Thursday, February 17, 2011

KinderArt!


Inspired by Congo Week, we learned how a tailor gets down to business... Choosing fabric, designing a pattern, cutting the fabric... Below is a close-up shot. I believe I have seen that very outfit worn on the streets of Kinshasa. True haute couture. 



Finger painting that doesn't get your hands messy. Squirt or spoon paint onto paper, lay a piece of plastic wrap on top and bang, mush and gush. Don't mind my messy desk in the corner- it deters the evil eye as one of my former Indian colleagues once told me.


Collage fabric tree inspired by the book Mama Miti by Donna Jo Napoli. We read it while studying Wangari Maathai. A photo of this tree and a letter inviting Ms. Maathai to picnic under the mangosteen tree we planted and closing with, "We hope you like your Nobel Prize" were DHL'd to Kenya. 


Where art and math collide. A painting series by the little Mondrians.


Our own Charlotte's Web(s)


Marble painting: classic.


Beaded Sand Castles: Why not?


Body Models from left to right (inner most to out) we have organs (yes that's a rectum there), skeleton, muscles and skin/funky outfit. A few months later we added a nondenominational soul we named Friendly Friend, who is hung to the left of the organ model (whatever that means).

Friday, February 11, 2011

Almost Smart Enough to Know How to Lie Properly

One child to another: Fuck you.

Me: WHAT did you say?!

Child: Fuck two. I said, 'Fuck two.'

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

French Screw Ups, Part I

The usefulness of my French is situational. I am able to ask a tailor to make a cap-sleeved wraparound dress with pockets and a snap closure, but I routinely fail at planning my veggie patch with the campus gardener. I care a lot more about vegetables than fashion, but some words just stick better in my mind. For example, I was at an utter loss while explaining to Rattinger's caretaker that he needed a swimsuit every Monday for P.E. The conversation went something like...

Me: Rattinger is needs something.

Confused Caretaker (CC): ?

Me: Something...for....for...for...snowing!

CC: Snowing?!

Me: Dammnit! Not snowing! A thing for .... school.... See every Monday we put the children under water.

CC: Water?

Me: Yes, of course. Under a lot of water. We put them in a box. A box of water.

CC: To clean them?

Me: No, for the exercises them.

CC: Swimming?

Me: Yes, of course! He needs to bring a thing a thing like clothes for swimming! And a....thing like a napkin to...remove the water...after.

So the following Monday, Rattinger arrives with a towel and an extra pair of underwear, camouflage patterned, with "Little Guy" written across the front.