Questions lead to more questions

The Tigers really know how to create a welcoming and artistic environment! They had so many questions and things to share even before we got started with The art of asking questions project! This sort of excitement is the inspiration every artist looks for!

We started the session by first looking at the artworks we received from the Full Moons. WOW!! We talked about what their pictures were communicating and was wondering about all sorts of things about our new friends. The questions started pouring out so we made a long list and then founds ways to put image to the text.

Some wonderful questions and explanations of the Tigers' pictures:
Vanessa asked, "What countries have you been to?" She drew a picture of the world.
Olivia drew a house because she asked, "Where do you live?"
Rishitha asked, "When is your birthday?" In the picture, "there are fireworks and my birthday."
Mikelis asked, "Where do you live?" He said, "I drew the house. I drew a mother house with a wheel on the top of another house."
Nea asked, "What is your favorite food?" She drew a picture of pasta.
Cride asked, "Do you like to go swimming?" and drew a swimming pool.
Achu asked, "Who is your friend?" "I drew a friend who is having a birthday."
Oskari asked, "What is your favorite shirt?" "I drew my favorite shirt!"
Erik asked, "What do you like to play?" "My favorite toy is a castle. It's at home."
Aapo asked, "Do you like shark tornadoes?"
Arn asked, "What is your favorite shirt?"
Renu asked, "What does your room look like?" "It's a picture of my room."
Joann asked, "What is your favorite color?" "Rainbow!"
Anton asked, "What do you like to play?" "What do you do when you are outside?"

We also came up with MORE questions!

What do you watch? What house were you in when you were small? Do you have a tv?

We hope you like our artwork! We like yours a lot!!

Our best,
The Tigers, Arlene, Iveta, and Atefeh

The Tigers from Your School Espoo, Finland are making and sharing with the Full Moons from Moonstone Preschool in Philadelphia, USA. Both groups are 4-5 years old.

ISH Explorers create self-portraits!

It was so nice to see the two groups of Explorers have Morning Meeting in their own classrooms. Both Mrs. Nikurautio and Mr. Prebble have their own lovely way of being with their students. We then got all together to talk about the first Dear You project- Unique You!  Everybody was so excited to hear that we have new friends in China who will be making and sharing art with us. We talked about when we first meet somebody new, what would we like to share with them?  What would we like to know about our friends?  This guided us in making our self-portrait.

We first used pencil to make the carbon transfer and then added charcoal.  Once the mark making started to come through, their curiosity grew bigger and bigger.  The artists could see how the charcoal was also adding elements of their fingerprints, which is a part of who they are!

Some reflections from the artists are:

Enzo said, "me playing with my dog. My dog is barking at his dog friend. I held my dog so he didn't run away."

Devansh said, "I'm in a boat going to India. There's a submarine and fish following us.

Deethya said, "She's at the hairdresser because she needs short hair. She's with her mum and there's a rainbow behind you since it's a beautiful day."

Aishiki said, "There are hearts in the sky. Because I like them. I feel like I am hearts in the sky."

One little artist said, "My picture makes me happy."  

They all make me happy!!

Before closing the package we all sat down to write a letter for our friends.  We have lots of questions!

Do you like frogs?
Do you like fish?
What do you do in China?
What are your names?
What language do you speak?
Where do you go in China?

We can't wait to see your artworks!

With love,
The Explorers, Arlene, Mrs. Nikurautio and Mr. Prebble

The Explorers, 5-6 year olds, from International School of Helsinki in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing with the artists aged 6 years old at Shenzhen Primary School in Shenzhen, China.

The Tigers shadow play

How are shadows made?  What are they?  How can we play with them?

We first started this Dear You workshop by exploring different ways of creating shadows using natural light and flashlights. The light was shining so beautifully that day in Espoo that we didn't need to try so hard! 

After we got the hang of shadows we then used it to create artwork! Some of us took a more realistic approach and others took a more imaginative and symbolic approach. During the artistic process a few Tigers wanted to turn their creations into shadow puppets!  

At the end of the workshop, we all gathered around and shared thoughts about our own works and what we thought about our fellow artists' creations.

L: V's drawing made me real scared.

Ad: I saw that my shadow looked silvery.

Misk: The shadow of myself.

