The Monkeys send warm greetings to Nuuk!

The Monkeys in Espoo, Finland were so happy to receive artwork in the mail from their friends in Nuuk, Greenland! We read each other's letters and messages.

Learning more about our friends gave us great ideas on how to make our Pop Up Holiday Cards.  Since Leon's friend liked football, he decided to draw him a spotted football greeting card.  Ella wanted to ask her friend questions about the painting she received.  Ella wondered, "what animal did Misu draw?  I think Minea's friend will surely like the surprise cat she made! hint: meow :)

The Monkeys Move to the Beat!

Our bodies react to music sometimes in ways we can't control or foresee. We just have to experience it to believe it! Today we tried to become more aware of why and how that happens.  First, we started off by having a dance party to just let our bodies lose and move to the beat.  Then we dived into our paints and let our dancing hands guide the brush.  The stories created and felt were amazing!  

First we listed to Dean Martin's "Let it Snow". The Monkeys will be performing this song for the Christmas play so it was fun to practice it with them.

When The Monkeys listened to Helado Negro's song titled "Invisible Heartbeat" images of ocean with whales and mermaids came swimming into the artists' minds. We got into groups to create collective paintings. Bringing all of our imaginary worlds together and making them come to life is always exciting!

How do you move, what do you see, how do you feel when you hear certain songs?  What music do you hear when you look at the Monkeys' paintings?  We are excited to see what our friends in Greenland come up with!

A picture has a 1,000 words!

Our friends from Nuuk Internationale Friskole in Greenland have made Self Portraits to start their new friendship with their friends at the International School in Vantaa, Finland.  Click here how the friends in Vantaa worked on their Self Portraits.

Lotta in Finland and Anaana in Greenland make art together!

Lotta, from Espoo, Finland pulled me aside today to show me the picture she created. Anaana, her friend from Greenland gave her a picture and she drew on top of it. They are making art together! Thank you for sharing and opening up space for each other.

Great questions from the artists at The International School of Vantaa!

The artists at The International School of Vantaa in Finland are a very welcoming group of 4th Graders!  As I was approaching the school I saw a few kids playing outside and they all ran to me asking if I was Arlene.  Wow!  What a warm greeting for my first time at this school :)

They then took me upstairs to the class where Mary Banda, their teacher, and the rest of the artists were waiting to start creating their first project to be exchanged with Nuuk Internationale Friskole in Greenland.

Mary had the great idea to Google Map where Greenland is in relation to Finland.  This prompted many questions!

What language do they speak in Greenland?

What is the weather like?

How come there is so much snow when it is called Greenland?

Maybe our new friends in Nuuk could help us answer some of these questions.

Here are the Self Portrait Puppets they made.  I like how some artists decided to turn this into an interactive game or took the time create texture with different materials.  They look forward to hearing from their new friends in Greenland!

The Monkeys make Self-Portrait Puppets for their friends in Greenland

I had a great Dear You art workshop today with the Monkeys at Your School in Espoo, Finland!  First, I introduced the art of silhouettes and all the different ways we can incorporate that technique into our own practice.  We looked at classic Indonesian puppetry and contemporary artists such as Kara Walker, who use silhouettes in their artistry.

After that we jumped right into the creative process and made outlines of our bodies for our own puppets.  To incorporate a collective element into this project our friends in Greenland will write their name on our puppet.  It was fun choosing how and what we want to tell our friends for their first impression.

We can't wait to see meet our new friends from Nuuk, Greenland!