Artasia at CH Norton
Today's Family Early Learning and Child Care
🖌️ Artist Educators: Sophie Zuccolo, Meshach Pathmathaneswaran
Crafting our Stories
Participants explored their identities by creating personalized badges out of upcycled fabric and markers that represent them, their identity and their culture. Through these creations, participants expressed what brings them joy, what is important to them, and what makes them unique. Each art piece became a tangible expression of their individuality and heritage.
I noticed that the kids are very collaborative and made versions of what each other were making, helping each other. They’re also very giving and considerate, often making multiple badges or special badges to give to their parents, siblings or cousins. Some common themes of the badges were game controllers, rainbows, hearts, and cats.
One badge is a portrait of the artist and her family: her mom, dad, and little brother. Family is an important part of the artist’s identity. Another badge was created as a gift for the artist’s mom. It depicts a landscape of a lion in a flower field as the sun sets. One artist had a specific vision when creating her unique badge. She spoke about how she really likes fish, so she chose to depict a fish swimming in a pond. She cut out a long rectangle for the base of her badge, as her vision was to make a piece that could go across the front of her backpack with two pins.
When We March
Participants worked to create vibrant banners and flags out of upcycled fabric that expressed their shared values and messages, gluing pieces together and adding words and designs with paint and markers. We invited participants to reflect on the question: “What matters to you?”.
This was the activity with the highest participation and that the kids were the most engaged with. They had a lot of fun attaching their flags to the sticks and waving them around. The kids interpreted this theme in a variety of ways, including recreating the flags of different countries, designing pretty patterns, and sharing messages.
One artist chose to create a flag about their love for nature, illustrating this with bees, rain clouds, flowers and the sun. Two flags are by artists that chose to represent their heritage with their pieces, incorporating visual elements of the respective country’s flag to accompany their message. Several flags were made to express the artists’ love for the people in their life, with this piece dedicated to the creator’s mom and dad. Hearts were a common motif.
Connection with Land and Environment
Participants created botanical prints on squares of fabric with flower pounding and natural tie dye. We collected some of the artists’ pieces this week to combine into a large picnic blanket for our exhibition at Supercrawl. This week’s activities emphasize the beauty of nature and the importance of shared spaces for communities to gather and celebrate togetherness. I gathered the plants we used from natural spaces around Dundas, which included sumac, dandelions, black eyed Susans, purple coneflowers, yellow toadflax, red maple leaves, birds foot trefoil, purple crown vetch, butterfly bush, Japanese maple leaves, and African daisies.
The flower pounding was the more popular activity, with the kids being very interested in how it worked and learning about it for the first time. They enjoyed learning about the names of the different plants I brought as well. The kids that participated really got into the activity and created some very impressive pieces.
One artist used individual petals to create a unique pattern with a structured look. She was very intentional with her placement of the plant material. One piece was a collaboration between myself and one of the participants. She selected the plants we used and decided where they should be placed, and I did the pounding. We made sure to both sign our names. Another artist had a unique approach to creating her print, using both flowers and markers to create a spotted look that she described as “tie-dye”. The result turned out really cool!
Wearable Designs & Sustainability
Participants upcycled scrap materials to create unique, expressive pieces of wearable art. These pieces showcased their individuality, creativity, and self-expression. They reflected on how their clothing choices express their personal style and identity, the importance of sustainability, and how they can creatively repurpose materials to make something new.
The kids really liked all the different materials and got right to making all sorts of creations with them. For wearable items, there were bracelets, skirts, and many cat ear headbands. There were several outfits made for stuffed animals, because everyone should be able to express themselves.
One artist made a decorative bottle full of beads, accenting it with pink ribbon and shiny white fabric. She used this fabric to create a matching glove, decorated with buttons. Another artist had a dream of creating a dress with the scrap fabric. We used the dark pink fabric as a base, then attached the berry pattern around the middle and finished with a pink ribbon at the waistband and a piece of string around the top. The artist was pleased with the execution of their elaborate vision.
A Feast of Stories
Participants made pretend food items out of felt and craft paper, creating recipes both real and imaginary that reflect the diverse cultures and experiences within our community. We pondered the cultural and social significance of food as a means of connection and celebration, and as a group discussed our favourite dishes, the role of food in our lives and communities, and celebrated the power of shared meals and the stories they tell. We also explored different kinds of “recipes” beyond food, asking participants to think creatively about what constitutes a recipe for happiness, love, and other elements of a thriving community.
The kids were so excited to begin that as soon as we were setting the materials out, they were already grabbing them and starting to draw. Some of the food items they created were pizza, doughnuts, ice cream, cupcakes, and strawberries. There were also several kids that made versions of a recipe for love, with ingredients like hugs and kisses. Many of the participants learned about spelling different words when we were writing out recipes, such as “yummy” and “ice cream”.
Two artists both chose to make blueberry pie. They were very collaborative in their creative process, but their end results differed. One chose to put a large blueberry next to his pie, while the other opted to put several smaller blueberries on top of his pie. He explained to me that he felt this better represented the blueberries being inside of the pie rather than being separate. One artist had a very different approach, making a whole McDonald’s Happy Meal. He created illustrations of the box, a toy, and a drink. He also created the sign outside the building and one of the machines they use to prepare the food. He specifies in the text next to the machine that there are chicken nuggets in the Happy Meal. This artist was very dedicated and wanted to make several different desserts, including a cupcake, ice cream, and a doughnut. They made sure that each of their pieces were covered in sprinkles.
