Thank You North Country Credit Union!

The art program at CBMS was just awarded an education grant from the North Country Credit Union! We can now purchase the Drum Wool Carder of our dreams.

Needle Felting is a tremendously popular activity in the art studio, and now, with this carder, students can help prepare the wool they use in this process.

Thank you also to Carol Collins, at Singing Spindle Spinnery in Duxbury, for the many hours of patient instruction, knowledge sharing and wool fleece she has provided in support of our artistic pursuits.

Papier Mache' Pleasures

Reclining cat by "H" - grade 5

 The sculpture center recently expanded out taking over the painting table - which happens each time we get going with papier mache'. It can't be helped. CBMS 5th graders are awash with the stuff. Aliens and animals are popping up - once in a while a balloon actually pops - and the joy of the goo makes mess-lovers very happy.

 The clay storage area (the "ware shelf") is also succumbing to mache-in-progress, and we find that the posts for the kiln are especially good for holding gooey sculptures up out of their own puddles.

The suspense is building - will there be time before the sculpture center closes for the year to complete this work? Clay closes first (in two 1/2 weeks) but who's counting?

Look! Yesterday's papier mache' cat caught today's needle-felted guinea pig!

Hey Mr. Spaceman!

How do students get ideas? Sometimes they arrive with an idea fully formed, and just need a green light to get going on the making. Other times students arrive not with an idea, but with a willingness to  engage in artistic play in order to find a way forward.

The fifth grade student who crafted this little astronaut told me the inspiration started with finding that smooth round bead. The bead, larger than most in the drawer, almost looks like it glows. It reminded this artist of an astronaut's helmet.

Alertness is the artistic disposition that causes us to notice possibility. Artists are alert for interesting materials, novel approaches, unusual ideas, and happy accidents. Artists who embody alertness are those who take a picture of the paint spill on the floor, before sponging it up, or rescue an odd object from the recycle bin. Alertness opens the door to serendipity, a phenomenon that could otherwise pass by unnoticed.