Christmas VBS is an Excellent Reason to do Art!

Christmas Vacation Bible School is an excellent excuse to get together to do art for an afternoon in December. It might be ideal to have each project carefully planned and the schedule beautifully timed moment-by-moment, but I opted for a more fluid (and chaotic) mode of going with the proverbial flow and letting the kids do what they wanted when they wanted.The three hours time-frame for for art was a bit hectic, but there was always plenty for the kids to do.
The kids could choose to do any of the following: hand prints, paint piggy banks, oil pastels on black for Frosty or a Christmas tree, decorate mini Christmas trees, or mixed media art "Symbols of Christmas." The cool part about a fluid schedule for art/anything is the freedom to be creative. It also allows freedom for everyone to choose what they like doing and to skip over what doesn't interest the. We had a total of eight different projects (including decorating Christmas cookies) so there was a little something for everyone.

Artistic Fundraiser

An urban community holds an annual Christmas tree decorating contest as an annual fundraiser for area non profit organizations. I like the concept of the event, and I love the opportunity to engage the community with art. My favorite tree features miniature art images of various Ronald McDonald Houses located around the world. I'm guessing they started as simple line art images that the kids colored or painted. The result was quite beautiful.

Art Training 101 at Cabo Church

As part of our annual mission trip to work with Feeding Los Cabos Kids, a ministry of Cabo Church in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, we spent an evening teaching how to incorporate mixed media art in Christian education for kids (and adults) of all ages. Various staff and volunteers spent two hours with an intense crash course which covered a variety of materials and methods. We did wax resist on pre-cut paper crowns. The crowns were traced around a Burger King crown on posterboard and cut out ahead of time. Because we did multiple projects very quickly, each person had only 15 minutes to decorate the crown with crayon (wax) and then do a watercolor wash so the wax would "resist" (show through). We talked about the different teaching options which could incorporate the crown as the project to symbolize the teaching. For example, Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords; the three wise men at Christmas, or one of the kings in the Old Testament such as king Solomon or king David. It is a fun and easy project. No art skills required!

Confirmation Class Visual Faith Statements

Mixed media works great to express visually for a mixed age group of kids in my current confirmation class. First we read the (short) Confession of 1967 and talked about what it says about belief in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Then we talked about how to use symbols to express faith.

(Good and Bad) Memories from Home

I modified an earlier art journal reflection project ("Dump Sheet Self Portrait) to help immigrant women and children being detained at a Texas detention center while seeking asylum from violence in their homelands. The participants included 220 women and children ranging from toddlers to the mothers in their early to late 20s. They had about 90 minutes to create their artful reflection.

The process included the following steps (which I had printed in Spanish and English to refer to):

Memories of Home Mixed Media Layered Art

1.     Write or stencil your name onto the background paper.

2.     Choose 1 or 2 two foam stamp shapes that remind you of home and stamp them on the background paper.

3.     Choose one stencil shape that reminds you of home and use a colored pencil, marker, pen, or crayon to outline the shape from the stencil onto the background paper.

4.     Use a #2 grey lead pencil to write your good and bad memories from home on the cut-out shape of a head.

5.     Glue the Psalm 23 scripture to the background paper.

6.     Glue the head to the background paper.

7.     Use any color crayon that you like to outline the face. Add eyes, nose, and a mouth. Add hair.

8.     Decorate the background with more stencils and stamps that help to tell the story of your home.

9.     Use water color or tempura paint to color parts of your art. (It is okay to paint over all or part of your face.)

10.  Glue the second Bible verse onto the page (Psalm 118:24)

11.   Paper punch a shape and glue onto your page.

12.  Title your art. You can name it anything you want. Sometimes it is fun to name it simply Memories from (your home country).

13.  Write March 2015 in the corner so you can remember when you created your art piece.

Christmas VBS Mono Printing

Mono printing with small kids is messy but joyous. We covered a ping pong table with paper and created six small stations to rotate children in for mono printing on a Gelli Art plate. The stations were set up with three choices of acrylic paint, a roller, and a selection of items for stamping texture and Christmas shapes. There was one adult per station to assist the children and to help with cleanup between kids. One of the helper teens demonstrated the process and then we cut the kids loose at six stations which were set up around a covered ping pong table.

