A River of Light in Waterbury - Bug Themed Lantern Parade - Saturday, December 5th!

Waterbury's Annual River of Light Lantern Parade is coming up in a couple of weeks! Mrs. Kane will be helping out as a volunteer.  This is a free and fun event for all ages!

Event details from Gowri:

We are very excited to announce that this year’s River of Light Lantern Parade will be taking place on Saturday December 5th, 2015, from 5-6pm in Waterbury, VT. Our theme this year is BUGS! Please feel free to bring your lanterns and join the parade or watch from the sidelines.  We will be leaving from two locations–Thatcher Brook Primary School on Stowe Street and Rusty Parker Park on Main Street, and we’ll be culminating with a fiery finale at Dac Rowe; with bonfires, hot chocolate and entertainment provided by Ingis Solus. The parade will be led by Sambatucada, Brass Balagan and the Crossett Brook Middle School Junk Band. We look forward to seeing you on the streets!
Check out their blog at https://ariveroflightinwaterbury.wordpress.com/ 

Kindergarten Cave Building Work Party - Wednesday 10/14 3:00-3:30!

Kindergarten artists drawing cave pictures

We will be building our annual Kindergarten Cave next Wednesday after school!  Kindergarten students and their parents are welcome to help out. Please meet us outside the main office at 3:00.  We will work with big cardboard boxes and tape to build the cave and fill it with all the kindergarten cave drawings.  Come support your growing artists and make some new friends!

Vermont Open Studio Weekend! October 3 & 4

For details visit http://www.vermontcrafts.com/links/open-fall.html

Montpelier Arts Fest - Saturday October 3rd!!!

4:00-8:00 pm
Downtown businesses host art work and art events!

For more info visit http://montpelieralive.org/montpelier-alive/ or check out their Facebook page

Looking forward to a creative year together!

workshop photo from Community Engagement Lab website

I was fortunate this summer to join teachers and professional artists from Montpelier and across the state of Vermont for the launch of the Vermont Creative Schools Initiative.  We spent a week together at St. Michael's College exploring creativity and planning arts integrated learning.  More to come later about the project that we are planning for fourth graders at UES this Spring.  I am excited to bring some fresh teaching skills to art classes next week!

To learn more about the launch, please visit the CSI website at: http://celvt.org/news-csilaunch.html

The artist-in-residence at our workshop was Dame Evelyn Glennie, the world's premiere percussionist!  In her TED talk, she shares about her life's work and tells a fascinating story about a teacher.  You can view it at: https://www.ted.com/talks/evelyn_glennie_shows_how_to_listen

UES Lantern Parade!

HAPPY 75th BIRTHDAY UNION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!
Our lantern parade was a beautiful and magical evening!  We will treasure the fun memories always. An estimated 1,000 students, families, staff and friends celebrated our school and community together.

SPECIAL THANKS ...

Visual artist Gowri Savoor led our school community in creating these gorgeous lanterns during a ten-day art residency. The lantern residency was made possible by the “Artists in Schools” grant awarded by the Vermont Arts Council as well as the support of the UES Parents’ Group and The River of Light in Waterbury.   Our parade was made possible with the support of the Vermont College of Fine Arts, Hunger Mountain Coop and Coldwell-Banker Classic Properties.  The event is funded in part by a “Community Arts Grant” awarded by Montpelier Alive and funded by the Downtown Improvement District Assessment.  We thank Diamond & Robinson P.C. Attorneys at Law  for donating the fireworks!  Thanks to Todd Keller for setting off the display.  We appreciate the support of the Montpelier Fire Department.  We also are grateful to the Montpelier Police Department for closing the streets for the parade and working with us to make the event safe and fun.  We also thank Lake Champlain Chocolates and Champlain Orchards for their donations. 

Congratulations and thanks to the Union Elementary School students for their fantastic lanterns and hard work! Finally, we are truly grateful to the UES staff, faculty, families and friends for their countless volunteer hours for the residency and the special parade event.

Lining up on Park Avenue! Photo by Muhyedeen Batah

Kindergarten Lantern. Photo by Muhyedeen Batah

Sambatucada leads the parade! Photo by Muhyedeen Batah

Lantern Procession around the VCFA Green! Photo by Wayne Fawbush

Pyramid lanterns by fourth and fifth grade artists.  Photo by Wayne Fawbush

Rainbow Ice Sculpture! Photo by Lara Slesar

Union Elementary School Lantern! Photo by Lucinda McCloud

Celebrating at Vermont College of Fine Arts! Photo by Muhyedeen Batah

Birthday Wish Luminary by first grade artist.  Photo by Wayne Fawbush

Gowri's Ship Lantern (carried by Angelo) photo by Lara Slesar

Fireworks! Photo by Lara Slesar

Hunger Mountain Coop Comunity Lantern Making Workshop

We had our second and final community lantern making workshop on Valentine's Day!  We had a wonderful (and warm!) day together in the Union Elementary School Art room. This workshop was fully sponsored by The Hunger Mountain Coop in Montpelier.  We are very grateful for their generosity and support! Here are some photos from our day: