Photos from "Grow Well-Explore Art"

Did you check out the displays at the Beach Cities Health District? The halls were literally aglow...
Aha, but don't be frightened by the Myth and Mystery projects, haunting the same spaces!

Grow Well - Explore Art

Read the Daily Breeze's nice write-up of the show at the Beach Cities Health District here. And come to the opening reception tonight, 4-6 pm. Kids too!

Color of Snow: The Process in Photos

With some projects, it's easier to show than tell, and our current lesson, The Color of Snow by Birgit Snodgrass, is one of those. Here are the steps in photos--it's absolutely no substitution for the workshop, and the actual lesson is much richer, but maybe the photos can serve as reminders of the sequence.

1. Draw in simple trees with pencil and fill in the trees with Maskoid:Remember to say it clearly: Maskoid is the product we're using. "Mastoid" is a part of your skull. ;)

2. After the Maskoid has dried a minute or two, wet your whole page with a sponge, quickly add watercolor (be sure to leave some lighter "misty" spaces), and before that has a chance to dry, add a generous amount of coarse salt:

3. Let that dry a little (time will depend on how wet the paper is). Then (this is the fun part) peel off the Maskoid:

4. Next, use brown watercolor on a dry brush or old gift card to make the tree-bark texture, and to make the trees more dimensional. Birch trees have horizontal dark marks in their pale bark:5. All done! The salt should stay on the painting until it falls or shakes off--don't try to wipe off the salt or you may smear the painting:

Support your fellow docents this weekend!

Some ways you can support other Hands on Art docents in their various artistic pursuits--we're not just teachers, many of us are also musicians, dancers, crafters, and visual artists too. Why not learn more about them?

Erika Snow Robinson (docent at Tulita, a past project presenter, and a Chalk it Up co-chair this year) will be performing with the Beach Cities Symphony Orchestra this Friday, November 6, in a FREE concert at El Camino College ($2 parking). Every ten years, the orchestra performs Beethoven's 9th (Ode to Joy) with full chorus--so this is your last chance to see it before 2019! Kids are absolutely welcome. Concert starts at 8:15pm at the Marsee Hall auditorium.

Works by several Hands on Art docents, present and past, will be for sale at an Artists Holiday Boutique, to be held Saturday, November 7, from noon to 9pm at the home of Georgette Gantner, 327 North Gertruda Avenue, Redondo Beach. If you attended the Power of Art, you know there are some wonderful local artists, and this boutique gives you a chance to buy local and buy direct. Good stuff you can't get at the mall!

Got more announcements? This is a good place for them. We love to support our docents, but we also like our workshops to run on schedule, so we're encouraging more online notes for outside activities.

Workshop #1: Myth and Mystery

What happens at our workshops? Well.... About 180 docents are assembled in one room:
And we eat brunch (but it went so fast I didn't get a chance to photograph the coffee, the quiches, the croissants, the fruit, the flan...). And there are announcements, and helpful displays related to the project of the day:
Want to buy a t-shirt or apron? The merchandise table is waiting for you:

Now it's time to get down to the art.... The presenter says, hands in the gesso!

And TAAAH-DAAAAH! Happy docents with their finished works, ready to teach the lesson to their students.

October 11: "Where the Wild Things Are" Day at the Skirball

Because our last project of this school year is based on Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are," we thought Hands on Art docents, families, and friends would be interested in the Skirball's upcoming Family Day, "Where the Wild Things Are," to be held on October 11, 10am-4:30pm. It'll feature a craft center, live music, readings, and an exhibit of illustrations and props from the movie (due out soon). It's free with museum admission and no reservations needed. Check it out at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles (just off the 405).

More Dates to Save

South Bay Hands on Art docents have opportunities to do a lot of community activities and fundraisers beyond the classes we teach in local and outreach schools. Some you can put on the calendar right now....

The Power of Art
16-18 October
655 North Harbor Drive, RB
A three-day cultural arts celebration sponsored by the Redondo Beach Art Group. SBHOA docents will be teaching a workshop at this event, "How Sweet It Is."

