First week of Anderson Ranch Kids Programs, the star program is “It’s Raining Meatballs,” where the kids read Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs and then started to develop their own stories involving fantastic food. So far, they have made plaster food platters, accordion books, and tomorrow they will draw on umbrellas with fabric markers to go with the raining food theme.

Here is a picture of the bowls we made. We assembled them as follows:

1. Blow up a plastic beach ball and place it in a large bowl so it won’t roll around.

2. Cover half of your beach ball in about 3 or 4 layers of plaster gauze, or until it feels nice and sturdy.

3. To make a foot for your bowl, make a loop of tag board, place it on the bottom of the bowl and cover it in plaster.

4. Allow the plaster to dry and then if necessary, trim the rim of the bowl with scissors.

5. Once the plaster has dried completely, you can paint the bowl with acrylic paint, inside and out.

6. We added decoration to our bowls by making Wayne Thiebaud inspired cray-pas drawings on copy paper, cutting them out, and mod-podging them on the inside of the bowl.

They turned out really neat- check it out!

I just finished my last exam this morning! Phew… now there is a brief interim between now and the recreational extravaganza that is summer: waiting for grades to come in. But, since there isn’t anything I can do to influence them why bother worrying. It is time to turn my attention to thoughts about what the summer will hold.

It is in these times of transition that I start thinking about things I would like to do differently, and things I did in the past I enjoyed that I would like to do again. Like a journey…

THE JOURNEY. What is a journey? My word dictionary defines journey as:

1.      a trip or expedition from one place to another

2.      a gradual passing from one state to another regarded as more advanced, for example, from innocence to mature awareness

Have you been on a Journey lately? What was your goal? How did you prepare? How did it end? Did you change as a result of your journey? Please post comments and pictures!

I just took a trip with my sculpture class to see some of the public art in Utah where I stayed at CLUI (The Center For Land Use Interpretation), an organization who’s mission is to bring together artists who are interested in doing artistic research on how people use land and how land is an integral part of how we live. While we were there, we met Joni Sternbach, a photographer from New York who works in Tintype photography. She took two amazing photos of our group at the center and showed us a little bit about the process of making a Tintype. You can see Joni’s work at www.jonisternbach.com.

We also saw Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels

and Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty.

You can read more about my class’s journey around Utah at http://westernexcursion.wordpress.com and CLUI has a really interesting website at http://www.clui.org/.

Here are some ideas about journeys. I will use Christopher Robin and Pooh Bear as an example of all of the important parts of a journey from their expedition to the North Pole in the book House At Pooh Corner, by Alan A. Milne.

Christopher Robin was sitting outside his door, putting

on his Big Boots. As soon as he saw the Big  Boots,  Pooh  knew

that an Adventure was going to happen, and he brushed the honey

off  his  nose with the back of his paw, and spruced himself up

as well as he could, so as to look Ready for Anything.

        “We  are  all going on an Expedition,” said Christopher Robin, as he got up and brushed himself. “Thank you, Pooh.”

        “Going on an Expotition?” said Pooh eagerly.  “I  don’t

think  I’ve ever been on one of those. Where are we going to on

this Expotition?”

        “Expedition, silly old Bear. It’s got an ‘x’ in it.”

        “Oh!” said Pooh. “I know.” But he didn’t really.

        “We’re going to discover the North Pole.”

        “Oh!” said Pooh again. “What is  the  North  Pole?”  he

asked.

        “It’s  just  a  thing  you  discover,” said Christopher

Robin carelessly, not being quite sure himself.

1.                    Goal: Having a final destination in mind is a key part of having a successful journey. This might be a learning goal, a collection goal, or in the case of Pooh and Christopher Robin, a physical destination.

        “Oh!  I  see,”  said  Pooh.  “Are  bears  any  good  at

discovering it?”

        “Of  course  they  are. And Rabbit and Kanga and all of

you. It’s an Expedition. That’s what  an  Expedition  means.  A

long  line  of  everybody.  You’d better tell the others to get

ready, while I see if my gun’s all right. And we must all bring

Provisions.”

        “Bring what?”

        “Things to eat.”

        “Oh!”  said  Pooh  happily.   “I   thought   you   said

Provisions. I’ll go and tell them.” And he stumped off.

2. Preparation:

This means making sure that you have assembled supplies and have mentally readied yourself to experience something different and new. It seems as though Christopher Robin is probably a bit more prepared than Pooh at this point. From this point in the story, Pooh manages to round up all of his friends in the Hundred-Acre Woods and they go on a long, arduous hike in pursuit of the North Pole.

“Pooh’s found the North Pole,” said Christopher  Robin.

“Isn’t that lovely?”

        Pooh looked modestly down.

        “Is that it?” said Eeyore.

        “Yes,” said Christopher Robin.

        “Is that what we were looking for?”

        “Yes,” said Pooh.

        “Oh!” said Eeyore. “Well, anyhow — it didn’t rain,” he

said.

        They  stuck  the  pole  in  the ground, and Christopher

Robin tied a message on to it:

        NorTH

        PoLE

        DICSovERED

        By

        PooH

        PooH

        FouND IT

        Then they all went home again. And I think,  but  I  am

not  quite  sure,  that Roo had a hot bath and went straight to

bed. But Pooh went back to his  own  house,  and  feeling  very

proud  of  what  he  had done, had a little something to revive

himself.

3. End: If a journey doesn’t end, then it goes on forever and stops being a journey at all. This is why a goal is so important! So you know when your finished and can feel accomplished about doing what you did!

 Like to draw? Or color? Me too. 

Ok so here is a fun thing I did today:

A home-made post card to a stranger. When I make stuff like this I always wonder what it would be like to be the person getting it. What a peculiar feeling. 

Materials You’ll need:

1 index card (4 x 6 is a good size)

markers/pens

1 postage stamp

a phone book

What I did:

1. Draw time! This is the hardest step so don’t be discouraged:

Think of something to draw… then draw it on your card. Sounds simple right? Some ideas:

- color the whole card your favorite color

or 

draw:

- what you ate for lunch 

- what you WISH you ate for lunch

- you on the last vacation you went on

- a racecar!

- a monster

OK so you get the idea that anything goes.

2. Turn the card OVER and draw a line down the middle. NOW, get your phonebook and flip to a random page in the residential section. Shut your eyes and put your finger on the page. Address your card to the name you pointed at on the right side of the line.

3. On the left side of the line, write a note about your drawing.

For example:

I drew my lunch so:

Dear (Your Adressee’s name here),

Today I ate leftover spaghetti for lunch. It was OK but I wish I would have had a roast beef sandwich.

4. Put a stamp in the upper right hand corner and stick it in the mail.

note: if you would like to remember the drawing you did, making a photocopy is often a good idea. 

ALSO

It’s probably not a good idea to write YOUR name or return address on the card. Keep it anonymous.