 The stations included one Gelli Art plate, one roller, an assortment of paints and items to use to make stencils, stamps, and designs.

Each child created two mono prints on card stock which could then be folded and used as a card or cut into small rectangles and punched with a paper punch in one corner to be used as gift tags. Ages 3 to 14 participated and everyone was super excited about the art they created.

Christmas Card 'Street Art'

Mixed media Christmas Cards for immigrant women and children was the art project my church took public at a downtown public festival (Wassailfest). We set up a food booth to sell tortilla soup and created an an adjacent station for children to make mixed media Cheistmas cards. We provided the art supplies and note cards, and a group of teens from the National Honor Society of a local high school volunteered to supervise the art project. It was a phenomenal success!

The tables were filled to overflowing for the duration of the three-hour event. We collected several hundred custom cards. While the children were engaged doing art I shared the plight of these immigrant women and children with the parents.

DIY Christmas Stamps for Block Printing

Paper cross intended to be a painted ornament.

I like the oversized foam stamps which are intended for printing on t-shirts. When I couldn't find any themed for Christmas I decided to find an alternative way to make my own. I cruised the Christmas craft section and bought various shapes for other projects and then used heavy duty glue to adhere each to a free sample piece of flooring (available at your local super-sized building supply store). I used a 6"x6" Gelli Art printing plate as my "stamp pad" and "inked it up" with a liberal dose of acrylic paint from a tube.
There are several variations on the theme. You can simply use the Gelli Art plate like an ink pad, inking and re-inking (washing between as appropriate) or you can use the Gelli Art plate as the stamp. Of course a combination also works. I worked on a journal page which already had some basic preparation done for the background. I chose purple to provide a strong impact image and to complement the existing colors.

The Gelli Art printing plate can be pressed directly onto a journal page.

A selection of DIY stamps that children will use during Christmas VBS.

This is my practice page to experiment with the DIY stamps and Gelli Art plate. I'll add more layers later.

The 'Art' of Presence

Practicing the ministry of presence is all about simply being present with someone; not "doing" anything; not talking or even listening but being present to show love and care and kindness and compassion. The "art" of presence adds the element of (mixed media) art during the time of being present. It provides a neutral something-to-do and opens the possibility for interactive conversation, including deep sharing and deep listening. This concept has been particularly helpful for ministry with teens in a shelter for teens-at-risk. The art activity seems similar to the concept of the quilting bees of old; hands are busy while conversation flows. I took some of the teens and adults from my congregation to do the "Dump Sheet Self-Portrait" project at the shelter during spring break. I encouraged the participants to "dump" out their feelings related to whatever topic they chose. Some opted for silly; others used the exercise to vent their hurts and emotions. Some wrote heart-breaking feelings during the dumping. The participating adults used the time when the teens were doing the mixed media layers of art that followed to encourage and uplift the teens while the teens engaged among themselves with lively conversation. The "art" of presence is a wonderful combination of art, self-expression, conversation, compassion, and friendship.

Prayer Flag Illustrates Prayers of the Congregation

 This simple project is made by using an old sheet cut into rectangles and Pentel Fabric Fun Pastel Dye Sticks and/or fabric stencils and stamps with specialty fabric ink pads. The completed piece is ironed to "set" the colors.

 The children at summer VBS made prayer flags to illustrate the various local and global missions that the church participates in. The individual flags are made from a white sheet that had been cut into rectangles with pinking shears and then the pieces ironed smooth.

 An adult prepared the flags with the words of the various missions using foam letters and fabric ink. During the teaching time, the leader talked about the ways this particular church serves the local and global community. For example, teens and adults volunteer at Connections, a shelter for teens at risk; the pastor helps with two new church developments (Filipino-Austin and Bastrop); a mission team goes to the barrios in Los Cabos, Mexico to work with women and children and the Cabo Kids mission; the church sponsors a child in Ethiopia through Compassion International, and the church supports local food banks.