有趣的工藝美術課！每週 4-5 歲藝術探索

WHAT IS THIS CLASS ABOUT?
Making art is about exploration! When I work with younger learners, I focus on their process and not their product - although young artists are often thrilled with whatever they create, a lot of the joy is in the MAKING. In this weekly meet-up, I'd like to provide a space in which young artists can gather together with me, make art, and share with friends! This will be a more free-form class - nothing step-by-step. Your little learners will be exploring art in a carefree way, in community with others. (The fun exploration of line & watercolor wash in the class listing was created by a 4yo artist in a session where we were exploring with watercolors.) 

DOES MY LEARNER HAVE TO ATTEND EVERY WEEK?
They don't HAVE to, but consistency in art practice is helpful and creates a more vibrant community of learners! The weeks do build on each other somewhat - although learners CAN join in the middle, it's nice when they are able to be there for all aspects of an art medium as it helps them gain familiarity with both the art medium and their classmates!

WHAT WILL LEARNERS DO IN A TYPICAL CLASS SESSION?
During the first five minutes, after a quick greeting, I will suggest an idea for that day, and will usually suggest/demo a suggested use of materials (eg layering color). Occasionally, we may be inspired by something more specific - for example, one week some young learners had holiday light hanging behind them, and most of us ended up creating art with lots of circles in it! Young artists are free to either share their own ideas for the day's artwork, or diverge entirely and do their own thing - making artwork within community is a lovely practice! 

(Some learners show up and announce, "I am making a picture of a castle today," and that's always fine with me!) We'll spend 15-20 minutes working (and as they work, I'll work along with them, and as mentioned, I'll suggest different ways for them to explore using their art materials), and if we haven't been sharing throughout, which often happens, we'll spend 5 minutes or so at the end sharing with classmates. When artists share, I try to point out different aspects of their artwork, so they'll be picking up art terms as we go. 

I do ask that student cameras remain on during the class, as especially with younger kids, I want to gauge how they are doing, and can't do that when I all see is a black box with a name in it!

I'll use a document camera and create art along with them (but sometimes I'll turn my document camera off because I don't want them to feel like they should be copying me - there is no 'right way' to make art). 

Important note about sharing in class: I don't force kids to share their work, or their thoughts! I will ask them if they'd like to, and kids are always welcome to volunteer, but I understand that some kids are more shy than others and, having myself been a kid who didn't like to speak up too much in class, I know what it feels like when teachers push you to share. It is my hope that any learners who join me regularly will eventually feel brave enough to share their work and speak up.

Learners are always welcome to post their work to the classroom if they prefer to share that way!

MATERIALS FOCUS will rotate between:
-watercolor paint (I will demonstrate with watercolor, but feel free to use tempera if your learner has experience and they would prefer that)
-clay (play-doh is fine, so is modeling clay, or paperclay, or whatever you have) 
-paper (collage & other paper exploration)*
-drawing (markers and/or crayons and/or colored pencils)

WHAT'S THE SCHEDULE?
We start with 6 weeks of watercolor:
-Week of 9/23: watercolor into
-Week of 9/30: watercolor wet on wet
-Week of 10/7: watercolor mixing colors
-Week of 10/14: watercolor blocking lines
-Week of 10/21: watercolor textures
-Week of 10/28: watercolor resist

-Weeks of 11/4-12/16 (no class week of 11/25): 6 weeks of drawing exploration! 

WHAT SUPPLIES WILL MY LEARNERS NEED?
See the art supplies section below. BUT if you don't have those particular art materials or your kids have a favorite art material they would rather use instead, that's fine! 
(Also note that if kids have been with me a while and have used all the materials already and feel like they don't need a demo, they can just get right to work on demo days.)


A FEW NOTES ON CLASS POLICIES:
-Cameras must be turned on for the class.
-Siblings may share a camera, but all participating artists must be individually registered.
-GROWN-UPS: you are welcome to sit nearby to be present with your learners (but please know that per Outschool requirements, you need to keep yourself off-camera)!