Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Breathing New Life into Books Workshop



























This past Sunday at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles I ran two workshops for kids and adults on how to turn ordinary books into art. This event was in conjunction with Milk and Bookies encouraging them to donate a book when they attended the workshop.
There were two classes; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I prepared two paper mache animals to decorate. The kids had a blast helping me bring these animals to life. For the morning class we decorated an owl and the afternoon class we decorated a peacock. We used pages from recycled/discarded books, magazines and catalogs to create the feathers for these animals. With my guidance, the help of assistants and parents the children stenciled and cut out feathers and stuck those feathers every where! The kids really enjoyed the model magic to form the feet of the owl; those were some big feet! We didn't get to finish the animals but hopefully it will be a fun project to work on in the future at the Skirball Center.
After we worked on the animals I taught the class how to make a simple paper flower using the same recycled elements. Everyone created such beautiful flowers and each one was different. I was inspired by one little girl that took a paper towel to make the petals for her flower!
I love watching children’s imaginations go to work. This was such a great learning experience and I enjoyed working with everyone. Thanks to all the families that attended the workshop and thank you to the Skirball Cultural Center as well as Milk and Bookies. I look forward to more workshops!

1 comment:

  1. OMG Im so sad I missed this!!. I'd love to know if you ever do this again anywhere, or any parent child workshops.

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