The only way to really get to know each other is by verbal communication and by being able to ask and specify what each other wants to know and what they mean.
Espoo
What is uniqueness?
2020, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, United Kingdom, FinlandCommentThe Monkeys translate their environment for their friends!
2018, 6 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, FinlandComment
Words have an amazing way of painting pictures in our minds! The Monkeys have created sound pieces that will hopefully tell their friends in Kontula about where they are in Olari. We started by exploring the environment and then as we were recording tried to catch as many details as we could to communicate them to our friends.
Kanelit, you can draw a picture based on our recordings! Also, do you hear what is happening in the background? The more you listen the more your visions grow.
Thank you for making art with us!
Sincerely,
Arlene, Sanna, Ben, and The Monkeys
The 6 year old artists at Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with the 6 year old artists from Päiväkoti Pihapirtti in Helsinki, Finland.
Using light and transparency to make art!
2018, 4 years old, 5 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, FinlandComment
Using our friend's artwork as a direct inspiration for our artwork is a pure collaboration! At first, the Tigers were wondering how can we do that? How can we make something together with our friends when they live in Kontula? This was the first time the Tigers used tracing in their artwork and they did an excellent job!
When they finished tracing we had a talk about the original artwork- what was the photographer trying to say with their image? From that, the Tigers chose colors to try and bring that idea to life. We had a good discussion and compared the original artwork from their artwork they made.
Colors and lines, make such a difference even if it's coming from the same source. We learned how we can "say" what we mean.
Thank you for being such an inspiration for us!
Sincereley,
Arlene, Floriin, Anna-Maria & The Tigers
The 5 year old artists at Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with the 5 year old artists from Päiväkoti Pihapirtti in Helsinki, Finland.
The Monkeys translate their friend's artwork!
2018, 5 years old, 6 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, Pre-SchoolComment
Our new friends in Kontula have become even more alive as we all sat around to talk about the self-portraits. What do you think this picture means? What do you think our friend is trying to say with that gesture? Through the process of trying to understand what the picture is conveying, we started to connect with the picture and the person behind the camera. "I like horses too!" "I like to do gymnastics too!"
We had a good discussion about translation. Can we say something exactly in another language? We practiced saying hello and how are you in different languages. Even from that we sometimes got stuck because the direct translation wasn't always exactly the same.
We tried applying this concept of translation to picture form by tracing the self-portrait. Then when we added color, we could play around with how color enhances and changes the meaning of the picture. All the elements come together so choose carefully what you would like to communicate!
The Monkeys did an amazing job!
Sincerely,
Arlene, Sanna, Ben & The Monkeys
The 6 year old artists at Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with the 6 year old artists from Päiväkoti Pihapirtti in Helsinki, Finland.
Through photography, The Monkeys tell about themselves
2018, 6 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, FinlandComment
The Monkeys were very happy to hear that they have new friends in Kontula! They got even more excited when they found out that they will get to meet their new friends in May after making and sharing art with them for a few months.
Since this is the first artwork in the series, we thought long and hard about what we would like to share with our new friends. Everybody chose things they like to do, things they are interested in or shared traits about themselves:
Adripto: cabin crew (I like to help)
Neha: dancing and drawing
D: drawing
Pauli: hockey
Pranav: skating and playing with friends
Aryan: I like flying on airplanes
Aleksi: hockey
Vika: drawing
Aliah: I would like to show them how I draw
Rafael: I like how to play Kimbu with my friends
Nithila: I like to draw and I want to show it to them
Miriam: I want to show how I make snowflakes
Kinshuk: I want to show them how I play with legos
Miska: I want to show how slow I am
Miro: Playing with my soft toys
Umer: I want to show how fast humans are
Mikael: I like building castles
Once we got into the project we wanted to share even more things with you! Umer said, "We have some powers to teach you."
The Monkeys said that they liked taking the photo and also liked pretending for the photo. We hope you did too!
Sincerely,
Arlene, Sanna, Ben & The Monkeys
The 6 year old artists at Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with the 6 year old artists from Päiväkoti Pihapirtti in Helsinki, Finland.
Listen to the Tigers tell 'Joulupukki goes to India' and 'The Ice Cream Story 1'!
2017, 4 years old, 5 years old, Collective Art, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, USAComment
Who wouldn't be in the creative mood with the smell and looks of these delicious handmade gingerbread cookies?!?! With these in the air of the Tiger's room, we got straight to making the art work for our Full Moon friends in Philadelphia!
