc-kids-sedred-fire-biter-silver.html
This year during the visits to the museum, the kids took
special notice of all the chairs, seats, and thrones in the
museum and decided to create their own seats for royalty.

We took two chairs which had been pulled from the trash
and transformed them.

They used rolled up cardboard and tape to create arms
and extended the height with more cardboard that they
painted gold. They  wrapped the "arms" with polyester
and cloth.




  Then created two "shields" - one for a queen, one for a
king. ...and decorated, decorated, decorated:

 

Of course what is a project without hot glue?

 


...and lots of stitching...satin pillows and covers

 

 and final fringe:

The King's skirt seemed a little plain, so more decoration was added:





Then of course, the chairs had to be tried out.  To see if
they felt sufficiently royal.  They passed.

The final touch - two peacock feather each...and off they went to
the museum for display:

 



and celebrating with family and friends in the new bright
artspace in the new addition to the museum.

 

 The entire Community Creations exhibit including the work
made by the youth of all the partnership organizations will be
on display  through August.  If you are in Boston and haven't
been able to visit the Gardner Museum since it reopened
with its spectacular new wing, I recommend strongly
that you do.  It's beautiful.  The HYCC thrones await you!

With the school year wrapping up, I'm helping with just
one last HYCC project - a model of "green architecture"
in collaboration with Archventures and students at the
Boston Architectural Center.  I'll let you know what they
come up with.

Adventure on!   Wendy

HYCC kids' Sedred, the Fire Biter Silver Dragon

Another Spring, another project over at Hawthorne Youth and
Community Center. Last year as part of a "Community Creations"
program connected with the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum
we built a fantasy model of their courtyard:
http://wendyellertson.blogspot.com/2010/06/fantasy-courtyard-model-by-hycc-kids.html
This year, the HYCC kids looked at all the dragons at the museum
with artist Johnetta Tinker and drew their versions and ideas.
Then they returned to HYCC and worked with me to create the
dragon sculpture you see above.

First, they searched the HYCC grounds for dragon-looking
branches and other useful materials (like pine cones for spokes).
A skeleton of wood and wire ended up longer and bigger
than I expected - 8+ feet. But hey - I'm a believer in letting kids
go where their imagination leads. And dragons do have a way of
growing and growing!



Since my initial idea was to develop an outdoor sculpture,
we used foil and other natural materials to give the armature
bulk - Used a bit of duct tape to help it stay together while
working.



They stripped some multi-strand wire found in the center
to create the "fire" streaming from the mouth.



Next scales and details. At E.X.C.L - the educational recycle
center: http://www.exclrecycles.org/ I found some foil and
felt insulation which the kids stripped the foil off, then attached
to some foam circles with one sticky side.



My hubby had found a roll of foil tape left on the grounds at
Jazzfest. It was perfect for helping secure the strips of scales
and adding detail to the LONG tail.



Glass eyes and foil eyebrows helped the dragon see.



Wings? - Plastic inserts from flower bouquets
from Wilson farms looked promising: http://www.wilsonfarm.com/
The kids agreed so I drove out to Wilson farms
and asked for two more inserts. They were intrigued
that we were making dragon wings. The plastic slipped
nicely over the extended branches.



"But what is a dragon without a nest and eggs?" the
kids asked. So work went on. Fortunately the nest
woven from Bittersweet vine resting in my studio was
available to be morphed once again into a participatory
project. The kids stripped more vines and wove
them in, added shiny Mylar, and nesting materials .




Had to make sure the dragon would fit:



Next the eggs - The ostrich egg I had in my studio was an
appropriate size. The kids wrapped it with plastic, then
with wet plaster bandages. When the plaster was hard, we
sliced it open, removed the real egg, and added paint.



and finally, of course, baby dragons had to begin to emerge.
Sculpted foil provided claws and tails...



Kids decided on a final name: Sedred, the Fire Biter Silver
Dragon. It took a ride in our van...and was displayed
in the Community Creations exhibit at the African
American Artist in Residency Program's gallery in
Jamaica Plain: http://www.northeastern.edu/daas/initiatives/aamarp/
The Gardner Museum is under construction
so this year the exhibit had a neighborhood venue which
means it can be there for a whole month.



I love seeing kids revel at their work in a true gallery setting.
It made a fun center piece for the exhibit. The other
groups did paintings, collage work, pop up books,
and ceramic treasure boxes - all distinct and wonderful
and reflecting the museum trips. The reception honored
the children efforts and the Museum's commitment
to community involvement.

