Taking time to explore

To start the Dear You project the students and I sat down around a table and reviewed the photos sent to us from our new friends in China.  With each picture we took time to visually explore what was taking place. Was it a boy or girl? How old did they appear? Where was the photo taken? We explored what sort of information could we gather from elements presented to us in the photo?  

Following this activity we completed an journaling exercise where the students described things about themselves that they felt were important to share with their new friends. Then we completed the session by taking our self portraits.

Alexandra said: I like candy. I like to dance. My favorite food is pea soup.
I am Amos. I like school. I play my PS4. I have a big brother. I like pizza. I like candy.
I am Ebba. I like English club. I play football. I have a mom.
Felix said: I am 8 years old. I like candy. I play Minecraft.
Lucus said: I am short. I like my friend Benjamin. I play football. I have a little sister.
I am Maxim. I like Samuel & Benjamin. I do Ty-boxing. I have a dog.
Oskar said: I like playing my phone. I like candy. I am 7 years old. I play the guitar.
Sophia said: I also like to laugh. I like to play pretend mommy and daddy. I like my mom. My favorite food is spaghetti and I love bread. I like hotdogs and I like friends.

Thank you!

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.

The thoughtful artistic process in Barcelona

I have chosen this photo because I think that I have my own light.

I have chosen this photo because I like very much to make chinese shadows.

I have chosen this photo because there are numbers in it and I love numbers.

The artists at SOLC in Barcelona have shared their creative process of making a self-portrait.  They sketched their ideas of what personality traits and things about themselves they would like to tell their new friends in Finland.  Before they took their photographs they first experimented with the camera and found many different ways to play with the images.

Great job!

The 4th graders at Vesalan Peruskoulu in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing art with the 5th graders at Escola SOLC in Barcelona, Spain.  Artists in both groups are 10-11 years old.

I choose this picture because exaiting and I love the light and yellow colour.

I love this photo because I thing it’s like sience. It’s dizzy / making you feel dizzy!!

I did dis photos because i like the sun and the lights .And the natural places and other things .And I love dance with the lights and the dark.

I like that photo of one poster of my school because I'm so creative, and this photo too.

I chose this picture because I love sports and I like swim

The Sun:The Sun represents space,I like to study bodies of space.

This photo means the water (of a swimming pool, anything more than water…). I think that can mean many things of me. This is a curious photo for me.

Using light and transparency to make art!

Using our friend's artwork as a direct inspiration for our artwork is a pure collaboration!  At first, the Tigers were wondering how can we do that?  How can we make something together with our friends when they live in Kontula?  This was the first time the Tigers used tracing in their artwork and they did an excellent job!

When they finished tracing we had a talk about the original artwork- what was the photographer trying to say with their image?  From that, the Tigers chose colors to try and bring that idea to life. We had a good discussion and compared the original artwork from their artwork they made. 

Colors and lines, make such a difference even if it's coming from the same source. We learned how we can "say" what we mean.

Thank you for being such an inspiration for us!

Sincereley,
Arlene, Floriin, Anna-Maria & The Tigers

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

The Monkeys translate their friend's artwork!

Our new friends in Kontula have become even more alive as we all sat around to talk about the self-portraits.  What do you think this picture means?  What do you think our friend is trying to say with that gesture?  Through the process of trying to understand what the picture is conveying, we started to connect with the picture and the person behind the camera. "I like horses too!" "I like to do gymnastics too!"

We had a good discussion about translation.  Can we say something exactly in another language?  We practiced saying hello and how are you in different languages.  Even from that we sometimes got stuck because the direct translation wasn't always exactly the same. 

We tried applying this concept of translation to picture form by tracing the self-portrait.  Then when we added color, we could play around with how color enhances and changes the meaning of the picture.  All the elements come together so choose carefully what you would like to communicate!

The Monkeys did an amazing job!

Sincerely,
Arlene, Sanna, Ben & The Monkeys

The 6 year old artists at Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with the 6 year old artists from Päiväkoti Pihapirtti in Helsinki, Finland.

I think we will make good friends!

