“To science, not even the bark of a tree or a drop of pond water is dull or a handful of dirt banal. They all arouse awe and wonder.” ~ Jane Jacobs

Dear Families and Friends,

South School kids took to the outdoors today. Spread out at tables, they incised a piece of foam from a drawing of their bark. Then, using their “magic” they added some imaginative marks to the interior of their representation. What emerged was a series of bark “stamps” ready for printing later on.

Using viewfinders and magnifiers, kids learned to see more, leaping over the boundaries between science and art.

They tried out their lenses on trees, right in their midst, then brought back samples from the “wild” from which to make observational drawings.

Kids identified with their bark, and not only recognized their own chunk but knew which bark piece belonged to a peer. Often making a visual connection to something familiar, they told us that theirs looks like,“The front of a ship,” “A shark,” “An icebreaker, “ and “America.”

“This (process) reminds me of a bear going on a journey trying to find his cave because he’s lost.”

Using precise language they described their specimens.“The edge is black, and it has a spiral on it,” “Mine is ridged on top,” and “My bark is small and bumpy,” and “Mine has minty green on it.”

Kids loved being outdoors on a warm November morning. They found a number of creatures, including a garter snake and a blue insect, along with plantlife they’d never have noticed without their magnifiers.

We hope that while the weather is balmy, you might find time for outdoor exploration. Kids are discovering so many ways to look at their world differently. Just ask them.

With an eye toward connections, Nancy, Susan, Alexis, and Dee

Tools are essential for everyone who likes to dabble in art, and we’ve filled Leaps’ satchels with the “right stuff” for student artists. As “experts” who comfortably cross the boundaries between art and science, they have something to teach family members when they bring their satchels home.

We began week two of our program testing out acorn ink. Some children crushed acorns and boiled them up with rusty nails to make a brown broth. It took constant pounding to reduce them in size. Everyone applied the concoction, using leaves, to make a decorative background for their printmaking project.

…………………

The art making process is demanding. At Leaps of Imagination we have high standards for kids. In this program, which links direct observation with an imaginative mindset, complexity abounds. Kids acquire new techniques every day, weaving the fabric of color and design into emerging works of art.

In awe of our children, Nancy, Susan, Alexis, and Dee November 13, 2020

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” ~ GEORGE ELIOT

Dear Families and Friends,

Our children are naturally drawn to living things around them. Checking out what’s on the South School campus, they’re reveling in the detail of tiny things. Kids are on a path to discovery. Several have spotted signs of new life, and one child took time to plant a seed he’d found.

Though autumn hues are striking, trying to match their tones using watercolors has challenged every child. Twirling their brush in a pool of color, they added new hues to the palette until they were satisfied. Finding the intersections between art and science brought rich rewards, teaching kids to cross the creative line.

Tools are essential for everyone who likes to dabble in art, and we’ve filled Leaps’ satchels with the “right stuff” for student artists. As “experts” who comfortably cross the boundaries between art and science, they have something to teach family members when they bring their satchels home.

We began week two of our program testing out acorn ink. Some children crushed acorns and boiled them up with rusty nails to make a brown broth. It took constant pounding to reduce them in size. Everyone applied the concoction, using leaves, to make a decorative background for their printmaking project.

…………………

The art making process is demanding. At Leaps of Imagination we have high standards for kids. In this program, which links direct observation with an imaginative mindset, complexity abounds. Kids acquire new techniques every day, weaving the fabric of color and design into emerging works of art.

In awe of our children, Nancy, Susan, Alexis, and Dee November 13, 2020

“The familiar becomes unfamiliar.” —Alexandra Horowitz

Dear Friends of LEAPS,

It’s almost September, and we are thinking about the future. Sunday the LEAPS’ team gathered to begin envisioning art experiences for the children we teach. Re-connecting in person felt remarkably good. Sitting in Rockland’s Central Park, breathing in the sea air, keeping the appropriate distance, we began sharing ideas for a fall we can only imagine.

Since each of us is staying close to home, and kids will surely be staying close to their classrooms, we’ve realized we can help one another see how “the familiar,” the grass we walk on, the stairs we climb, the faces we anticipate, can suddenly be seen anew.

I am reading Alexandra Horowitz’s On Looking: A Walker’s Guide to the Art of Observation. Horowitz writes: “By the time we are old enough to walk outside to the sidewalk, we have organized the the perceptual melee into chunks of recognizable objects. After a few years we learn to see the (street) scene without really seeing it at all.”

Susan Beebe showed us this morning, in a piece she wrote for Rockland Buzz, that she not only notices what is around her on her painting expeditions in the woods, she records the exquisite detail she observes in her journal.

“The wall has become magical to me: looking so closely at each rock, the patterns of lichen, ghostly pale green or reddish, the shapes of the moss, all seem to glow. The chinks between give the rocks a lightness – they are solid but perched precariously on points and corners.” *

She’s inspired me to bring my journal when I walk my dogs alongside Aldermere Farm. (Will they stop with me as I listen?) The fascinating sounds of creatures living close by differ from moment to moment. So does the light according to the time of day as summer wanes.

At LEAPS we’re seeing the world from new perspectives and imagining how we can provoke new ways of looking for our learners.

As we prepare for our late fall programming, we want to publicly thank Maine Arts Commission and Maine Community Foundation for their extraordinary generosity. They have made LEAPS in RSU 13  possible during the upcoming school year.

Enjoy the last weeks of the season and stay healthy,

Nancy, for the LEAPS of IMAGINATION Team

Susan Beebe, Alexis Iammarino, Cindy McGuirl, Dee Peppe, Avis Turner

*From Rockland Buzz; Issue 178, 2020, Rockland, Maine