Dear You Art Project

Mail Art + Pen Friends = Dear You Art Project

Watercolor Painting

The Tigers work together to create a beautiful atmosphere!

2015, 4 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Collective Art, Finland, VietnamArlene TuckerComment

Together we connected the dots to draw lines that created a collective piece of art.  We first asked each other, "What can be found in the ocean?" "What can be found on land?" "What can be found in the air?".  From that we let our imaginations go and painted all the possibilities.

Afterwards when we put all of our individual paintings together to make one long Shared Atmosphere, we got out the Pop Up Homes and Puppets that the Puppies in Vietnam had made for us.  We were coming up with some great stories of why our friend lives in their home and how their environment can make them feel happy, sad, or silly!

Thank you, Puppies for making and sharing art with us.  We hope you like our artwork too!

With love,
Arlene and The Tigers

The Tigers from Your School in Espoo, Finland are 4 years old.  They are making and sharing art with the 4 year old Puppies who are artists going to Just Kids School in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The Inquisitive Monkeys!

2015, 5 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Dear You Workshop Leader, Finland, Pre-School, USAArlene TuckerComment

One great thing about making and sharing art is that is brings out the inquisitive side in us.  We can surely see that it has for the Monkeys at Your School in Espoo, Finland.  During the November project, Shared Atmosphere, so many questions came up about our friends at Moonstone Preschool in Philadelphia, USA.

The Monkeys would like to know from the Full Moonstoners:

Is your country nice?
What is your favorite food that you get in school?
What are you favorite colors?
How much do you like to be in school?
Do you like our pictures?
Can you write something about your picture?
How cold is it in Philadelphia?
What do you like about your school?
What are your teacher's names and are they nice to you?
How big is Philadelphia?
Do you get any free play?

These questions came up whilst we were painting our atmosphere.  We got into smaller groups and divided our landscape into ocean life and land and air.  You'll find all animals, vegetation, and ways of getting from Helsinki to Philadelphia!

Thanks for sharing with us!

With love,
Arlene and The Monkeys

Vienna in autumn looks like a magical place to be!

2015, 2nd Grade, Dear You Art Workshops, Austria, EstoniaArlene TuckerComment

Hello!

In Vienna, we had autumn when we were doing the pictures. Trees have beautiful colours, apples are falling down, it is getting cold. So the kids made pictures from our season outside. They had a lot of good and funny ideas to show this! :) You will see it in the pictures!

Hope you are all fine!

Best wishes,
Simone

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.

K1 paints a beautiful landscape for their friends in Vietnam!

2015, 4 years old, Collective Art, Dear You Art Workshops, Dear You Workshop Leader, Finland, VietnamArlene TuckerComment

K1 has been talking about life in the Atlantic Ocean these past couple of weeks. This project allowed us to combine all the great things about life on land and life in the water! Originally I thought we would use oil pastels and colored pencils, but as I was explaining to them that this painting was about the ocean, they suggested we use watercolor paints. How perfect! So we got them out and added them to the mix!

Before we got began we first looked at the Pop Up Homes the Tiger Pups in Vietnam made for us. That started churning the imagination wheels in our mind for our landscape. After we finished our individual paintings of land and water we taped them together to make one super long Shared Environment. Now we have received the Imagine Me Puppets, Pop Up Homes, and soon we'll have the Shared Environments from Hanoi. Our world is piecing itself together and our Tiger Pups are getting insight as to who we are what our lives are like way far up North : ).

Thank you everybody for going on an adventure with us!

With love,
K1, Arlene, Kristiina, and Bibiana

The 4 year olds from International School of Helsinki in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing art with the 4 year olds from Just Kids in Hanoi, Vietnam.

All the things we see!

2015, India, 1st Grade, 2nd GradeArlene TuckerComment

Dear Monkeys!

It was a very sunny and hot day in India today. The Arivu kids are almost ready to start their summer holiday.