申钰萌：我是一个性格内向的小女孩，我有一双大大的眼睛，一头乌黑的长发和一张能说会道的嘴巴。音乐、画画、跳舞都是我平时的爱好，跳绳、跑步是我喜爱的体育项目。这就是我，一个快乐的小女孩。

申钰茜：我是一个性格内向的女生。我有一双炯炯有神的大眼睛，一头乌黑的头发，和一张能说会道的嘴。我喜欢画画、跳舞、唱歌。跑步、跳绳都是我喜爱的体育项目。这就是我，一个幸福、快乐的女孩。

Shen Yu Meng: I am an introverted little girl, I have big eyes, long black hair and I like to talk. My hobbies are music, drawing and dancing. Skipping and running are my favorite sport. This is me, a happy little girl.

Shen Yu Qian: I am an introverted girl. I have big and bright eyes, a black hair, and a can of mouth. I like drawing, dancing, singing. Running, jumping rope are my favorite sports. I am a happy, lucky girl.

沈力萌：我是一个爱笑的女孩。闲时，我喜欢吟诗诵读。画画，唱歌是我的最爱。每天我都在不断努力，不断进步，因为我相信：顽强的意志可以征服世界上任何一座高山。

Shen Meng: I am a girl who likes to laugh a lot. For fun, I like to recite poems. Painting and singing are my favorite. Every day I am constantly working hard and making progress, because I believe: if we work hard we can conquer any mountain in the world.

陈仁杰，今年9岁了。我是个阳光活泼的大胖子，跑步、跳绳、打篮球、画画等等都是我的兴趣爱好，但没有一个是我擅长的，我特别爱交朋友，希望我们能成为好朋友。

Chen Renjie, I turn 9 years old this year. I am a lively little pudgy boy. Running, skipping, playing basketball, painting and so on are all my hobbies, but I am not especially good at any of them. I especially love to make friends and hope we can be good friends.

陈楚楚：我是一个安静内敛的女生。我喜欢折纸，画画，跳绳……其中旅游，交友是我的最爱，好期待认识远方的您们！

Chen Chu Chu: I am a quiet introverted girl. I like origami, drawing, skipping ... travel, making friends is my favorite, so looking forward to meeting you from a distance!

程志奥:大家好，我叫程志奥，今年十岁，我是一个活泼开朗的小孩。喜欢打羽毛球、骑自行车还喜欢踢足球。我相信在这个大家庭里没个人都有不可代替的作用。

Cheng Zhi-o: Hello everyone, my name is 程志奥, I turn ten years old this year, I am a lively and cheerful kid. I like playing badminton, cycling and also I like to play football. I believe that everybody in the family has an important place and role.

石杰文：我是一个快乐的男孩，我喜欢阅读和唱歌，爱看一些关于恐龙的书籍和影片，我的理想是长大后成为一名考古学家！你们喜欢我吗？喜欢就和我交朋友吧！

Shi Jiewen: I am a happy boy. I like to read and sing. I love to read books and watch videos about dinosaurs. My dream is to grow up to become an archeologist! Do you like me?  If you do, we can be friends!

徐志东：大家好，我叫徐志东，今年十岁。我是一个活泼可爱的小男孩，我善常跑步、骑自行车、画画……我的梦想是成为一名聪明的冒险家，因为我想看看世界！有好奇心的小朋友就跟我交朋友吧!

Xu Zhidong: Hello everyone, my name is Xu Zhidong, I turn ten years old this year. I am a lovely lively cute little boy. I am good at running, riding a bike, painting and drawing ... My dream is to become a wise adventurer because I want to see the world! Curious children, come make friends with me!

徐梓惠 : 大家好，我叫徐梓惠，我是一个活波可爱的女孩。跳舞、画画、主持人，这都是我的兴趣爱好。我长大想当一名护士，因为可以帮助生病的人减轻痛苦。

Xu Zihui: Hello everyone, my name is Xu Zihui, I am a lively cute little girl. Dancing, drawing, being a talk show host are my hobbies. I want to grow up to be a nurse because then I could help the sick to make them feel better.

徐俪宁，我是一个活泼开朗好运动的女孩。平时休息的时候我会去做一些体育运动，例如：游泳、轮滑、攀岩。我的特长是舞蹈和绘画，但我更喜欢表演，我希望我长大后能当一名演员，像我的偶像杨幂那样优秀。

Xu Li Ning, I am a lively, cheerful, and sporty girl. Usually to relax, I will do some sports, such as swimming, roller skating and rock climbing. My specialty is dance and painting, but I prefer acting, and I hope I grew up to be an actress, as good as my idol Yang Mi.

