Indy Art Lab @ Spanish Oaks: Drawing, Painting, Jewelry & Marble Run Centers In Action

We had a wonderful day of art making with approximately 40 children and adults at Spanish Oaks today. Indy Art Lab would like to thank the management at Spanish Oaks and our volunteers Kathy, India, Josiah, Melita and Maria who helped us with set up, modeled creative processes and worked with young artists all day long! The artists who participated today engaged in various creative processes from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. A thrilling day of art making. Thank you so much!!

Our set up included enough two and three dimensional activities to keep our artists active throughout the day.
Many of the children opted to stay primarily at the drawing center. Others spent most of their time at the block building/marble run center. The question that remains of immense interest to me is why do some children prefer some activities over others?

Drawing center consists of a display board, colored pencils, pastels, oil pastels, pencils, erasers, four different sizes of paper and an art library all under a portable 10 ft. by 25 ft. outdoor art room.

Knotted bracelet with beads created at the jewelry center.

This artist created three significant drawings in two hours.

Portable art room with sign up table in view inside the picnic area at Spanish Oaks.

This artist amazed all the participants at camp! She has an undeniable talent!

Bead collage!

25 ft. marble run had two jumps and several level changes!

Block artist experiments with balance and structure.

Spanish Oaks Visit On July 21

We will be at Spanish Oaks on July 21st. We are hoping to see middle school students but we also encourage all elementary students to visit Indy Art Lab art camp if they can.

I shared with many of my colleagues who attended the Teaching for Artistic Behavior Institute at Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) our work at Indy Art Lab our methodology, learner centered art education where the child is the artist.

Elementary age students build marble runs at Meadowlark art camp this past month.

A large painting as the result of artists playing the drawing game.

Cardboard construction pop-up center with information menus on scoring, cutting and connecting cardboard.

Clay vessel developed with coil technique.

Paper mache sculpture bust of an imaginary human.

Cardboard marble run developed by a young engineering student.

Community Alliance of Far Eastside: CAFE

Indy Art Lab will be collaborating with C.A.F.E. for the Summer of 2015. Indy Art Lab was invited to provide a morning of art with artists at the Meadowlark Community and here is what happened. Forty two artists aged 5-14 worked out of our mobile choice-based art program for two and a half hours today. The children began the day with an explanation that artists generate ideas by using their powers of observation, imagination, feelings and emotions, memories and plain old experimentation. We toured the studio space at the Meadowlark Clubhouse, examined signage at the learning centers and began selecting materials from the drawing, jewelry, art library and block building centers. Despite drizzle throughout the morning, block builders and marble run designers working outdoors persevered. We had a fantastic time making art!

This five year old is a natural born graphic designer! 

This serious 10 year old artist used his powers of observation and ruler skills to create a brick pattern behind his vase rendering.

The builders were high energy all morning long. The block building center was the perfect learning activity for these young engineers.

Engineers design two intersecting marble run bridge spans with a single launch point!

At the end of the marble run is a corral to trap the speeding marbles!

Jewelry making artists used their threading, knotting and braiding skills to create bracelets and necklaces.

Manipulation of 2-D space with one point perspective!

Indy Art Lab and C.A.F.E. will be collaborating on two more art education events this summer! Stay tuned for more info!

2013-2014 Haughville Park Action Picks!

Designers paint symbols on their cardboard construction art.

An eight year old boy creates an intuitive painting from his imagination.

Young artist explores shape and color on cardboard with paint.

Sculptors construct a box piñata!

Artists create their own studio space on a beautiful lawn area at Haughville Park.

This large butterfly painting created with many brushstrokes took lots of energy and most of the morning to complete!

Collaborators create a large gesture painting with large circular motions and repeating brush strokes.

Block artists construct a 20 ft. marble run!

Marble runs take lots of energy and patience to build.

A cardboard sculptor uses his scissors to score and cut cardboard.

Children collaborate with painting materials.

Indianapolis art teacher Christopher Nunn assists a young artist with her cardboard sculpture.

Indianapolis art teacher Christopher Nunn transcribes an artist statement from a young sculptor.

Young artist experiments with symmetry in his mandala concept.

Indy Art Lab had the distinct privilege of collaborating with Ms. Francetta Peterson's Summer Supervised Play program and serving children in the Haughville Park Neighborhood area from 2012-2014. We will miss the creative energy, aesthetic experience and artistic vision generated by those children who participated in this program. Indy Art Lab is now working with the Community Alliance of the Far Eastside this July, 2015. Please follow this blog to learn more about profound learning opportunities for children through our unique approach to art education!

Children look for new ways of seeing and doing at Indy Art Lab summer learning experience.

If I could quote my friend and colleague Clark Fralick, two of the most important hallmarks of children's learning experience is exploration and authenticity. I am satisfied that the children were in control of their learning and we made wonderful discoveries about our capacities as creative thinkers and learners. We made some pretty good art too!
At Stringtown Park, despite 105 degree temperatures, we had a wonderful experience with approximately ten campers. My sincerest thanks goes to Ms. Cinthya Perez of the Stringtown Park Program. Her children are so lucky to have her as their camp counselor! More on our two week Indy Art Lab Summer Learning experiences later!

Learning Should be a Fascinating Adventure!

We looked at plant materials up close in the microscope.

Harness the Forces of Gravity!

We went to the marble run center at Stringtown Park.

We thought about how we could control the marbles with our materials.

We built structures to support our marble run tracks.

We dropped the marbles onto the tracks and watched gravity take over.

Sometimes we lost control of our marbles.

We had to make adjustments to keep the marbles on the tracks.