Grow Well-Explore Art
12 December - 22 February
Beach Cities Health District
A major exhibit of Hands on Art projects, with displays created by each school's docents. The opening reception will feature a silent auction, and prizes for the best displays. Don't miss it!

Chalk It Up
1 May
(Location to be confirmed soon)
A chalk art fundraiser for South Bay Hands on Art. Docents will be involved in planning this event and making it happen; buy a square or a pair, or a great big square for a great group activity.

Workshop Dates for 2009-2010

Here is the final schedule of workshops for the coming year. (If you're at a Thursday school, notice the Thursday dates; if you're at a Friday school, notice the Friday dates.)

Myth and Mystery
Marianne Coble
October 8-9
Inspired by the work of Jesse Reno (b. 1974) of Portland OR, students will create their own mythological painting on rosin paper using a variety of media.

The Color of Snow
Birgit Snodgrass
November 12-13
This project will have students wondering what is the real color of snow. They will use watercolor, Maskoid, and salt to create their own unique landscape of birch trees, fences, and colored snow.

Pastel Wolf
Julia Tedesco
January 7-8
Students will draw a step-by-step portrait of a wolf and learn how to use chalk pastels. They will also learn about wolves and wolf conservation.

Mandala: The Complete Circle
YaVanna Baird
February 4-5
Students will explore patterns, shapes, and emotions as they create their personal mandala using prismacolor pencils.

The Poetry of Iron
Carrie Powers
March 11-12
Students will sculpt with wire and foil, adding black paint and a clay base, to create their own abstract sculpture inspired by the work of Spanish-born Julio Gonzolez (1876-1942).

Wild Things
Marianne Coble
May 6-7
Inspired by the popular children's book by Maurice Sendak, students will design a three-dimensional page with landscape and a creature, using a variety of techniques and media.

Our New Location!

For the 2009-2010 school year, South Bay Hands on Art docent training workshops will be held at Parras Middle School (see link in sidebar). We will meet in the Multimedia Room, an auditorium off the cafeteria.

Because the parking is quite limited at this location, we're encouraging carpooling (as usual), and also asking that docents use LEGAL* STREET PARKING whenever possible. The curb near the Multimedia Room should be kept open for school supply chairs, who are usually bringing bins full of supplies to the workshops. Docents who require closer parking for health reasons should also have priority for the few campus spaces we can use. Let's leave the close spaces for the folks who really need them, and enjoy a little walk in a nice neighborhood before and after our workshop fun.

*Use your eyes and common sense--look for signs about street cleaning and other restrictions on parking. Hands on Art will not pay your parking ticket if you fail to follow basic rules of parking to attend a workshop.

Hands On Art Chair Meeting

The 2009-2010 Chair meeting will be held on August 30 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. This is an important meeting to attend. Email daynacalifornia@gmail.com for location.

Rock the Chalk!

From the Redondo Pier website's listings of upcoming events. This is great fun in a great location--whether you're participating or just walking along the pier watching the chalk art happen.

• 7th Annual Chalk Art Festival & Live Music
  Saturday, August 22, 2009 | 12:00 - 4:00 pm

Come out to Redondo Beach and see how the Redondo Beach Pier’s walkway becomes a veritable canvas on which all can create their own chalk art. The first 150 people to enter receive free chalk. The festival is FREE to the public and open to all ages. Individual and team prizes will be awarded in various categories.

Julia Tedesco's "Legend of Sand Dune Park"

The Beach Reporter this week has a story about Julia Tedesco, a local artist, publishing a children's book about local history, The Legend of San Dune Park. Tedesco will be teaching one of our 2009-10 workshops, "Pastel Wolf."

Hands on Art shout-out in Lincoln talent show!

You'll hear Hands on Art mentioned among the great things about Lincoln School, in this talent show performance from last week (listen for it in the segment by "Halle B"--whose mother is a longtime Hands on Art chair and docent, btw)...

PTA Reflections

The 2009-2010 theme for the PTA Reflections Program is Beauty is...

