It's Not All Paint and Pencils

 Today the girls got a true taste of "outsider" art. We started in the studio making some pretty funky mustaches that cracked me up, finishing up our super secret projects and packing up our stuff before heading out to the park. We spent some time talking about a variety of art forms. Art is all around us, performance arts like music, dance, film making and circus arts are all incredible forms of art. Guerilla art is art that incorporates or adds to the environment around us. Today we combined the two and spent the day in the park creating installations, learning how to juggle balls and rings and clubs, hula hooping, and last but never least, creating laughter and joy!

We brought our painted rocks to hide throughout the park for people to stumble upon . . .

 We typed notices on the typewriter:


NOTICE the leaves in the trees. 


NOTICE the sound of squirrels scrambling in the bushes. 


NOTICE the sound of the birds, how happy they are to be flying.


And secret messages and fortunes on the label maker:


YOU LOOK BEAUTIFUL TODAY.


SOMEONE IS THINKING ABOUT YOU.


I HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY.

We planted a wish tree. We brought our homemade wish tags to hang in a tree by the path, then left an envelope tied to the tree's trunk filled with blank tags and pens for people to leave their own wishes behind with ours. 

I wish you sweetness.


I wish you love.


I wish you peace.


I wish you days of green grass and full-moon nights.

We planted a smiley face garden . . . 

Then just before lunch my friend Paul and his little sister Katie arrived. Paul and Katie are both artists. Paul is a musician and he and Katie are both (self-taught) jugglers. Paul learned to juggle about a year and a half ago and then taught Katie. Paul performs with an organization called Juggling Life, which works to heal and inspire emotionally disadvantaged kids through juggling shows and workshops. He's been featured with the Italian Fairy on Broadway, was in the Macy's parade and can be seen on an upcoming episode of Quiero Mis Quince on MTV Tres. He and Katie both love to entertain friends and family with their skills. Paul can juggle anything! Balls, rings, clubs, knives and flaming batons. Katie can hula hoop and juggle at the SAME time. 


The girls were enthralled and after watching them perform they got the chance to use all of Paul's equipment (except the knives) and try it for themselves. 

 
After all our practicing and performing we were hungry! We ate a picnic lunch and then the girls walked through the park leaving little surprises everywhere.

 Before we knew it, it was time to head back for pick up. We cleaned up our spot in the park, packed up the juggling suitcase and spun the hula hoops home.
 

 Some handsome young boys had a snow cone stand and gave us free snow cones to cool us off after all our guerilla art in the park. They were delicious and the perfect ending to a pretty sweet day.

 
Abby quickly grabbed the label maker when we got back to the studio and added a label to her painted box. I think today was a huge success. We discovered some new talents, made people smile, and best of all spread the joy of ART throughout the park!

Secret Messages and Birthday Wishes

Today was mostly about secret messages. First I introduced a special guest who came to spend the morning with us. My mom was there and she was thrilled to see the aprons she had donated all decorated so beautifully.We helped the girls put them on and got started.We began on the floor in our usual circle format with the girls telling me things about their week and laughing with each other for a few minutes. Then I told them we had a few projects to work on today. I asked if they remembered Sarah from our “meeting” last week, which of course they did. I told them that on the tables by their seats were pieces of paper with a special girls' name and address on it. This girl would be the recipient of their first secret message. They also had a postcard at the table. (thanks to my friend Jenica, a brilliant photographer!!)

I explained that they should address the postcard to their penpal and then write her a message. They could tell her something about themselves and then write a few words of encouragement. I laughed when I realized most of them had ever addressed a postcard before and we had to have a quick lesson in letter-writing format before we got started!

Our next project was making messages in a bottle. FIrst we tea-stained rice paper to make it look old. (They loved the idea that they could eat the rice paper if they really wanted to, luckily they all thought it wasn’t very appetizing). While the rice paper was drying, they filled their bottles with blue sparkly sand and a lot of colorful glitter. Some of them only wanted to use glitter, and Courtney decided to add some of our favorite fabric flowers to her bottle which looked so pretty. We glued a piece of string to the bottom of the cork to use later. Then they all wrote two messages. The first message was to the same girl they were sending a postcard to. I told them to say whatever was in their heart and to make her feel special.

The second secret message was for themselves. I explained that they should keep the bottle for a long time before they opened it, maybe 10 years, so that the message they wrote would be to their older self from the girl they are now. Their messages were so poignant and beautiful:

“I love math. I love dogs. I love myself.” “I hope I always stay creative.” “I am brave.” “I love art and I am taking classes with Brave Girls.” “I love you.”

I was so touched by their honesty and their excitement when they thought about themselves all grown up and who they would be. They wanted to be sure their messages were meaningful and they spent a lot of time thinking about them. Of course, they all want to open their bottles tomorrow, but that’s okay, too!

We rolled the paper into tiny scrolls and tied the other end of the string around it so it would fit into the bottle. We replaced the corks and tied pretty blue ribbon around the bottles. (All except for Julianna who "doesn't really like blue very much" I adore that she is so sure of herself and knows exactly what she wants, or doesn't want.) I loved the way the bottles looked all lined up on the windowsill. We decided we want to decorate the mailing boxes that we will send them to their penpals in; so I’ll mail the postcards today and we’ll wait to send the boxes next time we meet. I hope Sarah and her friends love them as much as we loved making them!

Then it was time to celebrate! It’s Courtney’s birthday today so we had cupcakes and sang “Happy Birthday” complete with lots of extra cha-cha-chas. While they were eating their cupcakes I told them there was one last component to the secret message class. I had special messages for each of them. A few weeks ago I had asked their moms to write each of the girls a letter. I asked them to tell her something about how she felt about her or to give her advice for the future, to let her know how special and unique she is. Then I also gave the girls each a letter I had written them. I wanted them to know how much I appreciated each one of them and how grateful I was that they wanted to be a part of my class each week.

We ended the day with hula hoops and musical chairs. Each time a girl was eliminated from the game I let her control the music and decide when to stop it while the others scrambled for a seat. Abby was the 3rd to last to be out and our birthday girl and Cristina were still left playing. Abby watched carefully and made sure Courtney was in front of the chair when she stopped the music. The birthday girl was the winner! And I was so proud!

Special thanks to my mom for stopping by and helping us this morning. She surprised me with a lovely secret message of my own and it was fun to have her see our BraveGirls in action. And happy birthday to Courtney--I'm so glad we could be a part of your day!