Providence ¡CityArts!

This year at ¡CityArts! we have been excited to discover the amazing design talents of our student artists and our Fashion Design teacher Ms. Taleen. The students have continually impressed us with their sketches, sewing skills, and the stories that they’re learning to tell through clothing. This session, students in Ms. Taleen’s Costume Design class have already outlined their story concepts, created their sketches and are now working on pattern-drafting and fabric choice. We can’t wait to see their final creations!

… to Winter 2011 Teachbacks!

Ten weeks of classes are coming to a close here at CityArts and our studios are bursting with creativity! As our students rush to finish up the last stitch in their fashion design or the final act of their monster/alien movie, the staff is getting set for a great end-of-session celebration. And whether you want to learn how to pinch and coil clay with our ceramicists, see the latest trends on our student runway or take in the musical stylings of our keyboardists and singers, this is your chance!

Next Thursday, April 7, 5 - 7 pm join us for our Teachback Celebration! We will open up our studios to families and friends and have our students “teachback” what they’ve learned. So come learn from our young artists and see the inspiring work they have created. Then stick around for a potluck dinner, student performances, a film screening and a fashion show. It’s sure to be a lot of fun!

For more details email me at rachel@providencecityarts.org and check out some photos from our Fall 2010 Teachback below!

Hope to see you there!

Teachback Celebration Fall 2010

To all the friends of this blog, I apologize for the winter-long hibernation. But don’t worry, the break from blogging did not mean a break from all the great things happening here at CityArts! The snowy days certainly did not keep our students away. Our studios were filled with the excitement of artmaking and the CityArts community has continued to grow. To see more of what we’ve been up to, check out the pictures above! And I’ll be back soon with more goings-on as we celebrate the end of our winter session and get ready for spring!

Neomy, Age 10 on her experience in Ms. Juliette’s sculpture class 

Maria, Age 12 on how being in Mr. Daniel’s film class has changed her

 On a nice brisk Saturday morning this November, the Ceramics: Art & Nature class gathered for a trip to explore the outdoors at the Rayner Wildlife Refuge in Barrington. For weeks, the class of 8-10 year olds had been working on ceramic tiles and sculptures inspired by images of animals from woodland, salt-marsh and seawater habitats. They were then able to gather some more inspiration for their work along the woodland trails of this beautifully preserved land . The students were led through the wildlife refuge by a guide and explored their findings with their teacher Miss Deb. The field trip is an important part of Miss Deb’s Ceramics: Art & Nature curriculum and gives our students a great opportunity to experience some of Rhode Island’s diverse natural habitat.

 Going by the number of times I was asked to guess just how many nests the class found, and the bubbling excitement over turtle egg shells and bird feathers, it sounds like the students really had a great time.  Rafael even woke up early on a Saturday for it! (Saturday is his day to sleep in).

Thanks to our chaperones Anita, Bridget, Mrs. Gonzalez and Mrs. Bisono for helping out. And thanks to Sara, for the wonderful photos!

CityArts Hip Hop Class performs Thriller at our Halloween Bash!

 This past Friday CityArts staff, students, families and friends all gathered for the CityArts Halloween Bash! It all began as an idea to get together for some costume-making fun. Then before we knew it our talented students were designing invitations, creating spooky decorations and learning some serious Thriller dance moves to teach the rest of us! Our wonderful volunteers joined us to paint faces, tell fortunes and lead a spooky scavenger hunt! Then we finished off the evening with some delicious food and desserts prepared by all of our amazing families. 

The whole event was a huge success thanks to our parents, students and volunteers. And a huge thanks as well to all the CityArts staff and our dance teacher Miss Anisha Gibbs.

The costumes were amazing, the food was delicious and we all got to dance like zombies! 

Fall classes have finally begun! 

We said goodbye to temporary summer VISTAs Luned and Heather. Luned is bound for Manhattan and marriage and Heather is continuing to pursue her art in Providence, both taking with them this fun and fulfilling experience. Anneke Reich also finished her internship and is soon moving back to MA to finish her degree at Brandeis this fall and continue her musical performances. Our Visiting Artists who have finished their summer contracts will move on, continuing to teach and make art within the Creative Capital we call home. Now, I am afraid, it is my turn to say goodbye as well. 

