meraki [may-rah-kee] (adjective) This is a word that modern Greeks often use to describe doing something with soul, creativity, or love -- when you put "something of yourself" into what you're doing, whatever it may be.
Erin Hooper, Teacher
Patricia Okulinski, Teaching Artist
The Meraki Youth Movement focuses on the students putting what they love and are passionate about into their work. They did so through a variety of visual arts formats. Meraki met Tuesdays and Thursdays after school with students from grades 4th to 8th grade.
How do artists find inspiration? How do artists visually represent their ideas and feelings? How does freedom of design contribute to the final outcome?
In this program, the students worked on the following projects:
Architecture observation and al fresco sketching
Human real life proportions drawing
Imaginative story telling and set designÂ
Architectural symmetry drawing: Taj Majal
Plushie design and construction
Real life sewing application machine and by hand
Bag deconstruction and reporpusing Â
Stencil design and cutting
History of the Japanese dying technique "Shibori" and bandana design
T-shirt Shibori design, deconstruction, and design.
History of the "Picasso", assemblage sculpture and design
Bust sculpture air dry clay
How does intention affect the process and end result of art making? Intention affects the process and end result of art making in that the intention guides us to start creating, but the result might differ throughout the process. Things can not go as planned, or other ideas might possibly pop up that take over the initial intention.
What is the personal meaning of art making? Art making depends on each person's unique perspective and experiences. Just like the name of the program states, we are going to put what we love and are passionate about into our art. Since we are all unique, the art that we make will be unique as well.Â
What happens when students have autonomy on the art they want to create? When the students have autonomy to create what they want, they can express themselves in a unique way without judgement. They have choices, and then they take more ownership over their work of art.Â
The students took a survey in the beginning of the year to name their top activities, interests, or topics they wanted to see during the course of Meraki's after school program. One of the most popular was drawing practice.Â
Human Real-Life Proportions Drawing
Architectural Symmetry Drawing: Taj Majal
We sketched the Taj Majal, learned about its history, and symmetry. Students also learned about reflection and drawing tricks to achieve perfect symmetry while drawing.
Architecture Observation and Al Fresco Sketching
A lot of the students were interested on architecture, therefore, we took a walking field trip to give the students an opportunity to observe closely the different buildings, their facades, and ornamental designs. We also visited monuments and public art locations around the school. Once back in the classroom, students reflected on their experience and they drew a location of their choice.
Creative Storytelling with Antique Dolls as Characters
In one of our activities, we used vintage dolls donated by Ms. Patty, to use as characters to write short stories. Students created backgrounds and acted the stories for each other.
Playing with Pastels
Another drawing topic was "at a concert" where students practiced drawing laser lights and each design their own concert screen.
Plushie design and constructionÂ
One of our bigger projects was sewing plushies. Students started by learning basic sewing stitches by hand and later they moved onto the sewing machine. Some students brought garments from home to fix.
Real life sewing application machine and by hand
Bag Deconstruction and Repurposing Â
To practice our sewing we repurposed a traveling bag into bracelets. The students designed their own bracelets using the outer shell, lining, faux leather bottom, belt, and zippers.
Once the students finished their bracelets, they sketched their plushie idea and made paper patterns to cut the fabric.
Some students were more ambitious and they created stencils to screen print their plushies while others learned to safely use the sewing machine.
Some students had experience sewing so they helped their peers!Â
Students moved to silkscreening by learning about stencils, positive and negative space. Students made their own stencils and learned how to safely cut with an x-acto knife.
Students learned about the ancient fabric dying technique from Japan called Shibori: The verb "shiboru" means "to wring, squeeze and press" in Japanese. While the word shibori is often associated with the famous style of fabric dying particular to Japan, it in fact encompasses a wide gamut of fabric manipulation and dying found worldwide.
Meraki students planned the pattern they wanted to print and carefully folded, pressed, bound, and twisted a blank bandana using rubber bands, planks of wood, cardboard, foam, rope, and buttons.
Students ironed and silkscreened their bandanas and some students printed multiple colors.
T-shirt Shibori design, deconstruction, and design.
History of the "Picasso" sculpture in Chicago: Assemblage Sculpture and Design
Students learned about the history of "The Picasso" sculpture at Daley Plaza and they designed an assemblage sculpture using cardboard. Students learned about attachment techniques, scoring for bending, corrugation for contrast, and constructing with different materials.
Bust Sculpture Air Dry Clay
End of Year Exhibit
