We began the day in circle for morning gifts. Today's gift comes from the kind folks at Laurence King Publishing! Laurence King Publishing is one of the world’s leading publishers of books and gifts on the creative arts. They work with some of the world’s best illustrators, designers, artists and photographers to create beautifully produced books and gifts which are world renowned for their inventiveness, and beautiful design.
They sent TWO books by artist Johanna Basford. They are part coloring book and part treasure hunt. Within the pages are hidden creatures to find. Johanna is a Scottish illustrator known for her hand-drawn, predominantly black and white illustrations. Her works can be found in products such as colouring books, wallpaper, and even tattoos. Visit the artist's website, for all kinds of cool stuff, like coloring techniques and upload your pages to her gallery.
After morning gifts, the girls continued working on their art journals. Today they learned about print making with the use of a Gelli Plate and began to explore this medium. The journals were then placed in the sun to dry so we could begin our secondary project.
One of the things we love about printmaking is that there is a mystery to it. It doesn't always turn out the way you think it will. It is then we have to challenge ourselves to move past our expectations and use our creativity to move forward. If we don't make mistakes, we're not learning anything new. In art, sometimes you need to get lost to know the way. The beauty of the art journal is just that, it's a place to get lost in the exploration and find yourself. It's doesn't have to BE anything. It's pure creative expression and experimentation.
Today we began weaving the webs for our dream catchers. We talked about the origin of the dream catcher, the Ojibwe / Chippewa nation from which it originated. Dream catchers are sometimes referred to as sacred hoops. They serve as a kind of talisman to protect sleeping people from nightmares. It was believed that as dreams fill the night air, the bad dreams would get caught in the web and dissolve at sunrise, while the good dreams would drip down to the dreamers. There are several indigenous stories associated with the dream catcher, and I would encourage you to seek them out because they are wonderful. In one of the stories, a maternal "Spider Woman" known as Grandmother Spider, served as the spiritual protector for the tribe, especially the children. As the families began to grow and migrate across the land, Grandmother Spider needed a way to protect and watch over all the members, so she created the first dreamcatcher. Spider teaches us that everything / everyone is connected. Spiders are masterful weavers and their webs are beautiful works of art.
Asabikeshiinh is the Chipewa word for dream catcher, and also means spider. If you would like to hear something beautiful, take a moment to listen to these children sing the spider song in Ojibwemowin! I am always deeply moved when I hear the language of the first nations spoken.
Tomorrow we will decorate the dream catchers! If you have some special and symbolic things you would like to add, like a button from a grandmother, or a charm, a feather you found, please bring this tomorrow for your dream catcher.
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Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind. - Henry James