Cake Contest 2011:Contestants

Kentler celebrated its Birthday this year with lots and lots of cake!  Our neighbors at Baked (an award winning bakery) made gorgeous cakes and we ate it with glee, joy and multi-generational-sugar-heaven spirit.

The kids drew pictures of their ideal cakes as part of our first ever cake design contest for kids.  The winning cake design will have their cake baked by Baked and the winning designer will get a free slice.  You can have a slice too but you have to check in here to find out when it will be made and then you have get on down to Red Hook.  Oh, and unless you're the winning designer, you'll have to pay for your slice (or two-Baked cakes are DELICIOUS).  

These are the contestants.  Which one would you vote for?

Architecture Appreciation Comes to Kentler!

This video is the result of our once-a-month family DRAWING TOGETHER workshop co-hosted today by Open House New York: everyone's drawing was lined up to create a new "built environment" based on Red Hook architectural inspiration and suffused with each artist's individual creativity and imagination!

Today, as a warm up, kids and parents explored their local built environment by drawing from memory a map or floor plan of their apartment.  Families next expanded their exploration to include the gallery's local built environment in the historic neighborhood of Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Families created booklets to fill with drawings of architectural details they noticed walking along Van Brunt Street, right outside the gallery. Then, back in the gallery both drawings and floor plans were cut up and each artist, ages ranging from 4 to 60+, worked on connecting their parts to create a larger, imaginary skyscraper / building / skyline!

Thanks all for your eye for detail and your enthusiasm for testing out new ways to make drawings! And thanks to Open House New York for co-hosting. 

Drawing Together at Red Hook Flea!!

K.I.D.S. Art Education kicked off our 2011-12 season with a Drawing Together program at Red Hook Flea- a fundraiser for P.S. 15, our neighbor and partnering school.  Teaching artist Meghan Keane invited participants to "Draw big. Draw Colorful." 

Using handmade stencils designed by Meghan and using all recycled materials, children and their care givers worked together to explore colors, shapes, and textures.  Surrounding the students there was music, dancing, food, crafts and dreamy ephemera as folks from the neighborhood sold their wares in a wonderful collaborative fundraising effort.

Thank you P.S. 15. Thank you participants.  Thank you Red Hook for your vitality, creativity and community spirit.

Next up?  Thoughts and images from our fall program built on our exhibition "MARKING SPACE.
A collaborative drawing, performance and sound project." by visual artist Lezli Rubin-Kunda and sound artist Ellen Moffat.

K.I.D.S. Art Ed at Red Hook Waterfront Arts Festival

Teaching artist Meghan Keane used the Red Hook Waterfront Arts Festival as a chance to explore drawing and sustainability.  Recycling her plastic bag collection as a drawing material she engaged children and their care-givers in yet another exciting Drawing Together exploration.  Participants had the option to experiment with sailors knots to attach the plastic bags to one another or to simply create their own silly, make-up-their-own knots.  Participants came and went, tying and experimenting, and slowly our plastic bag drawing grew and grew:

Drawing Together Family Workshop (11/13)

Inspired by the characters in the Kentler's CUBA: MY REVOLUTION exhibition, families worked together to create their own character drawings.



Using cut and torn pieces of thin cardboard, kids and parents designed the portrait of their imaginary character. After designing, they glued the cardboard down to their large piece of posterboard. This not only made a unique drawing, but created the perfect low-relief surface for a rubbing! This technique of "drawing with cardboard," or other papers or fibers, is called "collagraph" meaning glued, or collaged, print [colle = glue in French].

Next, families used paper with winter designs on it to create a rubbing with dark cray-pas. We were all excited to work at such a large scale and to see the differences between the two characters! Everyone got to leave with not just one giant drawing, but two! And students can make more rubbings of their drawings for their friends after -- or are well-poised to explore other collagraph ideas!


This DT Workshop was led by Kentler K.I.D.S. teaching artist, Meghan Keane.






View all photos from this Drawing Together workshop here

We look forward to seeing you at the December 18 DRAWING TOGETHER workshop, led by teaching artist Ruth Wetzel.

Email K.I.D.S. Director, Mollie McQuarrie, to reserve a place for you and your child: omcquarrieo@gmail.com
Spaces are limited so reservations are suggested.

Drawing Together: Site Specific Installations

Last spring, K.I.D.S. Art Education teaching artist Ruth Wetzel led local children and family members in an art making exploration at the Kentler International Drawing Space. In response to the installations of Mary Ting and Ilene Sunshine, participants created their own installations. After examining the work in the gallery through inquiry and observational drawing, partners worked with post-its, twigs, ribbons, tape, toilet paper rolls, pencils, Styrofoam meat trays, oval-cut mats, and phone cords to change the materials and then arrange them in an assigned section of the room. These site specific installations were terrific displays of collaboration and imagination and were poetic reflections on materials, the space and the artwork by Ilene Sunshine and Mary Ting that was already occupying the space.  Everyone had a great time!

Pictures Come To Life! This Saturday at 3 PM!

Artist/storyteller Jeff Hopkins will be transforming our blank white walls into a story-mural that you and your family will participate in.  Its going to be fun- don't miss it!!

If you DO miss it, please join us next weekend for a follow up DRAWING TOGETHER workshop with Jeff.

Please NOTE: the performance on Saturday, September 11th does not require a reservation but the follow up workshop NEXT weekend does.  See below for details.

For more information on Jeff Hopkins: http://www.picturescometolife.com/

Drawing Together Family Workshop at RHI

Blog post written by K.I.D.S. Teaching Artist Meghan Keane

Today was our first Drawing Together Family Workshop hosted in the Red Hook Initiative space!

Today's workshop focused on creating colorful line drawings that related to a favorite summer activity or summer word.

To warm up, kids and their parent or accompanying adult brainstormed words that reminded them of summer. Then, we made a group list and everyone shared two of their favorite words/activities from their list.

Our fantastic group list of summer activities and summer words (that could have gone on for another 5 pages!)

Next, students were asked to think of colors related to their word/activity (i.e. sun = yellows, reds, oranges). Ready to start their drawings, students, with help from their adult, created drawings using just the colors that they thought related to their word. They worked hard to only use line and to create patterns or designs, but sometimes it was challenging!

Can you guess what summer word / activity each artist was thinking of by looking at the colors in the drawings below? Give it a shot!

Ricky (RHI) and niece with "House" drawings

"Pool I"

"Beach"

"Pool II"

"Grow flowers and plants"

Young artists, their drawings, and their moms : Estelle with Jasmine and Simone, Tiffany with Natalie

Longtime DT fans: Sarah with daughters Chloe (l) and Josie (r). Their artwork shows is about their visit to Connecticut and a pool with a rainbow.

Looking forward to more DT this fall!

Want to join us at our next free workshop for families?

Email KIDS Director Mollie McQuarrie to be added to our FREE Drawing Together Family Workshops e-newsletter! mollie (at) kentlergallery (dot) org

Thanks and Happy Summer!

MK