Spotlight on a Guinea Kid: Bosana (Ismael) Toure

To know 16 year old Bosana Toure (aka Ismael) is to know a bright and shining star. When asked what he wants to be when he grows up, Ismael describes the role of an ambassador. A most charismatic young person, Ismael maintains his zest for life despite the tragic hardships he has recently endured.

Bosana took the name Ismael after both of his parents were killed in a car accident when he was 13. This has been a tenuous period for Ismael and school. After his parents’ death, he lost interest in school and was found to be wandering his neighborhood instead of attending school. GKEF board members Karim Koumbassa and Alya Koumbassa both counseled Ismael, having brotherly heart to heart talks and encouraging him to stay in school. He continues with school and the GKEF program and he is our student in the highest level: year 8.

Ismael has a gift for creative and entrepreneurial intelligence. His capacity for learning is great and his potential needs to be guided and challenged by a supportive, high quality education experience.

You can support a bright future for Ismael and many other children like him by making a donation today.

Inawali! (Thank you in Sousou)

Drawing Together: Site Specific Installations

Last spring, K.I.D.S. Art Education teaching artist Ruth Wetzel led local children and family members in an art making exploration at the Kentler International Drawing Space. In response to the installations of Mary Ting and Ilene Sunshine, participants created their own installations. After examining the work in the gallery through inquiry and observational drawing, partners worked with post-its, twigs, ribbons, tape, toilet paper rolls, pencils, Styrofoam meat trays, oval-cut mats, and phone cords to change the materials and then arrange them in an assigned section of the room. These site specific installations were terrific displays of collaboration and imagination and were poetic reflections on materials, the space and the artwork by Ilene Sunshine and Mary Ting that was already occupying the space.  Everyone had a great time!

Pictures Come To Life! This Saturday at 3 PM!

Artist/storyteller Jeff Hopkins will be transforming our blank white walls into a story-mural that you and your family will participate in.  Its going to be fun- don't miss it!!

If you DO miss it, please join us next weekend for a follow up DRAWING TOGETHER workshop with Jeff.

Please NOTE: the performance on Saturday, September 11th does not require a reservation but the follow up workshop NEXT weekend does.  See below for details.

For more information on Jeff Hopkins: http://www.picturescometolife.com/

Architecture Appreciation Comes to Kentler!

This video is the result of our once-a-month family DRAWING TOGETHER workshop co-hosted today by Open House New York: everyone's drawing was lined up to create a new "built environment" based on Red Hook architectural inspiration and suffused with each artist's individual creativity and imagination!

Today, as a warm up, kids and parents explored their local built environment by drawing from memory a map or floor plan of their apartment.  Families next expanded their exploration to include the gallery's local built environment in the historic neighborhood of Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Families created booklets to fill with drawings of architectural details they noticed walking along Van Brunt Street, right outside the gallery. Then, back in the gallery both drawings and floor plans were cut up and each artist, ages ranging from 4 to 60+, worked on connecting their parts to create a larger, imaginary skyscraper / building / skyline!

Thanks all for your eye for detail and your enthusiasm for testing out new ways to make drawings! And thanks to Open House New York for co-hosting. 

Drawing Together Spring 2012

This spring, Kentler is hosting our free, family Drawing Together programs on the first and third Saturdays of each month. These programs are now a part of our Brooklyn Community Foundation Challenge Grant and we are so thrilled about the response we've gotten so far. This year, over 60 children and caregivers from all over Brooklyn have shown up to make collaborative art projects based on Kentler's current show, The Influential Female: Drawings Inspired by Women in History. Teaching artists Meghan Keane and Ruth Wetzel have been taking turns leading these workshops and both have come up with some really exciting, hands-on activities.