Dragon finished, HYCC kids and I are on to a project
in landscaping architecture which has to be finished
up by the end of the school year.

Adventure on...Wendy

Fantasy Courtyard Model by HYCC kids

As promised this post is about the work I've been doing with
the Hawthorne Youth and Community Center's programs here
in Roxbury. For quite a while now I've been working with the kids
(ages 6-11), other artists and sometimes broader community
members on various art projects including several First Night
parade projects, prayer flags, handmade paper and for last three
springs 3-D architectural models (in '08- a Dream Theme Park
in '09- a community cafe including a green roof for growing food).
Once completed, the children give a presentation about the
project to the community and the model they create is displayed
in our local library over the summer.

For many years HYCC along with 7 other community groups has
also participated in a Community Creations program connected
with the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, or "Isabella's House"
as the kids call it under the leadership of artist, Johnetta Tinker.
(If your name is Isabella - you get in free for life!)
The kids work on art inspired by some aspect of the Gardner
museum. At the end of the program, their work is displayed in
the special exhibitions room for one week-quite an honor. I've
told them many professional artists never get to see their
work in such a famous museum.

This year their model architectural project was combined
with the Gardner museum opportunity. The challenge put
before them (and me!) was to create a 3-D courtyard model
inspired by their Spring visits to the Gardner's courtyard. For
those of you who are unfamiliar with the Gardner - it was built
like an Italian Renaissance villa around a sumptuous courtyard.
Museum website is: gardnermuseum.org for the
fascinating history of Isabella and of her art collection.



The photo above shows what the courtyard looks like in the Spring
complete with 3-story trailing nasturtiums.

OK - 3 story walls (there are 4 total, but we decided 3
was enough and besides the museum is really on the first 3),
mosaic (the Gardner's has Medusa in its center), sculpture,
plants, benches - a lot to think about - idea: inspired by,
not exact model (thank goodness!).

Kids preliminary work involved looking at courtyard images,
building courtyards with blocks, drawing and a couple
visits to the Gardner where they observed and did some
small art projects. Back at the center, they decided what
needed to go into "their" courtyard - a mosaic with their own
mythical figures ,walls, flowers, sculptures, windows, paintings
seen through the windows (including a few empty frames to
honor the empty frames left there after the infamous theft
of major works) and of course inhabitants! We decided on
a rough scale of 1" = 1 foot.

First the mosaic - Using tile left over from a previous mosaic
playground wall project from years ago (I love folks who don't
throw out materials!),they worked out general tile designs
laying tile on paper first, then glued down their tile designs to
a 3 foot by 4 foot piece of plywood.


The creature on the right is called "Vudo, the cloud controller".



Then lots more tiles, and grouting:



And the "grass" - cut out, glued, and stapled.



Sculptures, benches -(low fire white clay - sculpted, fired,
and painted like marble, rather than glazed), plants,bushes
and fountains -cardboard and tissue paper. We had thought
about a real fountain with real water..but thought better
of that - this time around anyway!



The walls: cardboard interior wall with cut out windows,
exterior wall with 2" space between - foamboard. Attached
together with small square foamboard slotted pieces.



Kids used texture paint (with pumice) to add relief to columns
(I'm not sure I'd do that again!), then a base coast of paint and
finished with acrylic sponge painting to create "marble" effect.



Next coloring in flowers...and adding nasturtium vines
of thread and tissue paper.

But what is a courtyard without inhabitants. The two
fifth graders in the group provided animals, aliens, and
super heroes each representing one of the students in the
after school program. There was a lot of discussion about
who should be next to whom in the windows. We printed an
image of Isabella from her portrait to look out one window
and they made painting for the walls. In her will the real
Isabella specified that nothing was to be changed in her
museum. We suspected she might be a little startled to
find alien battle scene paintings and soaring super heroes!



The final model - HYCC's 3' x 4' x 3' fantasy courtyard
completed at the community center:



and on exhibit at the museum:



All in all a fun project. The museum even decided
to use the image of the model on their community
creations exhibition page pleasing the HYCC's director
and the kids! connect.gardnermuseum.org/site/Calendar/887192921?view=Detail&id=104941

This Friday they will give a presentation of the model
and then it will be moved to the Dudley Branch library
for the summer.

Next week...a short report on the end of my S. American
trip -artists I saw in Buenos Aires and a bit of tango!

Journey on!