When I explained to the kids what the event meant and what to do, they were very positive and found out how many great pictures they had and asked friends to pick out the ones they like. 

Next, the kids told stories about the photos. Then, the kids talked about their photos one after one. They made self-introductions and wrote them down, they expect to be new friends with the kids in Finland.

King regards,
Teacher Lisa and Miss Wu Juehua

The artists in Grade 3 (9-10 years old) at Taizhou Pheonix Primary School in Jiangsu, China are making and sharing art with the artists at Linguajoy (7-9 years old) in Helsinki, Finland.

杨俊涛：我是一个爱笑的男孩。我的眼睛小小的，笑起来眯成一条缝。我喜欢踢毽子、唱歌，魔方是我的最爱。

Yang Juntao: I am a kind of boy who likes to laugh a lot. My eyes are small, and when they are smiling that are like tiny slits. I like to play badminton, sing, and the Rubik's Cube is my favorite.

大家好！我叫刘晶瑶，今年10岁了。我内心阳光，性格开朗，是同学们的好朋友，老师的小助手。我热爱画画，钢琴、体育等…，希望大家喜欢我！

Hello everyone! My name is Liu Jingyao and I turn 10 years old this year. My heart is full of sunshine, I have a cheerful personality, I am good friends with my classmates, and I am teacher's assistant. I love painting, piano, sports, etc ..., I hope everyone likes me!

李一轩：我是个活泼且调皮的男孩，个子高高的，皮肤白白的，爸爸说他最喜欢我水灵灵的大眼睛，因为觉得我的眼睛会说话。别看我瘦得跟豆芽菜似的，我的饭量可大了，妈妈特羡慕我这种吃得多还不胖的体质。我的爱好是国际象棋和运动，来和我做朋友，让我给你们带去欢乐吧！

Li Yixuan: I am a lively and naughty boy, I am quite tall, my complexion is light, and my father says he likes my big watery eyes the most, because he thinks that my eyes can talk. I may look thin, but I have a big appetite. My hobbies are chess and sports, come and be my friend so that I can make you happy!

任建业：大家好，我叫任建业。我今年十岁了。我是一个活泼、爱笑的男生，一笑眼睛就眯成一条线。我有很多的兴趣爱好：看书、跳绳、踢毽子、画画……我的梦想是成为一位有名的画家，所以现在就要好好学习，天天向上，这样才有可能性。你们愿意和我做朋友吗？

Ren Jianye: Hello everyone, my name is Ren Jianye. I am ten years old. I am a lively and loving boy. I have a lot of hobbies: reading books, skipping, playing badminton, painting ... My dream is to become a famous painter, so I will study hard now and work everyday so that it can be possible. Will you be friends with me?

大家好，我叫吕明轩，今年10岁，我活泼好动，非常喜欢体育，尤其喜欢踢足球，跑步和打篮球这三项体育运动。如果来到我们学校的操场，那个跑步第一名的可能就是我哦！

Hello everybody, my name is Lu Mingxuan, I am 10 years old. I am active and very much like sports. I especially like playing football, running and palying basketball. If you come to our school playground, and we have a race, I could maybe be the fastest!

马嘉鸿：很高兴见到你们，我是一个好学、端行、尚美的学生，我的兴趣爱好很广泛，比如说：画画、跳舞等。

Ma Jiahong: I am very happy to meet you. I am a studious and pretty student. I have many different hobbies such as: painting, dancing and so on.

唐雨亭，我是个活泼开朗的女孩，今年9岁，我喜欢听音乐，每次爸爸妈妈接送我上学放学的路上都会拿着手机哼唱几首自己喜欢的音乐。你们喜欢跟我交朋友吗

Tang Yuting, I am a lively and happy girl. I turn 9 years old this year. I like to listen to music

When Mom and Dad pick me up from school I listen to and hum along to my favorite song on my phone. Would you like to be friends with me?

孙诗涵：我是个活泼开朗、乐于助人的女孩，也是个粗心大意的人。我的爱好广泛，最喜欢弹钢琴，因为88个琴键弹出来的声音是五彩缤纷的。我相信：天才出于勤奋，只有不断努力，才能让自己更优秀！

Sun Shih Han: I am a lively and helpful and thoughtful girl. My hobbies range, but my favorite is the piano, because the sound of the 88 keys are so colorful. I believe: genius comes out of diligence, only through continuous efforts we can make them better!

