DAY FIVE - Our Last Day
We were so excited to see our exhibition this morning! We were led into the Arts Learning Center where we had been working all week on our sculptures and it was completely changed! It looked so different from the past four days. Our exhibition was all set up for us to see before it opened to the public. It was hidden behind a white sheet (behind which we could see shadows of our sculptures hanging from the ceiling) and a black door. Behind the door was all of our sculptures suspended from above, a few displayed on tables, with gallery lighting and electra-jazz playing in the background to help set the tone of the showcase. "The Most Magnificent Faces" by class 5-2 was ready to go! Our gallery was open to the public for one hour and we had so many guests come in to see our work and talk with us. Some of us formed a "welcoming committee" and greeted and hosted the guests that came by. We are so proud of what we were able to accomplish in 3 short days.
We spent the afternoon out and about looking at public art installations. These included "Wonderland" (also known as The Big Head) in front of Bow Tower and "Family of Man". These inspired some free writing at each location. After that, our day sadly came to a close. We said goodbye to Emma, who we will miss dearly, and got back on the bus to TMC for the final time!
DAY FOUR
This morning we got to paint our sculptures! Wow! They are so different from one another and, put all together, make quite the display! We also had the opportunity to use materials like feathers and string to embellish our art pieces. Since it was SO rainy and snowy out, we had lunch inside, but still played out in the rain for a quick recess! We got to sit in the Soundscape hallway at Arts Commons and do a CSI page for the noises that we heard. After that, we took a tour of some of Calgary's +15s and did a quick scavenger hunt in the base of the Calgary Tower. We ended by sketching pieces of a mural that depicted some of the history of Calgary. Tomorrow is our last day - we can't believe it!
DAY THREE
Today was a messy day! We papier mached our cardboard sculptures and were covered in flour and water! We had a great time getting messy and it sure made our sculptures look more like the real deal! After another beautiful lunch at Olympic Plaza, we made our way to an old cathedral across the street where the Pro Arts Foundation puts on a weekly concert. We got to experience Flamenco! There was a guitarist, a singer, and a Flamenco dancer. It was all in Spanish and the costumes were quite pretty! The music was passionate and loud. We journaled while they performed. We got to have a nice, long recess in the sunlight followed by journaling in one of the +15s about how the last three days have went. Only two more to go!
DAY TWO
After warm-ups today, we met with our artist - Verna - who will be with us the rest of the week. We talked a bit about abstract art and sculpture. Students were able to start building their sculptural pieces out of cardboard and tape. There were lots of different forms, shapes, and ideas to be seen! We enjoyed lunch at Olympic Plaza in the beautiful, warm sunlight! After that we journaled a "See/Think/Wonder/Feel" page using the galleries outside of the Hub. Our afternoon consisted of going to St. Patrick's Island and doing some quick sketching of interesting things we saw along the way. We got to take our recess time on the Island and played on their unique playground. We were so thankful for the gorgeous weather!
DAY ONE
Today we became acquainted with our space at Arts Commons - the Hub - and got to walk around the facility a bit. After warm-ups, we spent the morning working with a theatre artist who showed us how to use trestle masks and to emote with our body, not our face. It was nice enough to eat lunch outside in the Arts Commons back courtyard and spend some time playing and relaxing during our "recess". In the afternoon, we got a tour from the people at Alberta Theatre Projects. We got to see the Martha Cohen Theatre (and stand on the stage!). We also got to go backstage and 3 stories ABOVE the stage to see all the lights and how they are rigged. Another neat element to our tour was getting to see the workshop where the sets are built as well as the room where the costumes are created and constructed. All in all, it was a good first day!
Here is what some students had to say about our trestle mask workshop:
-"I like that when people can't talk, other people had to listen to them even more"
-"I liked how the masks were so funny"
-"Everyone was creative and it was all funny"
-"Having a mask has you thinking more about what is happening"
-"One thing I liked is it was sort of challenging because you're not allowed to talk"
-"I liked all the emotions on the masks"
-"You can't just act - you need to BE the mask!"
