Nurdles Opening Night

Opening night @ 18th St, was a great success. The PYFC community and mural class provided the exhibit with a custom canvas painting reinforcing the knowledge they have acquired through our mural painting class centered around plastics and ocean pollution. The Green Ambassadors were amazing and helped bring our project full circle in the realm of public practice and social engagement. Our installation became participatory with the gallery attendees. The bartenders were kind enough to encourage the viewers to recycle their drink cup in our exhibition space.

Yesterday we went to PYFC and modified our class to join the the PYFC anti youth violence campaign. It was so amazing to see another example of how tight and unified the PYFC/Santa Monica community is. The rally took place in SAMO city hall where there was poetry and speeches by the friends and family of Richard Juarez. The last senseless violent act in our community that could have been prevented by more public protection in the Virginia Avenue Park neighborhood. Oscar de la Torre is truly an inspirational man....many words of peace, unity and social justice were articulated in a the most eloquent way.

Putting ideas on paper

We started the class by going outside and measuring the exterior wall-- the site for PYFC kids' mural.  Following this activity Gabi presented a lesson about "What makes a 2D art piece work" that dealt with the challenging concepts of unity, balance, rhythm and proportion.  The kids enjoyed the examples images by Barry McGee, Margaret Kilgallen, Kara Walker and James Rosenquist.

During our next session we spent valuable time brainstorming.  Next the kids used computers at the center to research the ideas developed from our brainstorming sessions. Dave presented a review of the concepts in Gabi's lesson and drawing principles.  The remainder of the class was spent incorporating the information into designs for the mural.  The kids' drawings were amazing and gave evidence that they understood the difficult concepts Gabi presented and were able to use them skillfully in their drawings.

I am anxious to see what they produce this week.  The excitement is building because the mural is becoming a reality.   

January 6, 2010 Preparation for creation of a mural

We are pleased with the enrollment in the mural class. The kids are anxious to learn how to create a mural, and have been excellent listeners with insightful questions. We have had two great speakers Roberto DelHoyo and Felipe Bascope who enriched the kids' education on mural design and execution and our topic of "single use plastic pollution and environmental justice." We had an initial brainstorming session yesterday. We plan to have more and hope to help the kids begin to make associations between the topic and the mural imagery they draw. Tomorrow, Gabi is presenting a powerpoint presentation on composition, proportion and the dynamics of creating a well defined 2D art piece.