artlab: collaborative alphabets

Yesterday began the new season of ArtLab Studio, “a class in the spirit of a real working art studio, where playfulness and experimentation are key.” The focus for this season will be names, alphabets, and design (2 and 3 dimensional). And while we’ll look carefully at individual names and their symbolic, historic meaning, we’ll continue to work collaboratively, as a group, in true ArtLab style. Which is what we did to produce the works above, with ten kids (ages 7-9) and two adults, at tables-in-the-round.

We each began with a large sheet of paper and a pile of markers. We drew “A, B, and C,” in any style, shape, color, or size, and then we passed our sheets to the person on the right.

Then “D, E, and F,” and another pass.

On and on through the alphabet until we reached the last letters. At which point it was decided that each person would also add “one awesome thing.”

After we hung the work as a collection and stood back to admire it,

a few kids turned toward the blank canvas nearby…and filled it up pretty quickly.