Finally we get to meet our art friends!

Pippurit, Mantelit, and Tigers have been making art and sending it to each other since January 2018. Pippurit and Mantelit are from Päiväkoti Pihapirtti in Kontula, Helsinki and the Tigers are from Your School in Olari, Espoo. After months of getting to know each other, themselves, and their surroundings, they got to meet to have a morning of making art together!

At first, everybody was a bit confused about the other group.  Once we got inside and we heard Project 3 from the Pippurit and Mantelit and from the Tigers, everything started to come together. "Oh! That's my voice!" "I remember that!" "It was winter!".

We listened to the sound recordings we had made in March. As we listened, we could draw what we heard. After a while we introduced the possibility to collage using road maps of Finland.

One of the great things about this session was how listening to these recordings triggered many memories and ideas that we could then play off of each other in our small groups. For example, one of the groups started to think of boiled eggs as one of the recordings involved a bird. One artist drew snowflakes because at the time of the recording there was snow on the ground. Now it's spring time and everything is in bloom!

At the end of the session we had a mini-exhibition where everybody could display their artworks and tell about what they drew. Each small group was a mixture of the Pippurit, Mantelit, and Tigers. Everybody was so kind and welcoming to their new friends!

Thank you, Museum of Impossible Forms for hosting Dear You!

Have a great summer everybody!

With love,
Arlene

The 5 year old artists at Päiväkoti Pihapirtti in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing art with the 5 year old artists from Your School in Espoo, Finland.

Draw or write what you hear

During the third project students were asked to listen to audio recordings from their friends in China. They were instructed to draw or write anything they heard that sounded like a word that was familiar to them. They could use Swedish, Finnish, and English words for the listening exercise. As we listened students, wrote words that they heard or that came to mind and drew pictures to accompany the words. When the listening exercises was over the students used mixed methods of collage and coloring to complete their images. Using bits cut from maps they created lines connecting their images to one another.  They really enjoyed listening to what their friends had to say. Thanks so much to our friends in China! We really enjoyed collaborating with you on this project!

Sincerely,
Rachel Kangas

The artists in Grade 2 (8-9 years old) at Taizhou Pheonix Primary School in Jiangsu, China are making and sharing art with the artists at Linguajoy (7-10 years old) in Helsinki, Finland.

Life is like a movie at The English School in Helsinki!

As the first art task of this school year,  the group was asked to imagine what if an animation film was made based on their own life. They planned and drew sketches of the recent experiences they have had. This task just happened to be very similar to Arlene´s first Dear You task. Many combined these two tasks together.

Children seemed to be a bit shy when writing to their new Canadians friends. They had time to write only short notes. However it was nice to see how their motivation grew as they their work progressed.

As a medium they used waterproof markers, transparent copy sheets, class paints + some colourful plastic sheets. Most of the photos were taken against our classroom window.

Many of the pupils have been playing Pokemon Go and that shows! Many images are based on hobbies and other interests of life. Most images are very personal.

Päivi Huhtinen

The 6th graders from The English School in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing art with the 6th graders at Ryerson P.S. in Cambridge, ON, Canada.

Espoon kuvataidekoulu creates with their new friends!

The 6 year old artist at Espoon kuvataidekoulu were very excited to find out that they have friends in Mexico!  We looked on the map where Mexico is and when we looked at pictures we saw that it seems very hot and dry climate. We already have so many questions!

What language do you speak?
Is it fun in Mexico?
What about the houses and buildings in Monterrey? What are they like?

Our artworks continued from character drawings we have been creating.  We have characters that are self-portraits, from Pikachu, and from our imagination.

Thank you and we look forward to meeting you!

With love,
Arlene, Eliisa, and artists from Espoo Visual Arts School

The 6 year old artists from Espoon kuvataidekoulu in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with Prepri A, the group of 6 year old artists from San Patricio Colegio in Monterrey, Mexico.

The Tigers tell it all!

The Tigers from Your School in Espoo, Finland are bubbling in their seats about their new friends in Nursery A from Colegio San Patricio Cumbres in Monterrey, Mexico.  Both groups of artists are 4 years old.

In the first project, Lights, Camera, Action!, we made artworks of a character from our favorite story. This is our introductory piece of art to getting to know each other.  The sun was also a tool to create our art with.  Good thing the sun was shining bright in Finland!

The stories liked were Goldilocks, Batman, Tree Monster, My Little Pony, Spiderman, Batman, Shark Story, Magical Fairy, Superman, Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on a Bed, and Ninja.  Do you like these stories too?  Which characters do you like from the story?

We can't wait to meet you!

With love,
Arlene, Toti, Zeynab and The Tigers

Crazy Good Friends from Vienna coming your way!

The children had lot of fun with creating a good friend and they made really funny pictures!

A good friend should be lovely and funny. They want to do crazy things with a best friend. And it is very important to play with each other.  As you can see on the pictures, friends also have animals.

Hope, you are fine and wish you the best,
Simone Zobl and her group of super creative 2nd graders

The 7-8 year old artists from  Evangelischen Volksschule am Karlsplatz in Vienna, Austria are making and exchanging art with the 8 years from Mooste Põhikool in Mooste, Estonia!

The Tigers are great artists and friends!

The Tigers have taken the Imagine Me project to a new level!  They were mixing reality and imaginary worlds together making a giant playground for all of us to be together in.

It was great talking with them about their puppets!

K's puppet is Amos.  Amos is a good friend because "he helps me when I am resting."
Ai's puppet is Veeti who "likes to play Viking and Her Factory with."
P's puppet is named Kasper.  "He likes to go on the boat and like trash trucks!"
V says her puppet Akseli likes to fly, play, and cars.
C's puppet is called Mommy <3.

These playful bunch of Imagine Me puppets are in the air to our new friends at Just Kids school in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Thanks for the great afternoon!

Xarlene

The Solar System strings us together!

Hi,

We had a great time doing the February Dear You art project.  We have been focusing on the solar system and talking about how we are connected to everything, so the project tied in perfectly with our curriculum! We have also been working on sharing and teamwork, so each piece was a collective effort.  

Have a great day,
Michelle

The 5 years old at Moonstone Preschool in Philadelphia, PA, USA is making and exchanging artwork with Pre-Kindergarteners at The International School of Antwerp in Antwerp, Belgium.

From Texas to England, here we go!

Kathleen Finan and her 2nd graders at  Amy Parks Heath Elementary School in Heath, Texas are ready to snail mail their first exchange of Dear You artworks to their new friends at Sneinton St Stephen's C of E Primary School in Nottingham, UK.

Their Self Portrait Puppets are full of personality!

Great questions from the artists at The International School of Vantaa!

The artists at The International School of Vantaa in Finland are a very welcoming group of 4th Graders!  As I was approaching the school I saw a few kids playing outside and they all ran to me asking if I was Arlene.  Wow!  What a warm greeting for my first time at this school :)

They then took me upstairs to the class where Mary Banda, their teacher, and the rest of the artists were waiting to start creating their first project to be exchanged with Nuuk Internationale Friskole in Greenland.

Mary had the great idea to Google Map where Greenland is in relation to Finland.  This prompted many questions!

What language do they speak in Greenland?

What is the weather like?

How come there is so much snow when it is called Greenland?

Maybe our new friends in Nuuk could help us answer some of these questions.

Here are the Self Portrait Puppets they made.  I like how some artists decided to turn this into an interactive game or took the time create texture with different materials.  They look forward to hearing from their new friends in Greenland!

Collaging Self Portrait Puppets in Prague

Our first meeting with students  from Central Point International Elementary School in Prague, Czech Republic was exciting for all of us.

I started the lesson by bringing a few magazines in. While browsing through, we discussed our role models and how our own puppets could look like. For faces, some of the kids chose already existing faces from the magazines which they drew on tracing paper while others drew their own faces. The kids were asked to use a template to cut their puppets but they already adjusted the shapes to their own needs and wishes. Regarding the material, we tried to use scissors, glue and all possible kinds of collage-like stuff: coloured paper, fabric, old jeans.

We really like the results  of our class and we already look forward to the next time.  

- Rudolf Samohejl
Dear You Workshop Leader