CAPE After School 2021-2022: Anya Smolnikova / Aram Atamian / Olga Nuñez-Johnson

Welcome to the google site/portfolio/memory place for "Drama Exploration / Collaborative Performance" with Aram Atamian (Mr. A) , Anya Smolnikova (Ms. Anya) and Olga Nuñez-Johnson (Mrs. Johnson)!

One of our Big Ideas / Inquiry Questions: How can the paired principles of Collaboration-Improvisation, Movement-Visual Art, Instructions-Play be best implemented and integrated to support the creative and learning processes in the classroom?

And here are Artist Portraits of some of our students! Couldn't get them all in these - but catch 'em in the other photos :)

We played movement and theater games and made dream dances with Mr. A!

For the first few weeks we had two teaching artists at the same time! Mr. A in the classroom, and Ms. Anya on Zoom, while she was painting a mural in Vermont, which she showed us every class. We had a multimedia classroom experience! 

PS: Did you now that Mr. A and Ms. Anya have been friends since they were 12? How cool is that:)?

We played games almost every class before getting to artmaking. Play and improvisation are a big part of our classroom learning!

We played different kinds of drawing, doodle, squiggle games! We made drawings together, letting our lines and our minds wander. We made art as individuals and collectively!

We look at art, work, learning and play is interrelated and interdependent.

We traced our whole bodies and created full-body self portraits, giving ourselves superpowers, sending love to our hearts and imagining our minds as labyrinths!

We made a giant labyrinth together on the whiteboard and then on the sidewalk outside!

We practiced creative visualization, and let colors and shapes arise in our mind's eye! 

During our check-in circle we would ask and shared: "What colors and shapes and pattern am I feeling like today?" 

And then we turned our inner visions into abstract art!

We kept a journal which had wonderful graph paper in it so we could play with the grid. 

We used our journals to take notes, make field drawings in the garden, create studies and preliminary sketches for our projects, and draw freely!

We went into the garden to draw and study elements of nature, as we prepared for our final project: The Poetic Landscape Self Portrait!

A few interviews with our Artists as they worked on their Self Portraits!

We made several studies and did research by looking at other artists as we worked on our poems and visuals, which we then put together into a custom-made frame!

Bonus Track!!! Collaborative Squiggle Drawings narration by Nella!

How can guest visits from parents impact the after school programming, how can students demonstrate what they’ve learned in after school and what impact does this have on their development and self esteem?

We encourage students to teach the collaborative games and exercises to their families and try them together at home!

We would love to have parents and guardians to be guests in our class more consistently and integrate the families and the community!

How has the classroom space evolved over the course of the school year?

We found more flow 

The supplies found their working order on the shelves

We got more great shared supplies for the classroom

The students learned how to help set up and clean up together

We learned how to sit and stand in a circle together better and faster

We created our own special class culture full of games and jokes and memories