On February 18th, Ruth had the group create bodily adornments inspired by the drawings of Anyssa Ng. Participants used poster board, ribbons, tape, glitter, rhinestones, and other materials to create unique, wearable art objects. Children (and parents!) crafted functional crowns, belts, shoes, sashes, and jewelry of their own design. Once finished, they marched around the gallery in a sparkly, colorful procession! Here are some photos of their creations:

Last Saturday, Meghan created an interesting project based on the qualities of hair--as a tool for mark-making and as a symbol of female identity. This project stems from the drawings of artist Jono Vaughan as well as Meghan's own hair-inspired artwork. She gathered up hair extensions in different textures and colors for participants to "draw" with, yielding some fun results! Parents and children were open to the experience as a new way to construct formal qualities of line, dimension and color. Their compositions were large, abstract and quite lively:

The next Drawing Together workshop will be held on Saturday, March 17th (St. Patrick's Day). If you and your family are interested in attending, please contact Sallie@kentlergallery.org with your name, child's name/age, and contact information to reserve your spot in advance.
We hope to see you soon!

School Programs Spring 2012

We are four weeks into our 2012 school programming here at K.I.D.S. Art Ed.! We’re so excited to be working with Kindergarten - 5^th grade at P.S. 15 and Brooklyn New School again this year, and have been getting excellent feedback from our teachers and students so far.

Our workshop this spring is based on Kentler’s current exhibition, The Influential Female: Drawings Inspired by Women in History. The group show, which focuses on issues of female identity and strength, has been a rich source of inspiration for the students. More information about this beautiful show can be found at Kentler’s website, www.kentlergallery.org.

Each gallery visit begins with a general class intro, after which the group is broken up into two sections. One half of the class is sent to the front gallery, where students practice observational drawing with teaching artist Lance Paladino. The figural drawings of Clarity Haynes and Viviane Silvera serve as models for the students to explore shape, tone, and detail using ebony pencils and kneaded erasers. Each student chooses a drawing to work from and is given the opportunity to share his or her drawings with the group:

In the back gallery space, teaching artist Meghan Keane provides students with a pile of writing utensils, office supplies, ribbon and other materials for a more free-form drawing exercise. Students are prompted to think of an event or accomplishment that they are proud of and are then asked to recreate that event using the various supplies in front of them. Taking cues from the colorful drawings and hanging installations on view, some students decide to make flat pictures on the floor while others use a more sculptural, three-dimensional approach. The wide range of creativity among different grade levels and within single classes is amazing! Here are some examples of what students have come up with:

After each half of the workshop, the students switch rooms. This gives them a complete 90-minute experience with exposure to both formal and exploratory drawing methods. At the end of the visit, an enthusiastic wrap-up session catalogs what students saw, learned, and created and generates ideas for future drawings.

We still have two weeks of gallery visits left before we start with post visits, where the teaching artists will follow up with their lessons in the classroom. The unfinished drawings from Lance’s segment and photos of the students’ “temporary” constructions are given back to them as starting points for a final project. At the end of the post visit, students’ finished work is hung in the hallways of their school.

Stay tuned for updates on future programs. Thanks for stopping in on the K.I.D.S. Art Ed. blog!

Drawing Together Family Workshop at RHI

Blog post written by K.I.D.S. Teaching Artist Meghan Keane

Today was our first Drawing Together Family Workshop hosted in the Red Hook Initiative space!

Today's workshop focused on creating colorful line drawings that related to a favorite summer activity or summer word.

To warm up, kids and their parent or accompanying adult brainstormed words that reminded them of summer. Then, we made a group list and everyone shared two of their favorite words/activities from their list.

Our fantastic group list of summer activities and summer words (that could have gone on for another 5 pages!)

Next, students were asked to think of colors related to their word/activity (i.e. sun = yellows, reds, oranges). Ready to start their drawings, students, with help from their adult, created drawings using just the colors that they thought related to their word. They worked hard to only use line and to create patterns or designs, but sometimes it was challenging!

Can you guess what summer word / activity each artist was thinking of by looking at the colors in the drawings below? Give it a shot!

Ricky (RHI) and niece with "House" drawings

"Pool I"

"Beach"

"Pool II"

"Grow flowers and plants"

Young artists, their drawings, and their moms : Estelle with Jasmine and Simone, Tiffany with Natalie

Longtime DT fans: Sarah with daughters Chloe (l) and Josie (r). Their artwork shows is about their visit to Connecticut and a pool with a rainbow.

Looking forward to more DT this fall!

Want to join us at our next free workshop for families?

Email KIDS Director Mollie McQuarrie to be added to our FREE Drawing Together Family Workshops e-newsletter! mollie (at) kentlergallery (dot) org

Thanks and Happy Summer!

MK