吴奕昊：大家好，我叫吴奕昊，我今年十岁了。我是一个活泼开朗的小男孩，我爱跑步、踢足球、扔垒球，我喜欢交朋友，我的梦想是当一个出色的运动员！为祖国争光！

Wu Yi Hao: Hello everyone, my name is Wu Yi Hao, I am ten years old. I am a cheerful little boy, I love running, playing football, throwing softball, I like to make friends, my dream is to be a good athlete! Wishing everything good to the motherland (China)!

顾一川:大家好，我叫顾一川，今年九岁。我是一个活泼开朗的女孩，一眼望去最小巧可爱的那个就是我。我喜欢看书、画画、做手工……，其中做科学小实验是我的最爱，我希望长大后做个科学家，揭开世界未解之谜。小朋友们，快来跟我做朋友吧！

Gu Yichuan: Hello everyone, my name is Gu Yichuan and I am nine years old. I am a lively little cute girl. I like to read books, draw pictures and do things with my hands. Amongst them, doing scientific experiments is my favorite. I hope to grow up to be a scientist and discover the mysteries of the world. Kids, come and be friends with me!

Looking at us through a lens

The artists at Vesalan peruskoulu in Finland are so excited to have new friends in Spain!  We had a good discussion about languages and all the different ways we can communicate.  In the group we have people who speak Finnish, Russian, Arabic, English, and probably many other languages, but we realized that art is a language too!  And today we experimented with using photography as our medium! 

Since this was the first project in getting to know our friends we first thought of things we like about ourselves and characteristics that we would like to share with them.  

Then we experimented with photography!  The characteristics we wanted to highlight guided our camera.  Some of us went outside (in freezing cold weather!) to take the self-portraits while others used different techniques to spread their message such as drawing.  In any case, the final work was a photographic self-portrait.

To round out the session we looked at some self-portraits from Nan Goldin, Josef Koudelka and Zev.  Everybody could share their own perspectives on how that photographic spoke to them.

We look forward to seeing our friend's self-portraits!

The 4th graders at Vesalan Peruskoulu in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing art with the 5th graders at Escola SOLC in Barcelona, Spain.  Artists in both groups are 10-11 years old.

The Tigers get creative with their self-portraits!

The Tigers are so happy and excited to have new friends in Kontula!  A place fairly close to where the Tigers live in Espoo!  Since we haven't met our new friends yet, we thought about all the things we would like to share about ourselves with them.  We got into small groups and came up with a very long list of our favorite things!

Joann: bunnies, diamonds, butterfles
Vanessa: ice cream, butterflies, candy
Aapo: puu, sledding, sweets, skating, surfboard, wii, Mario
Erik: candy, ice hockey
Leevi: candy, presents
Achu: babies, scary stuff, ice cream, coffee
Oskari: jäähilejuoma, ice cream, candy, spiders
Cride: candy, ice cream, ice cream drink
Rishita: glasses, little sister, new year, earrings, lips
Arn: dinosaurs, ghost
Olivia: ice cream, candy, shakes (big ones), ice cream drink, penguins, storm
Renu: butterflies, good babies, spider, ice cream

Wow! Do you like these as well?

Then we thought about how to show our long list of favorites in a photograph. This will be our self-portrait. Some Tigers made props to wear or hold in the photograph, some Tigers wanted to act it out in the photograph, and some Tigers wanted to draw and picture and then take a photograph of that. In any case, everybody Tiger came up with their own way of portraying themselves to their new friends.

We hope you like our self-portraits!

Sincereley,
Arlene, Floriin, Anna-Maria & The Tigers

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

Through photography, The Monkeys tell about themselves

The Monkeys were very happy to hear that they have new friends in Kontula! They got even more excited when they found out that they will get to meet their new friends in May after making and sharing art with them for a few months.

