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!

Day 2: Type-Rider Comes to Visit

Art is all about paint and pencils, right?? WRONG. Art comes in many forms, and today I let the girls in on a not-so-secret secret . . . writing is a very valuable art form. Maya Stein, Type-Rider came to visit BraveGirlsArt camp today! She brought her typewriter, photographs and stories from her journey, and a few great ideas. 
After beginning our morning with a chat and painting some primer on boxes we would complete later, Maya gave the girls each a piece of paper and asked them to wander around the room and look for words. She told them to try to find their words in unusual places and write down at least fifteen. Then while we were eating our snack, we began to play exquisite corpse the way it was originally played in parlors long ago--as a writing game. 




Maya asked the girls (and Ruth and I) to take their first five words and write a wildly imaginative sentence or sentences to start a story. Then we passed our story starter to the left and the next person used the second set of five words to add to the original story, and then we passed again, and so on. At the end of the session we each got a chance to type our last line on the typewriter and then we read our stories. They were hilarious and creative and so fun to read. A few of my favorite lines were:

The words said: Your hidden future is about to become a reality.

Then the girl made a simple wish. She wished that the blue creature would go away because it made no sense. So the creature went away. In its place was a sparkling colorful monster.

We are all the same form the very beginning, before we ever wake up, before we say hello, before anything.

 

She grew angrier and angrier and all her wishes left her mind. The girl was left all alone with oil on her belly and snakes around her waist. She started to breathe and with each new breath she took, something special started to happen. I am in charge of my own destiny, she thought. I can change my story. 

Feel the light on your face. Watch the birds take flight. Stop moving. Let yourself be filled with the art that is Earth, which would not fool the top happiness people.

She measured and measured and measured the inchworm, then came upon a dog sitting on the sidewalk with a mirror. He was experimenting on the stars.

While we ate lunch Maya told the girls stories from her trip and shared some of her photographs and videos. They loved looking at the map to see how far she had gone on her bicycle and wanted to hear more about the campgrounds and share stories of their own adventures. They talked about fears and how fear can stop you from doing things you want to do, or make you try it just to get over them. 

The girls typed secret messages and wishes for themselves and for strangers on the typewriter, and then we went outside on the patio for some spray painting! Always a camp favorite (and admittedly my favorite, too). They spray painted the boxes they had painted this morning, their journal covers and some tags and rocks to use as a super secret surprise project we are planning for tomorrow. 

Phew! It was a jam-packed day. I was exhausted after all that typing and storytelling and writing and painting. Not to mention hula hooping! I said goodbye to the girls and came straight home to take a nap. 

Stay tuned tomorrow for our adventures in Guerilla Art . . .