Holi

Holi the Indian spring festival of color is nearing. If you would like to see some first hand celebration go to India Forums dance festival.  Click on the image to see the whole flyer.

Marigolds

 

I finally got all of the materials together and the second grade planted marigolds.  Marigolds are important in India as they are used to create garlands that decorate religious statues, temples and for people at funerals , weddings and other special occasions.

 The kids saved their milk continers and we cut them down. The kids counted their seeds and predicted how many flowers they would get. Each day a "gardener of the Day" is going to water the classes plants and record the number of plants that show growth.  The students are also creating their own journals and artwork to accompany this science unit. 

Mask Making

At JMES I have been making papier mache masks with the school wide enrichment class. 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades meet with me on Fridays for 45 minutes to make sculpture. I told the kids they could make an Indian person, animal or a demon form the story Rama and the Demon King. Many of the kids make tigers. Although I had a couple of men, a demon and just because... Lil Wayne. 

Elephants on Parade

First and second grade students worked with visiting artist Kristin Helberg and Morag to create their parade of decorated elephants.Each elephant has it's own quirky charm and the students loved working with the sequins and feathers to embellish their work.

Individual Miniatures

Examples of the individual miniature paintings. These three were painted by Eboney, Deandre and Kevin and were based on their sketches for their mural contributions and painted on watercolor paper imported from India.

Completed Mural

Yesterday was our last day of work on the mural. Kristin Helberg our artist in residence has been at Harlem Park for the past month working with the eighth grade on the mural and team teaching other grades with Morag.  In addition to creating this communal art work students used the sketches from their mural contributions as a basis for individual miniature paintings. It was sad to come to the end of this year's projects with Kristin, the students have a great relationship with her and learn a lot from working with a professional artist. We celebrated with mango lassi and presented Kristin with an umbrella decorated with sari clad dancing ladies.

Traditional Shoes

Third grade students worked with visiting artist Kristin Helberg and Morag to created these mixed media shoes in the traditional Indian style.