ARTS CAMP!

We started Arts Camp last week and these photos show what a great time our students had using their natural environment to inspire art activities. There is still space in the 3rd week of camp August 13 - 17. And our Fashion Lab starts next Monday, too, showing children and teens ages 11 and up how to design unique fashion statements from their own upcycled clothing and other materials. Go here for more info on camp and the Fashion Lab.

Arts Crawl July 14

We are so excited about the upcoming South Pas Arts Crawl on July 14. The Chamber of Commerce, along with arts organizations and merchants are producing these events four times a year now and we love them. There's always lots of art, activities, live music, and food, plus stories are open late and all of Mission Street downtown puts on a party. And we have some fun things planned:

In the SPACE Gallery we are very excited about a new artist we just met, Ngene Mwaura who is a talented and soulful young artist, originally from Kenya. He will be painting live in the SPACE storefront and some of his completed paintings will be on view (and for sale!). His work is bold and colorful, and blends African artistic traditions with European influences and contemporary street art.

Out front, henna artist Ellen Stavash will adorn adults and children alike with custom, hand-drawn henna designs.  

In the SPACE Studio at 1504 Mission Street - Our first summer Handmade Arts trunk show features art prints and jewelry by Courtney Oquist, handbags by Jeanie Joe, glass art by Andy Gersh, and jewelry designs by Anita Finnegan. The trunk show sale continues Fridays - Sundays, July 14 - July 29. We are trying this out for the first time, so let us know what you think. The items in this pop-up boutique make wonderfully unique gift items. 

More information about the Arts Crawl event can be found here. 

AIR Program at SPUSD

The SPACE Artist-in-Residence (AIR) Program has served nearly 1800 elementary school students each year for the past two years in the South Pasadena Unified School District.

The SPACE teaching artists (Sarah Dugan, Dianna Freas, and Sarit Swanborn) have provided a vigorous visual arts curriculum that developed foundational art skills designed to build on each other from year to year. The program used the elements of art as a springboard for investigation into other subject areas such as language arts, geometry, the sciences and social studies.  Additional goals were to inspire critical thinking and provide a creative vehicle for students with diverse learning styles and capabilities.

Here is quick glimpse of the AIR program in action this past year (on Youtube).  Students and parents, please feel free to give us feedback and comments about your experiences.