Atitude!

We all have it.  Good and Bad. The struggle is finding which one we want to be our voice.  The students made masks the month of April, representing different attitudes they have in life.

March Inspiration

On of our favorite activities for the monthly value, Inspiration, this last March was the ¨brain activity.¨  Each student was given a shape to paint whatever they believe their part of their brain that represents inspiration looks like.  Then each piece was put back together to create one large ¨inspiration brain¨ to represent each class.

Street Art Club Welcomes Special Guests

The street art club of the creative expressions program has hosted special guest artists, “Dope” and Alejandro the past two Saturday sessions in our practice space at the back of the Escuelita. In preparation of an upcoming large scale mural, the team sought the aid of more experienced street artists to give tips and pointers regarding their styles.  Alejandro demonstrated how graffiti artists go about portrait making and more image based works. The following Saturday, Dope picked up with how to properly create your own personal style of lettering, and the importance of the consistency and fluidity of your “tag”, or artist name. Dope asked each student to do a practice run of their tags so that he could give them specific tips and advice in lettering, color, and style, as well as to see how we can bring each of the works together to create a more unified mural. Thanks to the help of these two talented and generous artists, the street art club participants are well on their way of elevating and refining their skills, and finding within themselves the quality of work each are capable of.

Girls Only!!!

On Thursday afternoons, the 6th grade girls have found a new way to shake off the daily grind by participating in a girls only club held in the Creative Expressions room and lead by Art teacher Sami Dardas. While the majority of our female students show interest in extracurricular activities like dance, these activities often become male dominated, and girls have a hard time feeling accepted and comfortable. For that reason, the clubs aims to demonstrate a healthy method to release stress through a physical activity like dance, to boost the girls self esteem and confidence through art based activities, and hopefully to challenge the girls to participate in other type of extracurriculars in the future.The class teaches techniques of typical types of dance like bachata, salsa, and cumbia, as well as teaching hip hop steps. And when the girls just don´t have the energy to dance, they participate in other art and music based activities.  All in all, its one hour a week where girls entering the difficult age of adolescence (12-13 years old) don´t have to compete for attention… they can just be who they are and enjoy themselves.

MAD4KIDS and Creative Expression

On February 22nd, the creative expression program collaborated with the group Mad4Kids from the United States.  We partnered the group up with 2 classes to wrap up our month of Love (the monthly value of February).  The younger 3rd grade class made beaded jewlery gifts of love with the materials the group brought from the US.

The 6th graders, led by art teacher Sami Dardas, created a collage using post-its with reflections, words, and pictures that represent love to them.

Bringing on the Love in February

February is always the month of love at Camino Seguro, especially in the Creative Expression room.  We initiated this years afternoon values based art and music program with activities surrounding the theme of love.  The older afternoon students made 3-D words representing the theme while the younger students made vases and flowers from recycled bottles and paper to bring to their homes and now we are finishing the month as the students learn how to draw facial physical characteristics that they love about themselves. February: the month of love.

Becoming Sustainable Artists

The street art club has begun a collaborative effort with the moms of Creamos, a handmade jewelry company affiliated with Camino Seguro. The moms have begun expanding their business to also include retail object such as hand-sewn tee shirts and burlap messenger bags. With these objects, the street art team plans to paint custom designs and tags to then be sold. Proceeds will be used to pay moms for their time, and to help finance mural supplies for the street art team.  The student artists are learning to sustain their art form, bringing in sufficient money to supply their next mural.  Read more about the Saturday Art Club: https://samantha-dardas.squarespace.com/

Ramiro planning his design

Luis working on a messenger bag design

Anderson’s messenger bags