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 7th and 8th graders at Randlevskolen make Environmental Art

Starting in September 2014 Line Hansen and her artists at Randlevskolen in Odder, Denmark will be creating with the artists at Meilahden Yläaste in Helsinki, Finland.  Below is a bit about their first workshop.

Line said, "Yesterday the 7th and 8th graders at Randlevskolen made environmental art. The students took some great photos and made some very different artwork, but they were all inspired by the nature around the school and the beautiful day that we had yesterday. They were really engaged in the process, and some of them could have continued for hours. They are also vey excited about receiving the artwork from Meilahti school.

We didn't have time for all the documentation and making a video message, but we will do that in our next English lesson on Tuesday. Sadly, we only have three English lessons per week, so we won't have time for working with video and photo editing. However, we would gladly post our video and photos anyway."

It's so wonderful that the participating schools can integrate Dear You into their curriculum. Both groups are learning video and photo editing outside the project with the shot material.

Have a great Dasara Fair in Mysore!

Wishing our Dear You friends in Mysore, India a Happy Dussehra on October 3rd!

"In the months of Ashwin and Kartik, Hindus observe a 10 day ceremony of fast, rituals and celebrations to honor the triumph of Lord Rama over Demon Ravana. Dussehra also symbolizes the triumph of warrior Goddess Durga over the buffalo demon, Mahishasura. Thus, it is a celebration of victory of good over evil." 

- Read more about the celebration here.

To learn more about how the Dasara Fair in Mysore is celebrated, please click here.

I hope to experience this colorful festivity in India one day!

Dussehra Festival is full of light! http://aboutfestivalsofindia.com/community-festivals/hindu-festivals/dussehra/

So many people are celebrating this holiday! http://aboutfestivalsofindia.com/community-festivals/hindu-festivals/dussehra/

Ramlila (Rama + lila) meaning the lifestory of Rama is the melodramatic presentation of Ramayana.

Happy Heijastinpäivä!

October 1 is Heijastinpäivä in Finland.  Heijastin = Reflector and Päivä = Day.  So happy Reflector Day to You!  That means we should get out our reflectors and prepare for darkness to fall.  Winter is coming!  Reflectors should even be given to your pets.  We want everybody to be safe on the street.

Have you ever heard of this kind of celebration?  I wonder if there is such a day in Estonia, Sweden, Greenland, Norway, or Denmark?

Moomintroll reflectors are really popular in Finland!

Smiling faces from Vienna, Austria :)

Simone Zobl, the 1st grade educator at Evangelischen Volksschule am Karlsplatz in Vienna, Austria, has started Dear You with us this September!

For the Self Portrait Puppet project, Simone said, "I only told the children, that they should paint themselves for our partner class. They cut out the puppet and made it all on their own. And they really had a lot of fun! :)"

I am sure everybody is excited to receive the puppets from their new Czech friends!

Belgium + USA = Happy Artists

The International School of Antwerp in Antwerp, Belgium and Moonstone Preschool in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the USA have started their new friendship this fall.

Thank you to their teachers, Naomi Kite, Nebadon Adams, and Michelle Mullally for being such warmhearted spirits that encourage these artists to express themselves so beautifully!

I think these pictures of the Happy Artists in action says it all :)

Cutting and creating away in Antwerp, Belgium!

Artists at the International School of Antwerp in action!

The whole class ready to be posted to their friends in Philadelphia, PA.

Moonstone Preschooler Helen is thinking about what she wants to tell her new friend in Belgium.

Collaging Self Portrait Puppets in Prague

Our first meeting with students  from Central Point International Elementary School in Prague, Czech Republic was exciting for all of us.

I started the lesson by bringing a few magazines in. While browsing through, we discussed our role models and how our own puppets could look like. For faces, some of the kids chose already existing faces from the magazines which they drew on tracing paper while others drew their own faces. The kids were asked to use a template to cut their puppets but they already adjusted the shapes to their own needs and wishes. Regarding the material, we tried to use scissors, glue and all possible kinds of collage-like stuff: coloured paper, fabric, old jeans.

We really like the results  of our class and we already look forward to the next time.  