We have given your string drawings to their teacher and they will do an exhibition before giving the artworks to your friends. They all are waiting to get the drawings and know you all!
The houses/huts painted this time are the Arivu school buildings that your friends chose to see through their viewfinders. It is so warm here that they can study with the windows open and often outside in the huts. 

Uncle Subbu's car, which was parked outside, was another popular subject today, especially among the boys!

The hot sun, flowers, plants and even butterflies were also found today through the viewfinders.

Greetings from your Indian friends!

Berliners find amazing color combinations!

2015, 5 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Estonia, GermanyArlene TuckerComment

Lusine and her 5 year old artists from Berlin had a great time with their Dear You March project! I am sure Evelyn and her artists in Mooste, Estonia will appreciate their watercolor views.  

We split the project into two. First the kids made and used their viewfinders to fix images, colors and different combinations. It was interesting to observe that later on when they were asked to put their creativity onto paper, they knew exactly what and how they wanted to paint. In between, they were encouraged to use the view finders again, which they applied from different distances involving other kids to hold the painting or to look through their view finders.

We had a lot of fun and discovered many new things around us.

All the best,
Lusine and Felixers

First signs of Spring and much much more from the artists in Vantaa, Finland!

2015, 6 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, Pre-School, AustriaArlene TuckerComment

Here are the Lumileopard's paintings from Vantaa, Finland.  You can see the first signs of spring through the viewfinders!  I wonder if their friends in Austria are also seeing the seasons change through their viewfinders.  Anne-Marie, the Lumileopard's teacher, has shared so much great information with us!  She says:

This Art task was so gorgeous and funny. Kids and adults were so excited about all working and screening.  At first I told the children about the new themes and we were discussing what all of that means and how we can do this work.  We then built our own viewfinder.

Next we made small groups and went out to search for good painting items and at same time we considered signs of spring. After that everyone painted their own watercolor landscape. 

Some kids found their views easily, some of them had to seek them out longer. That view what is in Picture, can exhibit small detail from nature, or house's wall etc. or it can be also bigger view from landscape or even imagination topic ! The finished works were delightful!
 


I wrote some notes about what the kids named their works:
Rebekka: Firs, red house, stones.
Teppo: Firs, red stable, watergrass.
Eetu: Space and ufos
Veera: Sky, sun
Anna: Spruce and flowers
Jimi T: House, Big Flat
Andreas: Car, house and human being
Rasmus S: Colour of the sky
Karl: Spring is coming
Jimi P: Venetian blind and bricks
Doina: Spruce, sun and dry leaves
Eelis: Rainbow and sun
Sandra: All kind of colours
Moonika: Birds, clouds, sun, grass and spruce
Helmi: House and grass
Miina: Nursery's playsquare on sunny day
Aapo: Octopus on the wall
Leevi: Bus on the road
Adam: Stones, man is walking, sun and blue clouds

Have a nice spring there and lot of more fun with art and kids!

B.W : Anne-Marie and Snowleopards from Vantaa

A room with many views

2015, 6 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, India, Pre-SchoolArlene TuckerComment

We were so excited to receive our first package from our new friends in India!  Aniish asked, "How can you draw that good?!"  Ella asked, "Do you like the Monkeys- the animal and us?"  Dante asked, "Is the boat in your painting going to Sweden?"

The Monkeys were discovering all special angles of their classroom with the help of their newly crafted viewfinders today.  The viewfinders also helped us build a better composition.

Have a look at their paintings and then see if you can find where they found it in their room.  It doesn't surprise me that there are a couple of watercolor paintings of fish and monkeys!  Can you see why?

Our colorful view!

2015, 5 years old, Finland, VietnamArlene TuckerComment

The Tigers and I started our session by making a viewfinder with our hands and seeing what is around us.  We saw the trees outside the window, we saw the view to the downstairs where the Dolphins and Lions are, we saw the hearts on the windows and all the beautiful artwork hanging from the ceiling!  Now have a look at how our views turned into beautiful watercolor paintings : )

We our curious how our views are the same and different from The Mice in Vietnam!

With love,
Arlene & The Tigers from Espoo, Finland