R: It's the shadow of my hand on the floor.

Ne: I draw what my body looks like with a heart. I like Miska's shadow.

P: My shadow portrait is a story of my family and the jungle. My daddy is 99 and my mommy is 36.

U: Neha's artwork is awesome. I drew the shadow of my hand. My hand controls everything.

V: How was it possible that the pencil shined when we used it on black cardboard? My shadow portrait is a long story about me and some animals.

So much amazing insight!

With love,
The Tigers, Arlene, Toti, and Zeynab

The 4-5 year old Tigers from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing with the 4-6 year olds in KG2E from Collegiate American School in Dubai, U.A.E. 

Have a seat in our home!

All the Monkeys were very eager to share what their homes are like. What a welcoming bunch of artists! We described what our homes look like, what kind of textures we can find there, even what kind of smells would be cooking in the kitchen. We got us really inspired was thinking about what part of our home is the most comforting. Using pop-up techniques, collage, and drawing we recreated our favorite part of our home!

Ka: This is my panda lying down on the sofa. The curtains and windows are here. There are two doors at my house. The house is white.

Ol: THis is my teddy bear. I have a sofa, door, and my house is brown.

Aa: I have a tv and a painting on the wall.

No: There is dust in my home. There are chairs and tables.

Cs: I have a couch and my dad and brother are at home. I see the table, bedroom, and my toys.

Iu: I have a table and my dolls, my computer, my toy cat, my pencils, sofa and chair, and fish.

Er: My couch, carpet, and door.

Ak: I have lamps, carpet, sofa and a teddy bear.

Lu: I see the sky and the tv and chairs.

We hope our friends in Dubai like our artwork and welcome to Finland!

With love,
The Monkeys, Arlene, Ben, and Atefeh

The 6 year old Monkeys from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing with the 4-6 year olds in KG2D from Collegiate American School in Dubai, U.A.E. 

We are larger than life!

Toti, Zeynab and the Tigers were getting ready to create pop ups! They could not wait to show me and their friends in Dubai the dinosaur helmets they made!

We started the workshop with taking a mental journey to our home. What do you we see in the living room? Which couch do we like to snuggle up on? How does that couch feel? After taking a tour we looked closely at different kinds of texture. We then practiced different drawing techniques on how to create texture.  Putting all of our knowledge together we created our pop-up homes that tried to capture what we like the most in the place we feel at peace.

Nit: A chair I use to relax. All my family can sit on it. It's gray, black and white and it's very smooth.

Neh: I have a sofa in my living room I use to relax and watch tv. It's made of hard cushions. I also have an eating chair.

Raf: I have a soft bed with pillows. My home is very colorful.

Vih: I have a gym room in my home where my mommy keeps my cloths. I have a toy dinosaur that is rough and I play with it.

Ume: My home has a seat in the living room. We eat there. Our seat is big. It's cold and icy, it's blue and yellow. We have pictures of stars, moons, and snowflakes.

Pau: This is my sofa. It's in my living room and it's white. It's a little bit hard and it's made of wood.

Adr: In my home there is a sofa in the middle and there are some decorations on the carpet. The sofa has white, red, green and brown decorations on it. The sofa is made of wood and has comfortable cushions.

Dha: This is my home when I was a baby. The sofa was brought by my mom and dad. And while my big sister was at school I always sat on the sofa with my mommy. The sofa is brown. It was soft and comfortable, but now it's a bit old.

Lil: This is my kitchen where I eat food. There are 2 chairs. One is my sister Elle's and the other one is mine. My chair is made out of wood and some soft material.

Ath: Here is my living room. There is a big tv and black curtains. We sit on the ground and chairs. The ground is soft and brown. I like to sit on the ground to watch tv.

Welcome, friends, to our home!

With love,
The Tigers, Arlene, Toti, and Zeynab

The 4-5 year old Tigers from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing with the 4-6 year olds in KG2E from Collegiate American School in Dubai, U.A.E. 

Monkeys in the moment

When I told them that our new friends live in Dubai everybody was so excited!! Some of them had been there and said it was so beautiful and hot! One of them said that their Mom wants to go back. It must be a great place!!

