DNAW EAST UPDATE: April 19, 2011

DNAW East has been an incredible group to work with. They operate so cooperatively and many of them have formed relationships outside of class. This positive energy has allowed for some exceptional creative growth. The artists in the group have earned numerous awards, accepted commissions, and are building portfolios that will unlock future artistic opportunities.

The focus of this year has been exposing the artists to various media and techniques. So far, we’ve explored ceramic hand-building, collagraph and monotype printmaking, charcoal drawing, and paper-mache sculpting.

At this point, the group is putting the finishing touches on their paper-mache sculptures. We investigated different styles of lettering to prepare for our 3D letter project. Each student chose a letter to work with, created a form using cardboard as the armature, and then used a mixture of flour, liquid starch, and paper to coat the sculpture. Next, the artists chose different methods to embellish the surface with, including paint, found objects, and melted crayon wax.

Saturday, April 9, we began our graffiti-inspired stencil project. Each artist chose a noun to represent in a large graphic. From here, they will create a series of stencils (one for each color in the image). This process is similar to screen-printing, the process used to create images on t-shirts and posters.

When the stencil project is complete, the artist will have the opportunity to work on a self-directed project. They have been preparing for this for a long time and already have phenomenal ideas in the works! This sort of freedom and process is not typical of this age group, so the fact that they are capable of this is a testament to their extraordinary abilities.