task party

Welcome to a new school year here at New City!

We recently started a sixth grade tradition on the first day of school- the TASK Party! I first experienced a TASK Party at the Art21 summer teacher institute where we got to meet the creator, Oliver Herring (who by the way couldn't be more thoughtful and kindhearted). 

What is a TASK Party? It's a collaborative creative playground that helps us understand ourselves and others as creative social beings. And it's lots of fun! 

The rules are simple: Take a task from the box, complete the task, write a new task for the box, repeat. Simple materials are available to use: newspaper, markers, tape, yarn, scissors, foil, etc. 

I start by introducing Oliver Herring as an artist who doesn't work with traditional materials like pencils or paint. He uses people to explore relationships and boundaries. We share this video after our TASK Party before the writing reflection:

I love the TASK Party for several reasons. It's a great way to explore process, limitations, perspective, empathy, trust, community, and creativity. 

Collect Time.

Make a flower.

Tear a piece of paper and tape it back together.

Make a city.

Make a birthday cake for someone and sing happy birthday.

Make a computer.

This was an example from my art21 task party!

You can see some of the tasks were performance based and others purely visual, they could be social or solo, some tasks were very detailed and others beautifully simple. I appreciate the open-ended aspect of the tasks. Each one is a brave adventure, completely open to interpretation and approach.

Here are a few hints to help make the TASK Party fun for everyone. As an introvert/observer, I notice it's important to have a large space with a quieter spot for those who need a little break from the high energy party. We also discuss the importance of putting in positive tasks to create a positive community and not to name anyone specific in their task. And, we always start our TASK Party with a box of ready-to-go tasks to get the party started. Tasks made by the kids beforehand are often more thoughtful while tasks made during the party may connect to or flow from other tasks with a wonderful spontaneity.

We've also connected their TASK Party to a writing reflection. Linda, 6th grade teacher and my art21 partner, wrote the following questions they answered in her class.

1. What are your general thoughts, observations, and reactions to the Task Party? List 5 words or phrases:
2. Did you see anyone perform/do any of your tasks? If so, what did you think? If not, which task of yours do you wish you'd seen completed?
3. Did you spend your time interpersonally or more intrapersonally while tasking?
4. What task do you take the most pride in having completed?
5. Is there a task that pushed you out of your comfort zone?
6. Would you call the Task Party art?
7. Closing thoughts/reflections:
8. Blank space to fill with whatever they wanted.

My favorite response I've read is for question #6 from Dylan.
Would you call the Task Party art?
I would call it an art, just like the technique of packing a suitcase is an art. It's the art of breaking boundaries. 

I think Oliver Herring would be tickled with that response!

artists making a difference

Dr. Arthur Culbert is the head of the Central West End Community Farm and one of the kindest people I have met! He partners with the New City School 4th graders to plant, tend, and harvest the garden for local food banks. This is a really wonderful partnership and we are lucky to have him in our community. Read more about his work here.

We were approached by Arthur to create a mural on the existing barriers blocking the garden from the alley. These were an eyesore and Arthur wanted to change their purpose to allow passers-by to see what this garden is all about. The fourth grade artists spent many hours designing, planning, consulting, and collaborating before the actual painting even started! The garden mural is now finished and is a happy centerpiece of the community farm. Many times, people have stopped to comment how seeing the mural on their way to work and home, brightens their day!

first grade spring cocoons

We have made insect mobiles before but I changed it up a little this year. This time the first grade artists added a real silk cocoon to the end of their mobiles! I bought the silk cocoons along with some silk squares from this etsy artist: WCMercantile.



The silk cocoons took the metallic watercolors beautifully. We used the cocoons with the tops cut open that make a little lid (sans worm)- perfect for inserting written wishes on little paper strips. We hope that when these wishes are ready to mature they will open up and come true. There were lots of good wishes for friends, family, and school and I saw more than one wish for the ability to fly!

3rd grade rocks! part 2

This is an update to our Inuksuk project. I've found a few more resources since then and also wanted to share the second part of this rock inspired unit.



We added this amazing mentor artist this year: Michael Grab of Gravity Glue! The kids were completely mesmerized by his work and it was a great start to conversations about grit, patience, focus, and going with the flow. This year I noticed the quality of their sculptures improved as they were more mindful of the process and to the subtle surface differences of the rocks.





I also added Art21 artist, Vija Celmins. I got to see her rock inspired art at MOMA last summer and couldn't wait to add this to our unit. In the MOMA link you will find a great audio clip of her talking about To Fix the Image in Memory where she describes the act of observation and drawing as "a record of concentrated looking." The next day we also watched the Art21 video segment (to the 4:45 mark) in which she describes her process so beautifully.

Watching Vija talk about her process was the perfect introduction to their careful observation rock drawings. They LOVE the fancy drawing pencils, blending tool, and the idea that an eraser can be a drawing tool and are very motivated to learn how to make a realistic drawing using value.


The first day I give them an H, HB, and 4B drawing pencil to use. They also make their own blending tool and value chart. The next day I let them experiment with the full set of drawing pencils.



The third graders added a poem to their rock drawings. They could create a cinquain, haiku, free verse, or rhyming... ode to my rock!

recycle and recreate

We have a New City School tradition the week before winter break called PODS. The fifth and sixth graders choose a special class to take for the whole week offered by teachers and administration.

Students could choose birdhouse building with Bill from buildings and grounds, jewelry making with Laurie the school counselor, piñata making with Nina the spanish specialist, music making on iPads with Ben and Liz our music and tech specialists, or exploring thingiverse and printing on our maker bot with Eric the science specialist. Wow! Our students must have had a tough time deciding which one to choose!

This year, I offered a recycle and recreate class using my hoard of plastic water bottles. I have seen water bottles being used in so many amazing ways from bottle cap murals to mobiles so I wanted to give it a try.

I highly recommend it! It was lots of fun to make and you can't help but to smile when you see these hanging in the hallway. The installations are so colorful, catch the light beautifully, and are a great example of how artists can transform the everyday object into art.