We got straight to making art for our new friends. We wanted to tell them about who we are through the sounds we hear in our daily life. We blindfolded our eyes so that we could focus on the moment and draw what we hear. The other two parts of the triptych depict what we hear at other times of the day.

Niila said, "I heard somebody on a bike."

 Luukas said, "I drew my house and my friends."

Erkka said, "I heard a ghost and my heart. Actually, it was the ghosts' heart.

Elle said, "I heard cats and dogs."

Iulia said, "I heard music and the clouds."

Alma said, "I heard an owl in the night. I also heard the wind."

Noel said, "I heard the wind and the other Monkeys."

Jonathan said, "I heard a tornado, fire, and 19 kids."

We all had a very different experience and that's what's so exciting about the artistic process.  Kasper said that he liked to draw with his eyes closed.  The Monkeys are brave for trying new things!

With love,
The Monkeys, Arlene, Ben, and Atafeh

The 6 year old Monkeys from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing with the 4-6 year olds in KG2D from Collegiate American School in Dubai, U.A.E. 

Ashira heard her heart beating and her friends.

The Tigers are Listening, Drawing, & Sharing

The Tigers are very excited to meet their new friends from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates! They first asked where it is located on the map!  Some of the Tigers have even been to Dubai, but don't remember because they were 3 years old at the time.  But they imagined that it was a great place : ).

After going over where our friends live we talked a bit about different ways to share our space with our new friends. Sharing with our friends what we find in our soundscape, we decided, would be fun to do! Toti and the Tigers were listening to different sounds and paying attention to local sounds earlier in the day as a way to warm up their ears.

We talked about what a triptych is and then made our own.  In the first section of the triptych we used a blindfold and drew to the sounds we heard in the present moment, in the other sections we drew what we heard in the morning and what we will hear in the evening.  This is what we heard and drew:

Misk- I hear the wind in my heart.

Mike said, "I heard life, the wind." When Vihan saw Mike's picture he said that it made him feel like he was in a tornado. How do you feel when you see this picture?

At night time, V hear's that his daddy is tired so he drew a picture of Daddy yawning.

Adn, "Rainbow, rain, trees, gold coins found in the morning.

Arya- It was easier to draw blindfolded. I heard the blood in my body.

Ath- I heard the monkeys.

Lil- I heard my heart beating. Daddy sleeping and snoring.

D- I heard the Monkeys laughing.

R- I heard the wind.

P- I heard birds.

Neha- I heard bells.

U- I was sleeping in my bed and heard raindrops. (I kept my eyes open. I didn't like to close them.)

The Tigers said, "Dear friends, we would like to invite you to Finland! Far and close from us.

With love,
The Tigers, Arlene, Toti, and Zeinab

The 4-5 year old Tigers from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing with the 4-6 year olds in KG2E from Collegiate American School in Dubai, U.A.E. 

N heard birds in the morning!

The Monkeys collect, make, and mail art!

The Monkeys explored travels in the deep sea all the up to space. We first discussed all the ways one could travel. And then we put a twist on it since anything is possible in our imagination! From then on we had space rockets that could also act as airplanes and we had boats that could change to a million different speeds!

Continuing with the goodness of recycling, we used old candy wrappers and other papers to make our artworks.  The Monkeys thought, is there Fazer chocolate in Mexico?  They really hope so!

Looking forward to receiving artworks from our friends in Mexico! Thanks!

Our best,
Arlene & The Monkeys

The Monkeys from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with Rocio Fernandez and her artists from Prepri B from Colegio San Patricio Cumbres in Monterrey, Mexico.  Both groups of artists are 5-6 years old.

Our world is big, connected, and full of creative ways of getting from here to there :).

The Tigers make their way to Mexico!

I was so very impressed with how imaginative the Tigers were!  Some even made a three-dimensional boat to travel to their friends in Mexico!  Before getting started on the artworks we first had a good conversation about what vehicles were and how different vehicles travel.  The Tigers then decided to try to make some that fly, float, and go underwater!

The Tigers collected ice cream wrappers and candy wrappers from a recent birthday party to use for the collage. Have you ever had Penguin ice cream?

Thank you!

With love,
Arlene & The Tigers

The Tigers from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with Nursery A from Colegio San Patricio Cumbres in Monterrey, Mexico.  Both groups of artists are 4 years old.

Our connected world!