This program is open to all students. The art categories are literature, musical composition, visual arts photography, film/video production, dance choreography. The deadline is in October 2009. If your student wants to be creative over the summer, this program provides some motivation to get started.

More 2008 Chalk It Up Video

More Chalk It Up 2008 video. These videos are set to start immediately, so you'll have to pause one to watch the other, or they'll run simultaneously.... sorry about that!

2008 Chalk It Up video

From this website. Sorry about the screen cutting off on the side, the original is wider than this column.

Our 2009-2010 Schedule of Projects

At the brunch on 29 May, we unveiled the six projects we'll be presenting to students in 2009-2010. They are.... (drumroll optional here)....

Pastel Wolf
a lesson in wildlife drawing
by Julia Tedesco

Myth and Mystery
a lesson based on the art of Jesse Reno
by Marianne Coble

The Color of Snow
a watercolor landscape project with a twist
by Birgit Snodgrass

The Poetry of Iron
a sculpture project based on the art of Julio Gonzalez
by Carrie Powers

Mandalas
exploring traditions, symmetry, and shapes
by YaVanna Baird

Wild Things
a lesson based on the art of Maurice Sendak
by Marianne Coble

Stay tuned for details as fall approaches!

Tar Heel Readers for Hands on Art 2008-9 projects

Tar Heel Reader is an innovative literacy website that provides age-appropriate and interesting online picture books for new readers of all ages. (Because a new reader who is 16, or 36 or 56, doesn't generally want to read only about puppies and kitties and teddybears, eh?) In the past year, I've made Tar Heel Readers to go with several of our Hands on Art projects. Check them out! These books can be used online by one student, or downloaded as powerpoint presentations for a whole class, in case those modes are useful to any of our docents.

Hundertwasser
Vanishing Point
Marimekko
Sunprints

Watch for more Tar Heel Readers that match our 2009-10 lesson plans--they'll be linked here as supplements as we go through the year.

Enrichment material for "Fixing a Shadow" lesson: Anna Atkins (1799-1871)

Our Fixing a Shadow lesson focuses on the work of Fox Talbot. But.... did you know that the very first book of photography was made of sunprints, just like we're making?

Anna Atkins (1799-1871, pictured at left) was the same generation as Fox Talbot; her father was a scientist and a librarian at the British Museum. When her father published a translation of a French book about shells in 1823, Anna provided over 250 illustrations. In 1839, Anna was recognized for her work when she was elected to the Botanical Society of London. It was around this time that she started making cyanotypes (sunprints) of different species of algae, based on Fox Talbot's method. In 1843, she began publishing British Algae, and followed that with another compilation of cyanotypes, The Ferns (1854). Because each print was unique, these books were published in very small runs, and only a few copies remain today.

Check out selections from the New York Public Library's set of Anna Atkins's stunning algae cyanotypes here.

Our History

South Bay Hands on Art can trace its roots back to 1975, when budget cuts in the Palos Verdes Unified School District deeply affected the arts in the schools. A program known as Art at Your Fingertips was created by a group of parents who would continue the art experience for their school-age children. This program was so successful that by 1982 a new pilot program was started which, for the first time, broadened the reach of the program to include schools outside the PV USD.

One of these "sister" programs was South Bay Hands on Art, born in 1987, with only four elementary schools and thirty docents. In 1994, yet another sister program was born when Torrance formed their own group, Adventures in Art. This allowed Hands on Art to expand to the entire Redondo Beach Unified School District. The program continued to duplicate and there are now six sister groups in the area. (See our sidebar for links to some of them.)

Today, South Bay Hands on Art proudly boasts nineteen schools, both public and private, and over 350 docents. We bring six different art projects to students in elementary, middle, and high school classrooms, and afford the children the opportunity to experience the joy and magic of art in a non-judgmental, non-threatening environment.

Thanks to the efforts of parent volunteers, whose passion for art illuminates our children's world, Hands on Art provides a rich and stimulating opportunity to experience art in different and exciting ways.