Photo above from a prior Footlights experience with artists at JMKAC.
Mosaic students have the unique opportunity to collaborate with renown artists Lily Cai and Sebura & Gartelmann. In the upcoming workshops, students will respond to works as well as experience the creative process directly with the artists. We are so grateful to have the John Michael Kohler Arts Center as a community partner.
Lily Cai
On Wednesday, Feburary 18th students will attend a Footlights presentation by the Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company. Through the Footlights performance, students will be introduced to the captivating combination of ancient Chinese forms with modern dance with innovative staging. Following the performance of Xing (pronounced shing), a program of new works as well as audience favorites from past seasons, students will respond to the work - sharing observations and connections, reflecting on new thinking and innovation, and questioning new possibilities. Finally our dance teacher, Molly King, and students who choose to participate will stay to work with the artists on an original composition using their approach and forms.
Sebura & Gartelmann
Sebura and Gartelmann are part of a current exhibition at the Arts Center, "This Must Be the Place: Building Stories." Their work is a reflection on physical and spiritual spaces, thinking about how skateboarding and the culture surrounding it helped them transition from childhood toward independence. Not only is this a relevant consideration for our middle school students, it ties to many of the essential questions that students have been exploring through their academic and seminar classes. For example, How can place affect ideas? (Language Arts), Why do I say what I say? (Spanish), and How do parts of a system depend on each other? (Science).
In the workshop on Friday, February 20th, the artists will lead students through a fast-paced workshop on artistic sign-painting. Students will develop their own ideas through creative writing and drawing and paint their own lettered sign. Sebura & Gartelmann will discuss the importance of text and signs in their currently exhibited work Church and provide comparisons of the same techniques used for purposes both artistic and commercial.
The Artists' Questions: How do you create a story with one word? How do you work through the creative process?
Through this experience students will explore the cultural significance of signage, relation to slogans, advertising, etc. They will also experiment with various styles of and techniques for lettering, in order to best communicate their stories. This workshop will culminate in a gallery exhibition at The Mosaic School
This exhibit will close February 22nd, with opportunities for the public to work and dialogue with the artists at an ExAIR Skate Session. They will also be skateboarding in the gallery with one of our own alumni, Andrew Jakus, co-owner of Amity Skateboards.
