July 13, 2022 – Our artist Alison McHugh’s “I Am” boxes were such a hit at Casa Chirilagua that she brought it to Friends of Guest House yesterday. So many things to love about this paper craft, especially the very different ways the women express their secret selves – only they can see what’s inside the box unless they choose to share it (and we’re so glad they did)!
July 6, 2022 – One of the best things about summer is that Alison teaches for us – her day job is as an art therapist with Fairfax County Public Schools. Today she led eight Friends of Guest House residents through making their personal, motivational easel cards. Imagine one of these on your dresser, encouraging you every morning! Wouldn’t you fee motivated every single day?
And our Friends of Guest House friends? They LOVED them! Some shared their quotes and art with the group, and they all are looking forward to Alison’s class next week! What do you think she will do?
What do you get when you mix our art teacher Sharmila with dozens of elementary school kids from Casa Chirilagua? Why, puppets and sculptures and imagination, oh my! So much to share here! Where to start? Let’s start with Alberto Giacometti, one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century whose work was particularly influenced by Cubism and Surrealism styles. Giacometti was best known for the bronze sculptures of tall, thin human figures, made between 1945 to 1960. Sharmila introduced him to the Casa Chirilagua kids, gave them some pipe cleaners (tall and thin, get it?) and off they went! We just had to share the octopus video, and we love how proud she was of her creation. And the earrings, of course. One must be properly accessorized.
Puppets were on the docket the second week! It’s amazing what kids can create with paper bags, crayons, glue, and a free imagination. Love the blue eyeshadow and eyelashes on the puppet below!
We promise that this is the worst (but sadly, probably not the last) bad pun. But we couldn’t help ourselves, since our art teacher Sharmila cleverly decided to have the Casa Chirilagua kiddies make windmills to encourage sustainable energy on our Fun Friday date. Using everyday materials like paper cups, glue, and popsicle sticks (and a glue gun, which no crafter should be without) the kids had a lot of fun putting these together. One little girl greeted Sharmila with, “I love when you come here! You always have new things for us to do!”
We were beyond excited when our partner Casa Chirilagua wanted to bring back “Fun Friday” with us! We had started Fun Fridays with them earlier this year, then had to cancel when that Friday time was needed for homework help after school re-opened. Starting Fun Friday was double good news – it was a chance for us to bring art and creativity to these cute kids, and they didn’t need as much homework assistance. High fives all the way around!
The setup was a new one for us: Three 30 minute classes for 13 kids in grades 1 – 5. Whew! That’s a lot of kids in a short amount of time! And of course we delivered! In fact, our art teacher Sharmila Karamchandani told us quite a few times how much she loved working with the kids – their innocence, their openness, their freedom of expression.
For the inaugural project Sharmila asked them to draw gratitude trees – who and what are you grateful for, and write that on your branches. And armed with colored pencils and plenty of paper, the kids drew us mommies and daddies, raspberries, owls, and friends. Here’s a few photos to make you say “aaaaawwwww.”
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