Over the last several weeks I’ve worked to adapt many of my workshops from an in-person, hands on experience to interactive, remote learning with a focus on staying connected, using what you’ve got at home for imaginative resources and continued community building.
My “Lost Art of the Letter” online workshop through the University of Denver’s Enrichment Program has been the perfect creative outlet for myself and those attending the class to stay engaged with our friends and continue making and exploring art. Each hour long session featured hands on activities, an in-depth exploration of the medium, iconic artists in the field and detailed slideshow with numerous hyper links, allowing students to dig deeper into the subject after the session. Links to the four presentations can be found here Body and Soul: What Makes a Great Letter , The Ephemeral Whimsy of Collage , Calligraphy and Handwriting and Sealed with a Kiss: Envelopes, Stationary and Stamps Since the class started, the program and I have had wonderful feedback with students sending copies of work they’ve made to share with the class including the pieces below.
Additionally participants have been inspired to send, not just letters to friends but to start letter writing collection drives of thank you notes for healthcare workers and “we’re all in this together posters” to color and share with friends in their condo buildings.
Another group I’ve worked with this spring is Create More Fear Less, an arts resource organization for kids and teens who are challenged with anxiety. Along mini workshop shorts I’ve also created design elements for a collaborative project they are doing with the Portland Art Museum and Portland Public Schools.
While many of my favorite libraries have made the hard choice to cancel public programming through the summer, others are exploring ways to provide interactive and artistic experiences for their patrons at home. With this in mind, I have modified my most popular lesson plans for an online experience many targeted for kids and teens. Some of the workshops I’m offering are “Graffiti Calligraphy” , “Intro to Game Design” , “Comics 101”, Character Design For Comics” , “Making Fun Letters and Envelopes” and “Junk Art Journals”. In keeping with the national library theme of Adventures in Books this summer, I’ll also be presenting a very special Adventure Game and Comic session. During each workshop students will create a short comic based on rolls of a 20 sided dice, monster encounters and characters designed by other participants in the session. This highly interactive class will highlight narrative art, community building and game design concepts and will be suitable for all ages.
I am always happy to design custom workshops as well either around a theme like Harry Potter or specific type of art or other curriculum needs. More examples of student work from this spring are on my Facebook page here