Since this is the first artwork in the series, we thought long and hard about what we would like to share with our new friends.  Everybody chose things they like to do, things they are interested in or shared traits about themselves:

Adripto: cabin crew (I like to help)
Neha: dancing and drawing
D: drawing
Pauli: hockey
Pranav: skating and playing with friends
Aryan: I like flying on airplanes
Aleksi: hockey
Vika: drawing
Aliah: I would like to show them how I draw
Rafael: I like how to play Kimbu with my friends
Nithila: I like to draw and I want to show it to them
Miriam: I want to show how I make snowflakes
Kinshuk: I want to show them how I play with legos
Miska: I want to show how slow I am
Miro: Playing with my soft toys
Umer: I want to show how fast humans are
Mikael: I like building castles

Once we got into the project we wanted to share even more things with you! Umer said, "We have some powers to teach you."

The Monkeys said that they liked taking the photo and also liked pretending for the photo. We hope you did too!

Sincerely,
Arlene, Sanna, Ben & The Monkeys

The 6 year old artists at Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with the 6 year old artists from Päiväkoti Pihapirtti in Helsinki, Finland.

Luovat eskarilaiset, Kanelit -ryhmä

(English below)
Eskariryhmässä on 15 lasta, iältään kaikki ovat tällä hetkellä 6 –vuotiaita. Ensimmäisellä kerralla lapsilta kysyttiin, mitä he haluavat kertoa itsestään tai mistä he tykkäävät ( 3 asiaa ). Sen jälkeen he saivat valita jonkin heille mieluisan asian, josta otettiin valokuva.

Esikouluryhmä Kaneleiden lasten ajatuksia itsestään ja siitä, mistä he tykkäävät eniten ( 3 asiaa ):

S; Mä tykkään hevosista, sota- ja rosvoleikeistä.
A; Mä tykkään mustekalasta, poliisi- ja rosvoleikeistä, Spiderman ja Superman vaatteista.
Sh; Mä tykkään kissoista, seistä päälläni ja värittää paljon.
Lu; Mä tykkään hevosista, kissoista ja värittää paljon.
To; Mä oon mustekala ja mun lempieläin on mustekala. Mä tykkään koirauinnista ja päällä seisonnasta.
La; Mä tykkään leikkiä palikoilla, koiraleikeistä ja tykkään leikkiä Pokemoneilla.
El; Mä tykkään leikkiä palikoilla Laurin kanssa, simpukoista ja meritähdistä sekä apinoista.
Le; Mä tykkään poneista sekä tehdä hamahelmiä, lumipalloja ja lumienkeleitä.
Lun; Mä haluun leikkiä ulkona, mennä Hoplopiin, tehdä sirkusta ja piirtää.
Ma; Tykkään perhosista sekä mennä ulos ja tehdä lumiukkoja.
Z; Tykkään mennä Hoplopiin, Lampipuistoon, olla ulkona ja leikkiä Terhin kanssa.
Te; Tykkään apinoista sekä tehdä kärrynpyöriä ja harrastaa jumppaa.
Ay; Tykkään päällä seisomisesta, siltakaadosta ja kärrynpyöristä.

+++

There are 15 children in the kindergarten group and all of them are currently 6 years old. In the workshop, the children were asked to tell something about themselves. For example, what are three things they like. After that, they chose one of their favorite things and figured out how to turn it into a self-portrait in photographic form.

Here are the children's answers;
Su; I like horses, playing war and robbers kind of games.
Al; I like the octopus, playing police and crime games, Spiderman and Superman's clothes.
Sh; I like cats, stand on the top of my head and coloring a lot.
Lu; I like horses, cats and lots of color.
To; I am an octopus and my favorite animal is an octopus. I like doggie paddling and making headstands.
La; I like to play with blocks, doggie paddling and I like playing with Pokemon.
El; I like to play blocks with Lauri, seashells, starfish and monkeys.
Le; I like ponies and to make hama beads, snowballs and snow angels.
Lun; I want to play outdoors, go to Hoplop, and to make a circus and draw.
Ma; I like butterflies and to go out to make snow angels.
Za; I like to go to Hoplop, Lampipuisto, and to go out to play with Terhi.
Te; I like monkeys, making cartwheels and going to the gym.
Ay; I like making headstands, making a bridge, and doing cartwheels.

The 6 year old artists at Päiväkoti Pihapirtti in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing art with the 6 year old artists from Your School in Espoo, Finland.

In winter 2018 Dear You project in Kontula is supported by the Museum of Impossible Forms.

Weaving their way to friendship

Through weaving, the artists in China have been exploring how chance can be an element in their artwork. By using recycled newspapers and colored papers, the weaving has helped give a hand in creating a story. The artists then wrote words on the artworks to enhance the meaning of the images made from the weaving process.