We started by looking at all of the artworks they mailed us. This gave us inspiration for our stories. We got into two groups and worked together to come up with characters and an amazing story line. Have a listen!
These artists create and told the story of Joulupukki goes to India! ps. Joulupukki means Santa Claus in Finnish :).
Jumping with joy, the artists of The Ice Cream Story 1 say woo hoo!!
The Tigers are so grateful and happy they had this time to make and share art with you all! Thank you and we wish you a HAPPY HAPPY New Year!
With love,
Arlene & The Tigers
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.
Monkeys in the moment
2017, 5 years old, 6 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, United Arab Emirates, Pre-SchoolComment
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
2017, 4 years old, 5 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, United Arab EmiratesComment
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!
Dazzles and a double rainbow
2016, 7 years old, 8 years olds, Finland, USACommentMata sings while making scratch art for the Layers of Love project. With love from Brooklyn, NY to Espoo, Finland!
The Monkeys and their new friends in Mexico
2016, 5 years old, 6 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Dear You Workshop Leader, Finland, Mexico, Pre-SchoolCommentEyes wide open and with welcoming ears, the Monkeys were very excited to hear that their new Dear You friends are from Monterrey, Mexico! The 5 and 6 year olds from Your School and Colegio Bosques de las Cumbres will be making and sharing art!
The Monkeys had the great ideas to look in the geography book where Mexico was. They then figured out ALL the ways to get to our new friends from Finland. We could swim! Use a submarine! Fly a helicopter! Drive a boat!
After we had a good conversation about our favorite stories and the characters that live in the story we got to work! We first cut and organized our transparent silk paper and then collaged it onto sticky paper. This stickiness was at first a challenge, but the artists persevered and made beautiful artworks, as you can see! We then tested our artworks against the light and then adding onto it with either more colored paper or markers.
The Monkeys like Butterfly, Ninja, Pokémon, Transformers, Chima Legos, Kung Fu Panda, Hedgehog stories. Do you recognize these stories? What stories do you like?
We can't wait to hear about your stories!
With love,
Arlene, Ben, Atefeh & The Monkeys
The 5-6 year old Monkeys from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with the 5-6 year olds from Colegio Bosques de las Cumbres in Monterrey, Mexico.
The Tigers tell it all!
2016, 4 years old, Dear You Workshop Leader, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, Pre-School, MexicoCommentThe Tigers from Your School in Espoo, Finland are bubbling in their seats about their new friends in Nursery A from Colegio San Patricio Cumbres in Monterrey, Mexico. Both groups of artists are 4 years old.
In the first project, Lights, Camera, Action!, we made artworks of a character from our favorite story. This is our introductory piece of art to getting to know each other. The sun was also a tool to create our art with. Good thing the sun was shining bright in Finland!
The stories liked were Goldilocks, Batman, Tree Monster, My Little Pony, Spiderman, Batman, Shark Story, Magical Fairy, Superman, Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on a Bed, and Ninja. Do you like these stories too? Which characters do you like from the story?
We can't wait to meet you!
With love,
Arlene, Toti, Zeynab and The Tigers
The Tigers take a closer look at their world
2016, 4 years old, 5 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, VietnamCommentWhat?! How can that be? Where did that come from?
Things started to look very different when put under the lens. The Tigers were explorers and made art inspired from their explorations. The world may look different after some close inspection : ).
The Tigers are 4 year old artists at Your School in Espoo, Finland. They are making and exchanging art with the Puppies, 4 year old artists at Just Kids School in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Tigers make it go!
2015, 4 years old, Collage, Dear You Art Workshops, Dear You Workshop Leader, Finland, VietnamCommentSee that flying car go!
See that monster truck go!
See that transformer go!
See that airplane go!
See that rocket go!
See that flying robot go!
See that walking bus go!
Where are they going to? To Vietnam!
The Tigers at Your School sure do know how to make these move. We used geometric shapes to sketch out our ideas. Next step is to make these drawings come to life! I think the Tigers are a group full of inventors, engineers, mechanics, and definitely creative fun loving people.
With love,
Arlene and The Tigers
The Tigers are 4 year old artists at Your School in Espoo, Finland. They are making and exchanging art with the 4 year old artists at Just Kids School in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The Inquisitive Monkeys!
