"Reflections in Nature"

Photos from the Thursday docent workshop, "Reflections in Nature." How many lovely places our imaginations conjured!

Teaching Tumbling Tiles

So I taught the Tumbling Tiles lesson to middle schoolers today. Big class, but I noticed one section of boys was really getting into it, making geometric designs...

















After class, they went outside, and their teacher called me out to see.... those same four boys were putting their tiles together to make a big collaborative piece, spontaneously--nobody told them to do this, they just understood the lesson. Whoo-hooo!





















Thanks guys!

More Resources for Tumbling Tiles

Docent art, from the Friday workshop

Did you enjoy the training workshop for Tumbling Tiles? Are you looking forward to teaching the lesson? Great!

Here are some more resources for the background material:

Terrific Tiles: an accessible e-book (by me!) of photos similar to my slideshow today.

More about the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and how it relates to medieval Islamic tilework.

Isfahan in Iran has been named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Here's a gallery of images from a UNESCO website of the Meidan Emam, Isfahan.

Here's a nice website of Moorish tilework in Sevilla, Spain.

More about William Morris's designs for tiles (with a lot of images).

The MOMA page about Frank Stella.

An interview with artist Valerie Jaudon, conducted by fellow artist Shirley Kaneda.

Also, here's more information about The Power of Art event, the next two weekends.

And away we go! Tumbling Tiles

Are you ready for the first project? Tumbling Tiles kicks off our 2011-2012 season. Here are some photos from the Thursday morning docent training workshop:

Help teach an HOA lesson at the Galleria!

Ready to get started on the new year of Hands on Art? We are too! If you want to jump in before the first workshop, there's a great opportunity on Saturday, October 1. In conjunction with the Redondo Beach Art Group, South Bay Hands on Art Reaching Out is going to be previewing the Power of Art event with activities at the Galleria, including a Hands on Art hands-on lesson. Contact Stefani Conniff to volunteer your time; the event runs from 11-1 and 2-4 in the Food Court area.

Ready for 2011-2012?

A few notes as we head into the new school year:

*School HOA chairs should have received an email about the chair meeting 9/10/11 (hey, cool date!)--if you didn't get that email, you may need to update the board about your contact information, asap.

*Workshops this year will happen at Alta Vista elementary school, at 815 Knob Hill. There are specific instructions about parking and entry to the workshop space; all school chairs will have these details in hand before the first workshop, and should share them with docents.

*Got the project list for this year? No? Okay, then here it is:

Tumbling Tiles
Penny Richards

Reflections in Nature
Diane Dubin

Branching Out
Kaye Furlong

Designs by Klimt
Marianne Coble

Larger than Life
Lee-Jean Lin

Notan
Marlene Rich


Firm dates and other details coming soon!

*Finally--anyone interested in being HOA Supply Chair? If you are organized, and you have some space for staging supplies for pickup, you can do this. There aren't any very unusual supplies this year (like some years), so it's a good time to give it a try. If we don't get an overall supply chair, each school's supply chair will handle ordering and organizing materials for each site. We've done that before, and it's not unworkable, but an overall chair makes a lot of things run more smoothly. Consider if this is another way you can help this year.

UPDATE: Supply chair FOUND! More details soon.

Brunch is now Light Lunch! All the details below

The end of year Hands on Art brunch is now an early lunch! Same place as before, just a little later--all the usual hoopla and ballyhoo, guaranteed!

Where? Riviera United Methodist Church (here's a map)

When? 10am to 1pm, Friday, June 3

Who? You, if you're a docent, school chair, or otherwise involved--see your school chair or a board member if you're not sure

Come get your first peek at the 2011-2012 projects, and enjoy reflecting on the past year's art experiences.

Open House!

Elementary schools all over the district are holding Open House this week, and it wouldn't be Open House without Hands on Art displays! Be sure to notice the really cool ones, and share pictures if you take them... link in comments here, or post on our Facebook group (newly updated). Meanwhile, this is a display of docent projects I spotted this afternoon at Lincoln:

Chalk It Up!

Were you there? We had a gorgeous day, and some great art, food, music, and dancing. If you were there, I don't need to tell you; if you weren't, you missed something great. It might not be too late to see the art, if you hurry--but that's the nature of chalk art, it's beautiful for a short time, and then it's gone forever. So seize the day!

Getting ready for Chalk It Up!

Today there were chalkers all along the seawall at the Redondo Marina, celebrating Earth Day and getting a sneak preview of Chalk It Up, which is only two weeks away! What an amazing site for a chalk event, and it was a gorgeous day too--not hard to get inspiration with a sunny seascape right in front of us...

Chalk It Up News!

Fearless chair Erika Snow Robinson writes:

I created a dedicated website for South Bay Chalk It Up - check it out...then, click all over it - follow us on twitter, post us on FB, read our blog...get our community out to support our children and the arts! and don't forget to PRE-PAY for your square via paypal thru our site! It's tax deductible - have a biz that wants to sponsor a square? Let me know!

Thank goodness I have a super understanding hubby who knows where my passion and talents lie since it seems every waking moment between now and April 30th will be spent for the good of Chalk It Up! I’m THRILLED to be able to say that South Bay Chalk It Up! now has its very own website. Complete with a paypal reg button (just like the one on this page!), and links galore - to vendor websites, email, documents for volunteers, FB, Twitter, this blogspot and MORE...so check us out as soon as you can. And PLEASE spread the word. We want this year to be even bigger than last year. Remember, this is the ONLY fundraiser where ALL the proceeds go directly to benefit South Bay Hands On Art.

And without SBHOA, our children’s world in the public school system (and a lot of the private ones locally) would contain a lot less “color”! When funding is cut, it’s always (for reasons that baffle me) the arts and music and sports that goes first. I’m not saying we don’t need rocket scientists and English teachers and accountants... what I AM saying is not everyone goes on to be one of those. Where would our world be without the contributions of Leonardo DaVinci? John Williams? Annie Liebowitz?

Wake up world! Because a world without music, art, sports and color, is not a world I’d want to wake up to - and we shouldn’t want that for our children either!

You can follow SBChalkItUp on Twitter--yeah! I think I'm the first follower ;D