Everybody seemed to enjoy the art technique and made wonderful artworks!

The 13 year old artists at Shenzhen High School in Shenzhen, China are making and sharing with 7c, 13 year olds, from Helsingin yhteislyseo in Helsinki, Finland.

The Monkeys and their epic stories

The Monkeys did an amazing job working together to create their stories! They thought about the characters in the story, what the main idea of the story would be about, and then how the story would begin, progress, and then end.

Another great part of this Inspiring Stories project is that we first looked at the artworks from our friends in Australia to gain inspiration. So you could say, K/1HT had a helping hand and was an important part of this creative process! We inspire each other!

TheMonkeys #DearYou #InspiringStories #YourSchool #Espoo #Finland #Arlene

TheMonkeys #DearYou #Espoo #Finland #YourSchool #InspiringStories

Thank you K/1HT for being such great friends to us! We love your artworks and hope you like ours as well!  Wishing you a great 2018!!

With love,
Arlene & The Monkeys

The Monkeys from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with K/1HT class from Bulli Public School in Bulli, Australia. All artists are 5-6 years old.

These are pictures The Monkeys drew as they listened to the story, The War of the Animals.

Listen to the Tigers tell 'Joulupukki goes to India' and 'The Ice Cream Story 1'!

Who wouldn't be in the creative mood with the smell and looks of these delicious handmade gingerbread cookies?!?! With these in the air of the Tiger's room, we got straight to making the art work for our Full Moon friends in Philadelphia!

We started by looking at all of the artworks they mailed us. This gave us inspiration for our stories. We got into two groups and worked together to come up with characters and an amazing story line. Have a listen!

Tigers #Espoo #Finland #InspiringStories #DearYou #YourSchool

These artists create and told the story of Joulupukki goes to India! ps. Joulupukki means Santa Claus in Finnish :). 

InspiringStories #Tigers #YourSchool #Espoo #Finland #DearYou

Jumping with joy, the artists of The Ice Cream Story 1 say woo hoo!!

The Tigers are so grateful and happy they had this time to make and share art with you all!  Thank you and we wish you a HAPPY HAPPY New Year!

With love,
Arlene & The Tigers

The Tigers from Your School Espoo, Finland are making and sharing with the Full Moons from Moonstone Preschool in Philadelphia, USA. Both groups are 4-5 years old.

This is our story!

We had the most fun doing this project! The class really enjoyed looking at all of the images sent by the children in Jiangsu, China. They all chose different images as inspiration for their stories, working in pairs they told their stories to Heather, even making their own sound effects. Heather then chopped up their stories and put them together to make ‘their story’ and played it to them after they had just performed their Christmas play. They laughed a lot and enjoyed hearing their own voices!

Nottingham #HeatherConnelly #UK #InspiringStories #DearYou #AliceWilby

I noticed that many of the stories encompassed the ideas embedded within the project…asking questions, making friends and reaching out to others. I would like to get the children to draw this story now and create a montage with the original images. 

It was a perfect end to a fantastic project and I am sure that it is an experience that they will always remember. I have really enjoyed getting to know the children and going on this journey with them and you all! See you in 2018!

Thanks Dear You!

Heather Connelly

The artists in Class 4 (8-9 year olds) at Sneinton C of E St Stephens Primary School in Nottingham, England are making and sharing art with Grade 3 (9-10 year olds) at Taizhou Pheonix Primary School in Jiangsu, China.

Making inspiring stories calls for a party!

We are watching a video our friends in China made for us!

For the last project of this session, we thought it would be great to bring the artists in 7C from Helsingin yhteislyseo to get to know another artistic space in Kontula, Helsinki. So we gathered in Museum of Impossible Forms to create Inspiring Stories art project and celebrate with next year's Dear You group from Päiväkoti Pihapirtti, who are also located in Kontula!

We started the session by looking at a video a few of the artists from Shenzhen Middle School made for their friends in Kontula. They had made a sweet introduction of themselves and also shared with us the art that they have been making in China.

Looking at our friend's artwork and thinking about past Dear You projects we have made gave us some material to work with as the next step was to make an audio story.  One artist said we need to keep in mind the sanoma (the message) when creating a story.  Some other creative writing elements are to designate characters and what is the beginning, middle, and end of the story. 

