Rainbow Ice Block Sculpture Building Session Cancelled

Due to the high temperatures forecast for the next week, we have decided to cancel the rainbow ice block sculpture building session tomorrow.  Thanks to everyone who made blocks at home!

Wonder of Winter Lantern Residency and Parade!

Montpelier Lantern Parade in 2015! Photos by Wayne Fawbush 

Now that winter is really here, we are getting more and more excited for our "Wonder of Winter" themed Lantern Art Residency  and Community Lantern Parade coming up in February!  Visual artist Gowri Savoor will be leading our school in creating handmade lanterns with sustainable materials like willow branches and paper.  She will be working with students from Monday, February 6th through Friday, February 17th.  Look for a detailed residency schedule to follow in January.   We are starting to collect yogurt containers of all sizes for the residency.  Please ask your children to drop them off in the Art room.  We appreciate the generous support of The UES Parents Group to purchase the art materials. 

Do you wish that you could make a lantern for the parade?  We are happy to announce that we will be hosting a Community Lantern Making Workshop on Saturday, February 11th in the UES Art Room!  The daylong workshop will be from 10:00-3:00 with an hour break for lunch. This workshop is sponsored by Coldwell Banker Classic Properties.

- Workshops are free to attend for all.  Donations will be welcome.
- All tools and materials will be provided. If you have a pair of hand-held pruning shears, please bring them along, you'll find it useful to have a pair of your own.
- Children must be accompanied by an adult.  Not suitable for children under six.
- There will be a limit of 20 participants per workshop
- For more information and to book your place, please contact Kristina Kane at kristinak@mpsvt.org

On Sunday, February 19th we will be building rainbow ice sculptures on the UES Upper Playground!  See details below about the event and how to make the ice blocks at home from Marni Leikin

Thursday, February 23rd is the big event - the lantern parade starting at 6:00pm at Union Elementary School!  We will parade through downtown with our handmade lanterns and return to the UES Upper Playground for our finale.  We will enjoy hot cider donated by Champlain Orchards as well as hot chocolate donated by Lake Champlain Chocolates!  We also thank Tarrant, Gillies & Richardson, Attorneys at Law for their sponsorship. 

Please Collect Ice Blocks for Rainbow Ice Sculptures!

Rainbow Ice Sculptures for the 2017 Lantern Parade at Union Elementary School (Montpelier)
Sunday, February 19th

We need the entire community to help create the building blocks, literally, for a day of colorful construction on Sunday, February 19. It’s easy! Please save your ½ gallon milk and juice cartons, rinse them out, fill with water to the top of the rectangle (not all the way if there is a plastic spout!) and a dash or two of food coloring, and leave outside to freeze. Save and freeze as many blocks as you can between now and February 19th. Ask your neighbors to help, get your grandmother to make colorful ice blocks too! On February 19th, we will be building colorful ice sculptures and functional outdoor furniture at Union Elementary School, where there will be an evening lantern parade the following week. You will be able to drop your ice blocks off the day before and that morning, and we would love you to stay to help build if you can. Dan Clar and Seth Mitchell will be our construction and engineering leaders. Building will be an all day project so feel free to drop ice blocks and go, come back later if your Sunday schedule allows. The plan is to make tables and benches, to function at the celebration, and other fantastic colorful forms to celebrate UES. All community members are invited to participate. Our inspiration is the 2012 Edmonton Rainbow Igloo, and while we won’t be making covered structures that can be entered, we will be making hollow forms that we will light up from within! Our sculptures will glow colorfully as the lantern procession reaches the UES playground on February 23rd. The sculptures will remain as long as nature allows.

In 2015 we did the same project and the results were magical. Many families helped with the construction and it made for wonderfully fast work that we all could share and take pride in. We will expand our sculptures this year if we can gather more blocks!

What you can do:
1.    Save and rinse as many ½ gallon milk and juice PAPER cartons as you can between now and Feb.19

2.    (plastic jugs are problematic, not square, etc. please avoid!)

3.    Open up tops, add water and some food coloring, place outside to freeze. Do not fill to the top if there is a plastic spout

4.    Bring UNWRAPPED/REMOVED frozen blocks to the UES playground starting Saturday February 18th through Sunday morning, February 19th (drop off location will be obvious)

5.    If you want to make colored ice spheres with balloons, any size will be welcome. Its easy, use the same method as above, but with a balloon instead of milk carton:-)

Please email with any questions and/or if you know you definitely want to help build: marni.leikin@gmail.com

Thank you!

Happy International Dot Day Today! (September 15th-ish)

The book The Dot, by Peter Reynolds, has inspired creativity, courage and collaboration in artists of all ages around the world.  In the story, a girl named Vashti begins a creative journey in her artwork when her art teacher encourages her to “Make a mark and see where it takes you.”

International Dot Day is now celebrated by almost seven million people in 138 countries!!  There are many ways to celebrate - check out http://www.thedotclub.org/dotday/ for inspiration and information.

 

Second graders were encouraged to practice their creativity in their paintings.  There was only one rule - they could only paint circles or dots!  They enjoyed experimenting and mixing the primary colors.  What different creative ideas and risks do you notice in their work?

 

 

Looking forward to a wonderful year together!

I hope that you have enjoyed a wonderful summer!  I am looking forward to seeing your children in art classes soon. We are going to have a great year together!

I am thrilled to share with you that April Caspari will be joining us through December as a teacher intern from the Upper Valley Educator Institute.  April is a local artist and musician and she is excited to become an art teacher.  Some UES kids and families will remember her from Community Connections, where she was an after-school teacher a couple of years ago!  April will be interning with art teacher Barb Austin-Hutchins at Montpelier High School for the spring semester.

Miss April and Mrs. Kane at the end of the first day of school! 

I am also happy to share that Gowri Savoor will be visiting Union Elementary School this winter as our artist-in-residence for a Lantern Art Residency.  Following Gowri’s residency, we will celebrate with an evening Community Lantern Parade through the snowy streets of Montpelier. We are so glad to welcome Gowri back to U.E.S.  

I hope to see you and your children at Open House in a few weeks!  The students’ artwork will be on display throughout the school.  We will also have information to share about the K-4 Art Curriculum, volunteer opportunities, the Lantern Art Residency and our 2016-17 U.E.S. Arts Calendar!

Vermont Spring Open Studios Weekend! May 28-29

It's going to be an exciting weekend for art all over Vermont!  Check out the map and guide HERE!

4th Grade Art and Storytelling Residency with Judy Dow

The fourth grade students enjoyed a week of storytelling, map-making, and discovery with visiting artist Judy Dow.

Judy is an Abenaki artist, storyteller, ethnobotanist, and teacher.  She is a master basket weaver whose work has been exhibited nationally, including at The Smithsonian Museum and The National Museum of the American Indian. 

With Judy’s guidance, fourth graders learned stories about Montpelier through research, art making, and exploring our community.  We went on guided walks of the city and mapped our personal stories through basket-making, woodburning on leather, plaster relief mapping, watercolor painting, and embroidery.  

Our big question for the residency was: “How can the stories of the past help us to understand today and direct tomorrow?”  

Check out this video with some highlights of our week together!

This artist residency was made possible by an “Artists In Schools Grant” from The Vermont Arts Council, “The Creative Schools Initiative” by The Community Engagement Lab, and a generous donation by The Pyralisk Arts Center.

We had a wonderful show of the student work and stories last week! There will also be an opportunity to see them on display this Sunday, April 10th at The Barre Opera House at this special event with Evelyn Glennie.