Dear You Art Project

Mail Art + Pen Friends = Dear You Art Project

Dear You Art Workshops

From palm trees and rice friends in India to you!

2015, 5th Grade, Dear You Art Workshops, IndiaArlene TuckerComment

Dear Mooste friends,

It was very hot and sunny today at Arivu school. The summer holidays are already starting here as you are entering spring.

Around Arivu school there are some rice fields and many of your friends chose to see them through the viewfinder. There are also palm trees and other types of trees as you can see in the artworks. The playing area of the school as well as the school buildings have also found their way to the artworks. 

Before going for holidays, they will make an art exhibition of your February artworks. They are all looking forward to see them and know you all.

Greetings from your Indian friends!

Berliners find amazing color combinations!

2015, 5 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Estonia, GermanyArlene TuckerComment

Lusine and her 5 year old artists from Berlin had a great time with their Dear You March project! I am sure Evelyn and her artists in Mooste, Estonia will appreciate their watercolor views.  

We split the project into two. First the kids made and used their viewfinders to fix images, colors and different combinations. It was interesting to observe that later on when they were asked to put their creativity onto paper, they knew exactly what and how they wanted to paint. In between, they were encouraged to use the view finders again, which they applied from different distances involving other kids to hold the painting or to look through their view finders.

We had a lot of fun and discovered many new things around us.

All the best,
Lusine and Felixers

First signs of Spring and much much more from the artists in Vantaa, Finland!

2015, 6 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, Pre-School, AustriaArlene TuckerComment

Here are the Lumileopard's paintings from Vantaa, Finland.  You can see the first signs of spring through the viewfinders!  I wonder if their friends in Austria are also seeing the seasons change through their viewfinders.  Anne-Marie, the Lumileopard's teacher, has shared so much great information with us!  She says:

This Art task was so gorgeous and funny. Kids and adults were so excited about all working and screening.  At first I told the children about the new themes and we were discussing what all of that means and how we can do this work.  We then built our own viewfinder.

Next we made small groups and went out to search for good painting items and at same time we considered signs of spring. After that everyone painted their own watercolor landscape. 

Some kids found their views easily, some of them had to seek them out longer. That view what is in Picture, can exhibit small detail from nature, or house's wall etc. or it can be also bigger view from landscape or even imagination topic ! The finished works were delightful!
 


I wrote some notes about what the kids named their works:
Rebekka: Firs, red house, stones.
Teppo: Firs, red stable, watergrass.
Eetu: Space and ufos
Veera: Sky, sun
Anna: Spruce and flowers
Jimi T: House, Big Flat
Andreas: Car, house and human being
Rasmus S: Colour of the sky
Karl: Spring is coming
Jimi P: Venetian blind and bricks
Doina: Spruce, sun and dry leaves
Eelis: Rainbow and sun
Sandra: All kind of colours
Moonika: Birds, clouds, sun, grass and spruce
Helmi: House and grass
Miina: Nursery's playsquare on sunny day
Aapo: Octopus on the wall
Leevi: Bus on the road
Adam: Stones, man is walking, sun and blue clouds

Have a nice spring there and lot of more fun with art and kids!

B.W : Anne-Marie and Snowleopards from Vantaa

A room with many views

2015, 6 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, India, Pre-SchoolArlene TuckerComment

We 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?

Stringing together Valentine's Day and Carnival!

Dear You Art Workshops, 2015, Austria, 7 years oldArlene TuckerComment

The Cats in Vienna have been up to some lovely thoughts and artwork!

Simone, their teacher, wrote:
My children loved to work with this new material, the wool. I told them to make some pictures of something they love. So they can share it with their partners. Also, we talked about people we love.

Children love their parents and their families, also their animals. Important is the fact we can love someone because he is doing something good, he is helping us and very important: he is playing with us. :) And he has to be very nice.

What can we do for people we love? You can write a love letter, you can paint something, you can give flowers.

Best wishes,
Simone and her cats



Ystävänpäivä every day : )

2015, 6 years old, 7 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, Pre-School, AustriaArlene TuckerComment

Hello Dears,

In Finland Valentine's Day is Ystävänpäivä, which means Friend's Day :).  The artists at Päiväkoti Lystilä in Vantaa decided to make woolly socks as part of the string theme AND sing a song for their friends at Evangelischen Volksschule am Karlsplatz, Vienna.