We then got into small groups and came up with four different amazing stories! When it was time to record, we thought about intonation, sound effects, and tone of voice to enhance the story.

Brainstorming in small groups

And action! Recording our audio story.

Anastasia and the groups then edited their audio recordings

The stories were all so different! Have a listen! 

MuseumofImpossibleForms #Forest #Kontula #Helsinki #Finland #13yearsold #InspiringStories

Forest is a story about a boy named Ajax. He lived in the 1940s in a small village. Ajax went to pick some berries and mushrooms in the woods. About an hour into the journey, he found himself lost. He then saw a mökki (a small cottage) and peaked through the window. Inside he saw an open cupboard, which had a lot of food in it. He went inside and ate a big loaf of bread. After that he left the mökki to try and find his way home. Along the way, he met an old person and asked this person some questions. The old person didn't understand anything!

DearYou #Kontula #Helsinki #Finland #InspiringStories #13yearsold #MuseumofImpossibleForms

DearYou #Kontula #MuseumofImpossibleForms #Helsinki #Finland #InspiringStories #13yearsold

The storytellers from Differences and Similarities have more questions for their friends in China.

Do you pack your own lunch? Or do you pay 1euro for it? Or how much?
Do you have a lot of homework?
When does your school day end?
Are your tests difficult?
Does your school have any after-school activities?

Helsinki #Kontula #MuseumofImpossibleForms #DearYou #InspiringStories

Eläimet puussa , Animal in the tree (English translation)
All the animals are meeting under a tree and they decided to make a pack. The pack leader is the lion. The walrus also wants to be a leader. They start to fight and the walrus wins. The walrus will become the leader and so the lion has to go. The walrus was a good leader but the lion returned. The lion took a coconut from the tree and hit the walrus in the head with it while the walrus was asleep. The walrus got a mild concussion! The lion became the leader again. The animals didn't want the lion to the be leader so everybody else left the pack.

We had a great time making these stories for you!

Thank you! Kiitos!

With love,
Arlene, Anastasia, Saara, and the artists at 7C

The 13 year old artists at Helsingin yhteislyseo in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing art with the 13 year old artists from Shenzhen Middle School in Shenzhen, China.

In autumn 2017 Dear You project in Kontula is supported by the Museum of Impossible Forms.

From left to right: Saara Raevuori, Arlene Tucker, and Anastasia Artemeva. Saara is the art teacher at Helsingin yhteislyseo. Arlene and Anastasia are the makers and creators of Dear You. Thank you, Museum of Impossible Forms for hosting us!

Transferring visions

The artists in China have been experimenting with using the graphite transfer technique! They got inspiration from the elements around them to show their friends in Finland a little a bit about who they are.

Thank you!

The 13 year old artists at Shenzhen Primary School in Shenzhen, China are making and sharing with 7c, 13 year olds, from Helsingin yhteislyseo in Helsinki, Finland.

K/1HT on art

Hi Arlene and the Monkeys!

We really enjoyed your little movie where you answered all our questions. We have watched it a few times! Thank you for taking the time to make it for us!

We have sent an audio recording with our thoughts about your art works. We have some funny bits in there as well from our teacher who kept forgetting not to interrupt!!!

Australia #Finland #DearYou

This will be our last project with you because we will finish our school year in 5 days and when we start our new school year at the end of January, we will be in different classes with different teachers. It's been great to have been able to share our art and our ideas. We will miss you all!

Keep up the great creative art works - we'll check out the website from time to time to see how you are all going.

All the best
From K/1HT xxx

The K1HT class from Bulli Public School in Bulli, Australia are making and sharing art with the Monkeys from Your School in Espoo, Finland. Both groups are 5-6 year old artists.

The friends in China and the UK are "Hand in Hand"

In this activity, the teacher first talked about the form of weaving. Then the teacher presented some pictures of weaving artworks, which made children understand it well. Next, teachers and children had a discussion on how to do weaving artworks. Children said there were two pieces of paper that were horizontal and vertical. They could be weaved with one press and one pick. The art teacher Miss Liu Chunjuan and her students demonstrated at the front of the classroom, and students worked in groups to make it out. Finally, the teacher encouraged the children to give a name of the book. Some students said, we want to express our friendship between the two schools, so he took the name of ‘ Hand in Hand’.