2015, 5 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Dear You Workshop Leader, Finland, Pre-School, USACommentOne great thing about making and sharing art is that is brings out the inquisitive side in us. We can surely see that it has for the Monkeys at Your School in Espoo, Finland. During the November project, Shared Atmosphere, so many questions came up about our friends at Moonstone Preschool in Philadelphia, USA.
The Monkeys would like to know from the Full Moonstoners:
Is your country nice?
What is your favorite food that you get in school?
What are you favorite colors?
How much do you like to be in school?
Do you like our pictures?
Can you write something about your picture?
How cold is it in Philadelphia?
What do you like about your school?
What are your teacher's names and are they nice to you?
How big is Philadelphia?
Do you get any free play?
These questions came up whilst we were painting our atmosphere. We got into smaller groups and divided our landscape into ocean life and land and air. You'll find all animals, vegetation, and ways of getting from Helsinki to Philadelphia!
Thanks for sharing with us!
With love,
Arlene and The Monkeys
Play houses from the Tigers
2015, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, Pre-School, 5 years old1 CommentIt's amazing how the Tigers can turn a simple rectangle into a super fun play house! We had so much fun making our pop-up homes for our new puppets that our friends in Vietnam made for us. Now our friends have a place to stay in their new cozy home in Finland!
We first looked at the puppets the Puppies in Vietnam made for us and then created homes that we though would be nice for them. What an inspiration!
Thank you and we look forward to receiving your homes.
Warm hugs,
Arlene & The Tigers
The Monkeys have made great travel companions for their friends at Moonstone Preschool
2015, 5 years old, 6 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, USACommentAsk the Monkeys for some travel advice and they will offer every kind of possibility! From buses to trains to rockets. This all came about when we were figuring out how our Imagine Me puppets are going to reach our new friends at Moonstone Preschool in Philadelphia, USA. Finland is quite a ways from there, but we are up for an adventure!
As we were creating our puppets we thought about what makes a good friend and here are some things the Monkeys said about their imaginative artworks. Meet Seek. Seek is a good friend because "he helps me when I need help," says J. N's puppet's name is Elsa. "She's a good friend because she's nice to me." I's Stella is "fun and playing with everybody. Listening to the teacher and doing everything herself." E called her friend Rosey. "Rosey is nice. She helps me get the way out." A's puppet Super Savior "saves me when I'm in danger!" M's puppet is a boat named Oh No. When I asked M why Oh No is a good friend, she said, "She makes me laugh." I think that's one of the most important characteristics a friend should have too!
Thanks for the lovely afternoon, Monkeys!
With love,
Arlene
The Monkeys (6 years old) from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with the Full Moons (5 years old) from Moonstone Preschool in Philadelphia, USA.
Comic Strips from the Tigers
2015, 5 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, VietnamCommentThe Tigers impressed me so much not only with their comic strips, but how they can clearly show emotions in their drawn characters! We first made some character studies from one of the characters in their character. For example, since Paavo was the main character in his comic he decided to do a character study of himself. He drew what he looks like happy, sad, nervous, and even drew himself as if he was going to explode from an oversupply of energy!
Everybody did a wonderful job! The Mice in Vietnam will enjoy reading these during their summer holiday too!
A room with many views
2015, 6 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, India, Pre-SchoolCommentWe were so excited to receive our first package from our new friends in India! Aniish asked, "How can you draw that good?!" Ella asked, "Do you like the Monkeys- the animal and us?" Dante asked, "Is the boat in your painting going to Sweden?"
The Monkeys were discovering all special angles of their classroom with the help of their newly crafted viewfinders today. The viewfinders also helped us build a better composition.
Have a look at their paintings and then see if you can find where they found it in their room. It doesn't surprise me that there are a couple of watercolor paintings of fish and monkeys! Can you see why?
Our colorful view!
2015, 5 years old, Finland, VietnamCommentThe Tigers and I started our session by making a viewfinder with our hands and seeing what is around us. We saw the trees outside the window, we saw the view to the downstairs where the Dolphins and Lions are, we saw the hearts on the windows and all the beautiful artwork hanging from the ceiling! Now have a look at how our views turned into beautiful watercolor paintings : )
We our curious how our views are the same and different from The Mice in Vietnam!
With love,
Arlene & The Tigers from Espoo, Finland