Lumileopards think woolly socks are great because:
- here in Finnish winter we really need warm socks!
- and like warm socks, a good friend is important and really necessary to move on!
- every kid can easily make and have their own stylish design and be proud of that too!
- there are always two socks in a pair. We are stronger together as opposed to just one!

HAPPY VALENTINE's DAY <3 
Lumileopardit & A-M

And here is Anne-Marie Keckman's translation of the Woolly Sock Song:

MY FRIEND

MY FRIEND IS LIKE A WOOL SOCK, IT WARMS ME AT WINTER,
AND MY FRIEND IS LIKE A MELLOW FLOWER, MAKES ME A SMILE!
SO TAKE MY HAND AND FOLLOW ME TO THE STRAND, I WILL SHOW YOU HOW THE SUN GOES DOWN BEHIND THE TREES, PAINTING THE SKY RED.
I'M SO LITTLE AND NEED A GUIDE TO TEACH ME HOW TO MAKE THIS WORLD BETTER!
SOMEDAY, WHEN I AM GROWN UP I WISH THAT,
I NEVER STOP LEARNING!

You can try to sing it too! :D

The Solar System strings us together!

5 years old, 2015, Collective Art, Dear You Art Workshops, Pre-School, USAArlene TuckerComment

Hi,

We had a great time doing the February Dear You art project.  We have been focusing on the solar system and talking about how we are connected to everything, so the project tied in perfectly with our curriculum! We have also been working on sharing and teamwork, so each piece was a collective effort.  

Have a great day,
Michelle

The 5 years old at Moonstone Preschool in Philadelphia, PA, USA is making and exchanging artwork with Pre-Kindergarteners at The International School of Antwerp in Antwerp, Belgium.

Pop Up Tigers and Pop Up Season's Greetings!

2014, 5 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, VietnamArlene TuckerComment

Once The Tigers mastered the art of making a pop up box everything became possible! Nachu was experimenting with writing her name in cursive. Jonatan made a pop up reindeer. Sreya said she wanted to give the sun to her friends in Vietnam.  That's so thoughtful considering Finland could really use some right about now :).  Ida went beyond the twofold card and made a pop up book! 

The Tigers will mail these warm wishes to the Mice in Vietnam.  Hyvää Joulua and Happy New Year!

It's Art When You Call It Art

8th Grade, 2014, Dear You Art Workshops, Denmark, FinlandArlene TuckerComment

The last session in Meilahti started off a bit differently than the others before it. I had a special guest: Arlene, the founder of Dear You workshops was there with me to tell about her latest installation piece. So we plunged to the world of installations and scratched the surface of performance art with a seasoned guide.

The outcome of the workshop was creative as always! We got a taste of Du Champ -style piece called Pen on the Floor, a miniature Pollock, Magic tricks of expectations, surprise performative art and framings and of course the Illuminati had it's hands on this workshop too.

We discovered that art is dialogue, a process where we interpret each other. Sometimes we get the gist of things and sometimes we get lost in translation but that's okay. No matter the distance we can always try to reach out to understand and find our horizons being broadened in the process. It's art when you call and treat is as such!

Using some of the words that the Dear You Artist in Meilahti mentioned, all in all we had a fun, new and magical ride on our Dear You journey!

- Nooralotta Ikonen
http://laiskia.blogspot.fi

All That Talent for Christmas!

2014, 5th Grade, Czech Republic, Dear You Art Workshops, FinlandArlene TuckerComment

Do you know how to play the guitar, do the baby freeze or do you just know really much about ice hockey? I surely don't but the talented fifth graders in Helsinki English School know!

This time at The English School we looked at our gifts. We pondered about how can we give them as presents to our friends. The word present has two meanings: one is something you give away and the other one is something you receive right at every moment, at the present. So a gift in it's most heartfelt way is you being present to the people around you. That means everyone of us can give a special gifts this Christmas by just being present and using the talents we have.