Best wishes,
Lisa

The artists in Grade 3 (9-10 years old) at Taizhou Pheonix Primary School in Jiangsu, China are making and sharing art with the artists in Class 4 (8-9 years old) at Sneinton C of E St Stephens Primary School in Nottingham, England Both groups are aged 8-9 years old.

"My friends are trading together"

What a day it was with The Explorers! When I told them that the idea today was to come up with a unanimous title for our collective book and to weave using recycled materials, everybody was so open minded to try new art techniques and to work together!  As always, I am deeply impressed with these young artists with how respectful and imaginative they are!

So how are ALL of us going to come up with one title when we ALL have such amazing ideas?  The Explorers came up with excellent suggestions such as, 1. to mix the ideas together, 2. we can vote, 3. we can take turns.  Being the kind and diplomatic group, The Explorers combined these methods and off we went with spouting out title ideas!

The top three titles were:
- Together my friend trading
- My friends are trading together
- Friends trading places

And the winner is, "My friends are trading together"!  This title really encapsulates Dear You art project and the process of exchange. Amazing how these 5 year old artists understand so clearly the heart of friendship, sharing, and creativity!

This was the first time The Explorers tried weaving and they all did a fantastic job as they took their time, asked for help when needed, and persevered when faced with a challenge.  Everybody could choose what they would like their base or loom to be.  They then played with colors, patterns, and happy coincidences that arose when weaving images together.

We hope our friends in China like our artwork!

With love,
Arlene & The Explorers

The Explorers, 5-6 year olds, from International School of Helsinki in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing with the artists aged 6 years old at Shenzhen Primary School in Shenzhen, China.

"Differences and Similarities"

With open minds and ears, 7C came to art class full of energy! In this session we made book covers for our joint project with our new friends in China. We decided to use recycled paper not only to be ecological and creative, but also, this way one can extrapolate so much information about the local environment in Finland just from the words and pictures found on the paper.

The first challenge was coming up with a unanimous title for the book!  Everybody was so gracious and diplomatic that it went smoothly, but we did go through quite many processes to get there. First we got into small groups to brainstorm and come up with some ideas. Then every group wrote their favorite idea on the board. They were:

- The wisdom of art
- The book of art
- Dear You
- Art book / Taidekirja / 藝術書
- The story of difference and similarity
- FinChi Konchita

We all voted and 'The story of difference and similarity' won! All was settled, until somebody spoke their mind and asked if we could shorten it. Good thing this person opened up because they made a very good point about why it should be modified. So then we all revoted and that's how the title 'Differences and Similarities' was born!

The range of papers gave them so much to play with color, patterns, and storylines!

I think these woven pieces of art are beautiful and we hope you like them too!

With love,
Arlene, Saara, and the artists at 7C

The 13 year old artists at Helsingin yhteislyseo in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing art with the 13 year old artists from Shenzhen Middle School in Shenzhen, China.

In autumn 2017 Dear You project in Kontula is supported by the Museum of Impossible Forms.

"Banana Sonic Jellyfish Turkey"

Hey Tigers,

Please enjoy our covers. We greatly enjoyed weaving our old mural work into primary colored
foundations. We cut our first mural (the shadow one) into strips.

While we weaved we looked at woven baskets and pondered titles. In the end we all agreed to call the book, Banana Sonic Jellyfish Turkey.

Here is how we came to our title. Everyone who had a suggestion, suggested. Then we read off the suggested titles and collectively voted on our favorites. There was a three way tie for Banana, Sonic and Jellyfish. So we decided to have all three/ to make it fair, we rearranged these words in a variety of combinations.

Sonic Jellyfish Banana.
Jellyfish, Sonic, Banana.

Everyone, aside from three friends, thought Banana Sonic Jellyfish was the best title.

To accommodate, we asked our three friends what word they liked. One said, Turkey! (Because
we are celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow), everyone got excited, so it was added to the end.

Everyone loved it, it was unanimous.

Here were our other choices:

We are grateful to have this art pal friendship and the opportunity to share our work with you,
Johnny Buckley and the Full Moons

Moonstone Full Moons, 4-5 year olds from Moonstone Preschool in Philadelphia, PA, USA, are making and sharing art with the Tigers, 4-5 year olds from Your School in Espoo, Finland.