Okay, so where are we and what are we doing in the studio? Well, in truth, the studio is closed in preparation for the all school show. I have been sorting, matting, cataloguing and organizing student work with the help of a fabulous team of parent volunteers. I have been collecting stories, interviews and documentation. In short, I have been immersed in some of the greatest art and feeling myself every bit as fortunate as I might working on similar tasks at the Met.
Observing the children over the past few weeks as they worked with oil pastels, I noticed an emerging interest in self portraits. The students were drawing alot of pictures of themselves and things that happened to them. In an informal conversation I asked them if they would like to do more self portraits in the studio. They literally yelled, "YES!" and so we have. We began by looking at our refelctions in mirrors of varying sizes and talking about our faces while pointing to our eyes, ears, mouth and nose. We have taken some time getting orienting. Where exactly is our head located? On our neck, above the torso. And where are our hands in relation to our shoulders and arms, etc. These identifying conversations coupled with the kinesthetic component of touching the named body part have helped the children in their desire to represent themselves with two dimensional media. As we use the oil pastels to color, we talk about skin tones and how we can blend several shades to find a color similar to our own. We match pastels to our hair and eyes and proceed from there. The children really enjoy this process and it is a great opportunity to scaffold their representational abilities and to further our explorations of water soluble oil pastels (a favorite in the studio). Also, teachers are preparing to present self portraits in the classrooms in preperation for conferences and our studio experiments will support the classroom goals. Next week, we will continue these explorations before closing the studio for a week to celebrate SPRING!!
The sphinx is finally ready for some color and who better to begin applying it than our resident toddler artists. There was a flurry of paint being patted, tapped, brushed, smooshed and splashed as the base coat of our regal creation was applied with gusto. 
The toddlers also enjoyed some free choice activities including dot painting, oil pastels, markers, liquid water color and a combination there of.
A sphinx is emerging in the studio thanks to a fabulous armature created by our resident ceramic artist and all around amazing talent, Amy Laugesen.
Our method began by dipping strips of newspaper into a bucket of paste. The paste is a mixture of soyflour, white glue and warm water. We dipped the strips into the mixture and ran our fingers down the strip to remove the excess drips. Next, we applied the strips to the chicken wire armature in typical papier mache' fashion. Some of the students were averse to the tactile properties of the paste, while others ecsatically busied themselves layering the form with criss crossed paper strips. Later that day, while working with the afternoon group of children, I looked down at the strips of paper, many of them bore headlines regarding the changes taking place in modern Egypt. I didn't bring this element to the attention of the child but I did observe the process through a different lens, watching as small hands used this media printed with headlines and uncertainty, and carefully reshaped it into the body of a sphinx, modeled after one of the timeless gifts handed down through the years by an Egypt of old. Sometimes, these little gestures of art are deeply moving, a testament to the timeless power of creativity.
Melody crouched down nearby. 
Initially the child made a paint stroke on the paper and hurried back to Melody's warm embrace. Together they smiled and admired her work. This went on for several minutes and I sat nearby, smiling and nodding with them. 
Eventually she no longer needed to return to Melody and remained at the easel. Melody gently told her that she was returning to the class to help another student with toileting and asked the child if she would like to stay. The child smiled at me and came over for a hug before painting more. She painted and hugged a few times until she was confidently painting and exploring on her own.
The Pyramid, By Marco R. Age 5
The pyramid is from Egypt. I made it. The eyes are there to scare everybody away. There are mummies in the pyramid, like ten of them, and reptiles too. The crocodile is one of the mummies’ pet.
Crocodile, by Marco R., Age 5The crocodile lives in the Nile. He eats birds that come near him. He plays in the ocean and he thinks it’s a pool and he brings toys in there and he also thinks it’s a bathtub. He lets people be but not birds.
The Princess and the Bird, By Sophie A., Age 5The wind was blowing. The eagle was flying very fast. A rose blew, floating on the wind and the petals came off. The princess and the bird heard something. The rose said, “Come near and dear. Come here and be on your journey.” There were all different colors swirling in the air like red and blue, purple, green, orange and pink, and all of them swirled faster and faster together in a circle. The sparkles on top of the roof sparkled brighter and bright. The princess and eagle decided to go inside. After they went inside there were lots of fun things to do. After they played fun games they went outside. The petals returned to the flowers and every color stopped and made the circle. The rose voice said, “Very well.”
The End.