For the past year I have been reporting on the latest news, sharing images and videos of CityArts students and their work. But as the seasons change so must the staff here at CityArts as the directors prepare for a new set of AmeriCorps team members and the new Program Coordinator, Rachel Cronin, who will be taking my place and continuing the blogging once programs begin again. In the meantime Resource/Advancement and Outreach Coordinator Genise Choy will keep you all updated on anything new at CA. 

I just want to say that CityArts is truly one of the most phenomenal and selfless institutions that I have ever been involved with. I am truly awed everyday of the impact that the organization has on students’ lives. It builds their characters, helps them develop as people and lets their imagination take precedent. Now that my year of service here has come to an end, I cannot help but feel heart broken and sad that I will no longer be working with the incredibly dedicated staff and the inspiring students.

I will, however, take with me some incredible memories, lifelong friends and an experience that will most definitely improve my career as an art educator. I will use this year to help fuel my studies at the Rhode Island School of Design where I will be following in the footsteps of the CA Executive and Education Directors and working towards my MA in Community and Non-Profit Arts Education. I want to focus on partnerships between community centers and museums and how they can work together to bring art history and art in practice to inner city Providence. 

This city has such a tight knit community of art educators that I am sure that this is not my last encounter with CityArts and their amazing staff and students. You will certainly see and hear from me again as I venture off into this new phase of my life of beginning school and planning my big artsy wedding… wish me luck!

So long for now…

Andrea Abarca-Grimsley

The Big Draw was started by the Campaign for Drawing to increase awareness of the importance of drawing and how it is essential to our everyday lives. I attended a Power Drawing session at the RISD museum, which introduced me along with other Providence art educators to the seemingly infinite ways that drawing could be celebrated. Inspired by the workshop as well as RISD’s Big Draw event, CityArts decided to plan our own BIG DRAW: SOUTH SIDE event focusing on the freedom and openness of drawing for artists of every age. Myself, intern Anneke Reich and CityArts students from this summer’s special Leadership Camp helped bring the event together! We wanted to bring the freedom back to children’s art and let the kids use only their imagination to make beautiful art. All of Providence was invited!

Lowe’s Home Improvement Stores donated large panels of wall coverings to draw on. A tiled bathroom panel was used to make an installation entitled “Drawing on the Bathroom Wall” which let the students do what they wished with dry erase markers. Other wall fixtures were primed and set outside for an outdoor mural and patterned wall fixtures were arranged on the gallery wall for a crayon drawing installation called “CRAYONS ON THE WALL” (which was something many parents [mine included] usually try to avoid at home). 

Drawing boards and clip boards were arranged outside for free drawing and portrait sessions. Lines and clothespins were arranged on the lawn for a “Drawing Exchange” which allowed students to hang a finished drawing and exchange it for one that wasn’t their own. Students also mixed powdered chalk paint for a sidewalk art installation. 

Raffles with exciting gifts of sunglasses, silly bands and jewelry were donated as well as TONS of free food!

Art supplies were generously donated by Lowe’s Home Improvement, Jerry’s Artarama Providence and Sax Arts & Crafts Sales Rep Paul Dillen. 

Olivia Buntaine and B-Mor7 provided awesome musical entertainment

Food was provided by Crugnale Bakery, Au Bon Pain, Nice Slice, Baja Tex-Mex, Anneke Reich & the Finlandia Coop and J&J’s Candy Bar

Prizes were generously donated by Pie in the Sky, Details and Kathleen McAreavey

Special thanks to volunteers Bethany Allard, Michael Coutts, Max Kennedy, Amelia Mitter-Burke, Heather Freedman and CityArts Education Director Adrienne Gagnon and Executive Director Barbara Wong who gave Anneke and I the freedom as well as the back up to host such a successful event!

Students of the Providence After School Alliance’s Summer Scholars Program used math, science, literacy and the arts to explore sustainable farming and a green lifestyle. Here students are making salad bowls as well as tiles for a garden mural in the ceramics studio, lead by CityArts’ Deb Demarko. 

Field day! RISD Beach and Tillinghast farm was generous enough to lend us their grounds for a fantastic (although a bit rainy) end of summer field day extravaganza! There were games, kickball, face (and body) painting, sand art, and beach fun!