This week's theme was Fluxus. The kids made lots of fun artworks out of everyday materials and actions. They also made a lot of videos and performance pieces. I've compiled some of their videos and performances into one video that can be seen by following this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKApQ4SQYx0
For privacy -- this video is unlisted on YouTube. It is unsearchable and can only be found via this blog. Please enjoy!
This week we talked about art, artist, life, and audience as continuous. Here are some of the questions and answers from this week's conversations:
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WHAT IS ART?Elio: It's something that you make out of materials.
Mylie: It's like you paint, draw...you use lots of different materials.
Vieve: I think art is a creative thing that you make.
Sophie: I think art is putting a bunch of colors together on a piece of paper.
Cass: Art is something that people use to use materials and different things in different ways.
Wolfie: Something that you make and do.
Grey: Painting.
Stella: Art class.
Ayala: Something we do.
Ethan: Stuff where you do whatever you want. It's like a smart -- no -- it's like you can do whatever you want. Like lines... and you're free to draw.
WHAT IS AN ARTIST?Wolfie: An artist is something that does all those things we just said.
Grey: A painter.
Ethan: A guy who does a lot of these activities with art. First, like different colors splatted. Second, like posters, and last -- posters that light up. I have a poster that lights up!
Cass: An artist is somebody that does stuff like really big sculptures and paintings and things we do in this camp, but much bigger and more complicated materials.
Sophie: An artist is an abstract person.
Vieve: It's someone who makes sculptures and makes art.
Mylie: It's somebody that makes cool things. Like statues and the Statue of Liberty. I went to see that!
Elio: It's someone who makes paintings and drawings.
Ayala: They paint.
Stella: I don't know.
WHAT IS LIFE?Cass: Life is something that if I didn't have life I wouldn't be alive.
Grey: It's how you live.
Ethan: Life is like... if life wasn't real the earth wouldn't of been made...all the planets...and if
life wasn't real, food wouldn't be real...even this place wouldn't be real!
Sophie: Life is things like people and plants.
Mylie: Life is living.
Vieve: Life is a thing. It's the opposite of dead. And if you're dead you can't move at all and if you're alive you can play and do lots of things.
Sophie: Dead can sometimes move.
Elio: Air is in life, water is in life.
Wolfie: Something that you're in now.
Stella: Life is fun! Life is like nice things.
Ayala: It's sunny and we go outside to a lake or swimming or we go outside to a zoo or we go and have a walk!
WHAT IS A PERSON?Vieve: A thing that can move and do things and play and it's a mammal.
Elio: A person is someone that runs, swims, plays, sees, smells, and jumps.
Mylie: It's somebody that likes to play.
Wolfie: A person is something that's living in life.
Sophie: A person is a living thing.
Ayala: A girl or a man.
Stella: A girl or a man.
Ethan: A person is a guy that has legs, that has eyes, hair, and for last...boys and girls are different to each other.
Cass: I'm a person and whatever you see me do that's what people do.
Grey: When I don't know I just put a question mark above my head in the air.
WHAT IF ART AND LIFE ARE THE SAME THING?Stella: It would crash. It would crash the houses. What if we fell in a hole? In a dark hole we would disappear! I saw at the zoo the earth crashes but I said I don't want that to happen in this world otherwise we'd all be gone.
Ayala: Life can be like crazy and there can be the same thing and there can be art in the art class.
Mylie: You have to do the same thing that you have to do. A project would be the same thing as lots of things.
Sophie: If all art and life are the same thing it would all be a big blob.
Cass: I think I know how that would happen...lets say I was taking toilet paper rolls and I threw them into the pond. I'd take a paintbrush and paint and I'd paint all the trees and bushes and everything else would be filled with art and everyone else tried to do that for the rest of their lives.
Elio: The plants would be different colors.
Wolfie: Everything would be painted.
Vieve: All the people would be statues and all the plants would be statues and everyone would be in the museums.
Elio: Then no one would be alive.
Grey: Then boom -- it's all gonna be gone. Art's gonna be gone...except the ones that we have in here [at Painted Cloud].
Ethan: Life and art mixed together...I think art is a part of life cause look at streamers are made with art. Look at flowers! Even the moon! Outer space! Back in time! Black and white!... All those times were made with art!
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