- Rudolf Samohejl
Dear You Workshop Leader

 

The Art of Choosing with The English School

The Fifth Graders at The English School of Helsinki collaged whimsical portraits of themselves for our new friends in the Czech Republic. We thought about the art of choosing. What do the things we decide to show and hide tell about ourselves?

We took inspiration from Johnny Amore's humorous collage characters. The young artists cut out textures, images and words from magazines to form a collage representing themselves. It was wonderful to hear laughter around the classroom when the young artists discovered new and unexpected ways to mix and match the clippings out of magazines to form hilarious combinations.

- Nooralotta Ikonen
http://laiskia.blogspot.fi
Dear You Workshop Leader

A Letter from Hanoi

Hello all, 

Last Friday was a very exciting day both here at Just Kids in Hanoi and at Your School in Espoo. After a couple of weeks of working on their artwork, the "Little Mice" had the chance to meet their new friends in Finland and show them their Self Portrait Puppets. They all talked about themselves, their names, age and where they live. Some were a bit shy at the beginning, but, in the end, they all had fun and got a chance to show their artwork.

Many also explained about their favorite things such as, swimming, ice-cream, ninjas, the color pink, blonde hair and even their own countries which they love so dearly. It was a great surprise to see the kids find out that they are not so different after all. They all like similar things. And despite the distance, they where able to spend Friday afternoon together in a fun "show and tell" circle.

We are looking forward to start our next project and to meet "The Tigers" again. We leave you here some of their artwork so you can get to know our artists better.

All the best from Hanoi,

Toti

Meilahden Yläasteen School in Helsinki kicks off their first project!

The eighth graders of Meilahti School in Helsinki, Finland took part in the first Dear You workshop of this fall. We explored our surroundings through Environmental Art. In the upcoming sessions we're going to explore our inner environments with mindful art and top it all with explorations and meetings through performance.

During the first workshop we took our art gear to the park next to the school. We talked about how forms and colors affect the message and harmony of the art work. We took inspiration from Robert Smithson's Jetty Spiral and Kaija Kiuru's Hahmotelmia. Why had Smithson planned his work in a spiral form? Why had Kiuru chosen red strands for her work instead of green?

Most of the participants worked in teams. Every artist took the environment into account while planning and making their pieces.It was wonderful to witness the flow of ideas and how the artists came into a mutual understanding to ripen the ideas into fruition in the short time we had to execute our art work.

Next time we'll start working based on the art we receive from our new friends in Denmark. Can't wait what the wonderful artist of Meilahti school think of next!

- Nooralotta Ikonen
http://laiskia.blogspot.fi
Dear You Workshop Leader

The Tigers are Rrrrready for their Ipevo Skype session with Just Kids in Hanoi!

I learned so much about the Tigers today!  I learned that Aleksi likes to play chess because he drew a chess piece on his self-portrait puppet.  I also learned that Sofi loves the color purple because she gave herself a purple dress.  Now their new friends in Hanoi, Vietnam will also get to know them!

Before we got ourselves covered with glue and markers I first showed them different portraits of artists such as Frida Kahlo and Pablo Picasso.  This got our mind in the frame of choosing what we would like to tell our new friends about ourselves.

Nachu said, "This puppet is the real me and not the real me!"  

On Friday they will have their first Dear You Skype session using the Ipevo document camera and conference station.  Exciting! 

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!

Tatjana Knudsen and her 3rd graders in Denmark are ready for Dear You!

Here are some pictures of Tatjana Knudsen's 3rd graders working on their puppets. Tatjana said, "They are just so excited and can't wait to see what they get from their friends in Finland."

Tatjana is the art teacher at Randlevskolen in Odder, Denmark.  They are sharing and making art with the artists at The English School in Helsinki, Finland.

Dear You Summer Visits to Estonia and USA

This summer was extra great because I got to visit two of the Dear You participating schools and even got to create with the artists. The first visit was to Lasteaed Illikuku in Ahja, Estonia and the second was at Moonstone Preschool in Philadelphia, USA.

Thank you for making my summer extra goood :)

Making self portraits for our collective mural!

What a beautiful playground the kids in Ahja have!

The houses the friends in Estonia made for their friends in Philadelphia are in their garden.

Look at the amazing art room Moonstone Preschool has!