The kids have finally finished their painted terra cotta pedestal pots.
Remember, each of them received a theme that they had to brainstorm and develop.
It’s always so much fun to see how the kids approach a conceptual challenge and
turn it into a personal work of art. Here are just a few of their masterpieces…

“The Jungle” – created by Ava…

“Outer Space” – created by Lucy…

“Walt Disney” – created by Kayla…

“Underwater World” – created by Elizabeth…

“The Four Seasons” – created by Dahlia…

While the totem pieces & gnomes are in the kiln, the kids have continued with the
painting of their terra cotta pedestal pots. Their themes are established, and the
painting has begun… and the “focus” by some of the campers is pretty amazing!

With their totem parts & gnomes in the kiln, may summer campers have moved on
to painting “thematic” pedestal planters. They randomly chose themes out of a hat
and did some brainstorming to figure out how they were going to portray their theme
onto their pedestal planters. The kids then set out drawing the designs…
and will soon start painting with acrylics!

Here’s an example of some of the themes they’re working with…
* The Olympics  *  The Four Seasons  *  The Z00  *  The Jungle  * Sports
* Walt Disney  * The Chicago Skyline  * Fruits  * The Future  *  A Favorite Movie  *  etc…

This week it’s all about the garden.. my campers are making projects for their gardens!
And when all of the kids live in the city, the term “garden” might be a loose interpretation.
We had a discussion about what our week’s projects might be… and whether they might be
interested in making a individual projects or one large project that they would collaborate on
and leave behind at Lillstreet Art Center. After some discussion, we came up with a plan to
do a totem pole installation. Each of the kids were responsible for making their own section
of the totem, decorated in whatever style they wanted.

Much to my dismay, many of them asked if they could also make garden gnomes!
So we did a little handbuilding and made a troop of gnomes. They turned out to be a little
thicker & heavier than I would like, but I’m hoping that they all survive the firing. It was a
quick project and they haven’t had much experience with sculptural pieces. And they idea
of keeping all of the pieces hollow was a bit tough, but I think we succeeded… and added
small holes in all the right places so they trapped air can escape!

After some quality “gnome time,” we switched back to the totem pole pieces and started
painting them with underglazes. New this year, Lillstreet has added underglazes with glaze
already in them. Before, we painted with underglaze and then covered everything with a
clear glaze. This year, it’s all-in-one. The colors are pretty rich, but it is a new twist for me
and the returning campers who are used to the previous method.

Once the totem parts were painted, we moved back to the gnomes. A splash of color really
brought them to life. I was a little leery about making gnomes… but they’re pretty darn cute!

At the end of the day, much to everyone’s dismay… my kids are also very good cleaners!
So many of the adult students at Lillstreet blame all of the mess on the kids. But seriously,
my campers always do such a great job of cleaning… better than most of the adults!!!
They know it’s my Rule #3… Whatever mess you make, YOU will be cleaning up!
And they do. Like today when they some water was spilled on the floor…

There they were on their hands & knees scrubbing & cleaning. They also cleaned all of the
tables as well as taking the garbage out to the dumpster. Yes parents, they CAN do it…
and you can thank me later!

Today was another fun day at Summer Camp. It was Tie-Dye Thursday…
and you know how I loves me some groovy tie-dye!!!

Today is going to be another day of kids wheelthrowing.
But today we switch to terra cotta… so it’s going to be a messy, messy day!

Meanwhile, my afternoon campers are working diligently on their collage projects.
They started by drawing their own pictures… including some diptychs… and one triptych!
Then they tackled the stash of magazines to find the colors they needed to create their
masterpieces. Cutting small pieces of “color” out of the photographs in the magazine.
They’re well on their way to finishing their collages… then a finishing layer of Mod Podge!!!

Tomorrow they’ll take a break for some tie-dye fun!!!
Then it’s back to finishing their collages on Friday!

This morning, my wheelthrowing campers trimmed & finished their first stoneware pots.
And look… surprisingly, they were also stamping them!                                  Go figure…

Today was a very long day… playing & teaching.
With the kids wheelthrowing in the morning, more kids drawing & making collages
in the afternoon, plus my adult class wheelthrowing in the evening.
It was a trifecta of creative fun!

Well, today is the first day of my “tour of duty” at Lillstreet Summer Camp.
My morning camp is wheeltrowing, and my afternoon is Clay & Multimedia.
Which means we doa c lay project on Monday and other art projects the rest of the
week. So today was out clay day in the afternoon camp. We decided to make
textured vases… you know how I just “hate” making things with textures!   Ha.