Some of us had a hard time seeing our own talent. But we needn't worry too much! Help was always near when friends cheered on at how good someone was at so many things. Sometimes we can't see our own talents because to us they're just everyday things while to others they might be a wonder. If you know how to do something really well, you might just need a reminder now and again from your friends on how good you actually are! We drew our talents in the stars that we sent to Prague and hope that they'll bring at least as much cheer there as we experienced when making them.

This gift giving doesn't have to stop at Christmas. We can all use our gifts and talents, no matter how small we think they are, every day and bring cheer and ease to others around us.

Let's have a gift filled Christmas and a talented new year!

- Nooralotta Ikonen
http://laiskia.blogspot.fi

Love from Snowleopards and Anne-Marie

2014, 6 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, Pre-School, AustriaArlene TuckerComment

Hello,

We have Christmas Holidays now and have been busy organizing happenings, presents and so on here in Vantaa, Finland. Thank you Simone and kids for your lovely posts.  The kids got all those drawings you made!! They were so grateful and happy about that! This  week we made a little surprise for your Christmas ... hope you will get it soon!

And there are also pics from our Party Room.  We had a Winter theme where everyone could use their 5 senses.

Beautiful holidays to you all and Merry Christmas.

Love from Snowleopards and Anne-Marie

The Monkeys send warm greetings to Nuuk!

2014, Pre-School, Greenland, Finland, Dear You Art WorkshopsArlene TuckerComment

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 :)

December Peacefulness in Prague

2014, 4th Grade, Czech Republic, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, HolidaysArlene TuckerComment

Dear You,

Last workshop of this year was also my last contribution to this project. As you could sense all around the Panda Learning Center, Christmas are everywhere and I wanted to set up the workshop in this mood. I wanted to create a calm and peaceful atmosphere and to have time to chat with the students. This time we used just markers, scissors and blank white A4 paper. During the workshop we talked about Christmas time and what we would like to give to the students from Finland, which was really fun and I hope that you are going to see it soon. The biggest  source for us was  the licorice world, which we all remember from one of the the previous workshop in which we received pictures of licorice candies from Finland.

In the end, I especially wanted to thank my students for their intense attitude and high quality outcomes, also thanks to stuff of Panda Learning Center for providing me warm words and lunch, students from Finland for their funny letters and last but not least to Arlene Tucker coordinator of this project for patience and trust to give me space and time within Dear You project.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Prague
Veselé Vánoce a šťastný nový rok z Prahy

- Rudolf Samohejl

Painting has no boundaries

5 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, VietnamArlene TuckerComment

First we were all surprised, interested, curious and sometimes even scared of the paintings we saw: M. C. Escher, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso and other surrealist painters, which made us think a little bit and also realize that painting has no boundaries. 

Then, we started painting to Jun Miyake's "Lillies of the Valley". The storm, No teacher, Windy day, The tree, Flowers, Birds of Vietnam or the galaxy are some of the paintings we created. Take a look and you will find much more. 

All the best from Hanoi,
The Little Mice

The Little Mice are exchanging with the Tigers in Espoo, Finland.  Check out what The Tigers did for their Musical Paintings here!

Musical insight from the artists in Vienna, Austria

2014, 7 years old, Austria, Finland, Dear You Art WorkshopsArlene TuckerComment

Hello!

I'm sending you the first pictures of our music-project.

On the left side of the sheets you can see the impressions inspired by Edvard Grieg, Morning Mood. On the right side you can see what children did to the music from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Summer, Presto (The Thunderstorm). Some of them really fell into the music. :)

It was interesting to notice that nearly all children had the same feelings. Morning mood is smooth and clear. A lot of them started to paint with the colour green; they painted nature and "good" things like music, birds - happiness and peace.

Vivaldi's Thunderstorm is very rude and disturbing. They had the feeling of death and threat in different forms like a house is burning or someone is crying for help. Also, bad people are in the pictures.

THANKS A LOT for your candies! We had a lot of fun opening your present and tasting the candies! In Austria we don't eat liquorice, just a few people like it (like me). But the caramel candy and the chocolat were great! They loved it!*

Its always a great moment for the children to get a parcel from far away. We loved the stamps from Finland and the children did not allow me to destroy the paper around the parcel. ;)

Winter and Christmas is coming in Vienna...

Best wishes!!

Simone

*The artists in Vienna, Austria are exchanging with the artists in Vantaa, Finland.