owl moon

On Monday (Presidents Day), I had a one-day teaching job at Grace Art Camp. They read the story "Owl Moon" to the campers, and we made owl hats and "stuffies" to go along with the tale of a young girl who goes out birdwatching with her father on a snowy, moonlit winter night.

Here are a couple of my sketches for the project:




We had a great time, and even though some of the kids were barely even four years old (I found that out when I was setting up in the morning!) they made some very cute hats and a few stuffed owls:





At the end of the day, I asked this one if he had fun and he said, "Whooo, me?"

meanwhile, back at art camp...

Here's what we'll be making at camp today in Fibre Arts:

(A Swedish midsummer festival flower crown, modeled by Cooper)

God Dag! (That's Norwegian for "Good Day!)

this one time at art camp...

Ahhh, Saturday. I survived my first week at art camp and it appears that I may have actually escaped with most of my faculties intact...(mind you, I didn't really have a full set going in!)

Anyway, it was a good week. The kids were pretty capable, and most of them seemed to at least have a rough idea how the needle and thread thing works, although there are always one or two who are so clueless, you have to show them how to put the needle through the fabric and pull it out the other side. I sometimes wonder why they pick our studio (fibre arts) if they're not even vaguely interested in sewing...Maybe "Fibre Arts" is too esoteric a title, and we should just call it "Sewing". It's an exercise in patience, for the most part. I find it helps to remind myself that I'm here to teach this child a new skill, which may or may not involve learning to sew. Sometimes what they come away with is a larger skill, like problem solving ("Wow, that's a big knot! Let's see how we can fix it!"), or sharing ("Savannah, could you please lend Henry the scissors?"), or patience ("I can help you as soon as I'm done helping Sarah.").

Truthfully, this part-time gig makes me appreciate full-time teachers even more. These are people who dedicate their lives to teaching our little brain-dead zombies to read and write and become functioning, valuable members of society, and they deserve our utmost respect.

So, without further ado, here are a few highlights of the week:

You would think that only girls would sign up to be in our studio, but we've found that lots of boys like to sew...
and they're good at it!

We made some (purposefully) very ugly trolls...this one's name is "Mr. Freaky Freak-Out"

Here are some Icelandic sheep (some even got earrings and bells!)

There was lots of embroidery goin' on...


some very sweet moments,


and even the 4 and 5 year olds in the preschool group made Viking flags to wave in the parade on Friday evening...


of course, by the end of the day Friday, it looked like a textile mill exploded in our tent.


but then, Friday evening ended with music performances, a puppet parade, and a charming dance around the Maypole.


and all was right in the world.