K.I.D.S. Art Education NEWSLETTER - Fall 2011

Dear K.I.D.S. Art Education Friends and Supporters,

Kentler International Drawing Space sees Art Education as part of its mission to make art a vital and integral part of our local community life. Our K.I.D.S. Art Ed program is designed around the gallery's contemporary art exhibitions. We bring art and art-making experiences to students, youth, adults and families; cultivating the vibrant creative potential of our neighborhood.  

  

Kentler's 2010-2011 season has been an especially exciting one! Many of you know that we were the recipient of a grant made possible by Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez.  These funds allowed us to deepen and extend our work in Red Hook, Brooklyn.  We not only garnered new partnerships with three Red Hook community organizations to provide after school art programs (Red Hook Community Justice Center, Red Hook Initiative, and Good Shepherds Services), we also continued to provide our school programs to 40 teachers from three local schools (PS 15, PS 676 and PS 146 Brooklyn New School) and we continued to offer our popular weekend Drawing Together workshops for families.  We were able to reach over 1000 children, youth and families. All of these programs were free of charge for participants. With budget cuts deeply effecting underserved communities like Red Hook we were extremely proud to be able to provide these rich creative opportunities to our neighbors. 

UPCOMING EVENT:

To celebrate the successes of the past year you are invited to attend a celebration: 

Sunday, December 11, 2-4 pm.

We will be highlighting the amazing work of our K.I.D.S. Art Ed team and their students whose art will be installed in the gallery for you to enjoy firsthand. We want to thank our many supporters and celebrate the spirit of creativity, collaboration,and community in Red Hook.   SAVE THE DATE!

SPREAD THE WORD

Finally, please help us share our successes and dedication to art in education with others. With our K.I.D.S. Art Ed federal grant ending we need to spread the word to garner new sources of support. The kids need us.  Budget cuts have compromised the presence of the arts in schools. We strive to fill that void but we can't do it without your help. Help us turn our efforts to bring rich art experiences into the lives of any and all children a reality.  Spread the word about these events and bring friends.

 
And for those who haven't been following our blog regularly please check it out!
Make comments. Give feedback. Spread the word!

  

Mollie McQuarrie

K.I.D.S. Art Ed Director

Rubbings and Giant Pencils-Wall Drawings and Sounds: K.I.D.S. Fall Program Highlights!

This fall, Kentler educators worked with local k-5th grade students from P.S. 15 and Brooklyn New School (P.S. 146) to explore the collaborative sound/wall drawing installation by artists Lezli Rubin Kunda and Ellen Moffat.

 In the "big room," teaching artist Meghan Keane led students in experiments with how sound can inspire different types of lines: jagged, scribbly, curvy, broken, straight...the list was endless! Students created "line libraries" to record their experiments.

They also experimented with new ways to create lines (with tape, giant drawing implements, and by erasing)...

 

...and by drawing directly on the gallery wall (!). 

Each of our 14 classes added to the wall drawing. After the first couple of classes it looked like this:

After the last couple of classes it looked like this:

How cool is that??

In the "small room" teaching artist Lance Paladino and Mollie McQuarrie explored Lezli's installation where she rubbed graphite into the wall exposing and responding to imperfections in the wall's surface.

Similarly, students worked to "discover" shapes and textures hidden under fabric by rubbing with crayon and oil pastel.

Finally switching to graphite and compressed charcoal the empty areas ("negative spaces") were filled in or outlined.  These black materials made the colors in the positive spaces "pop out."

These awesome murals each represent the collective creativity of half of each class that came to Kentler.  Its been suggested that we use these to raise some money for K.I.D.S. Art Education.  We are currently working on that.  If you're interested, please contact me: we have 26 and they all need homes!! Place a bid!

Wow team Kentler!  Thanks to Meghan and Lance for all their input and effort!  And thanks to teachers and students for all their cooperation and creativity.

Stay tuned for news about the follow up post visit.