Yarn PUZZLES!

A few weeks ago, there was a man fixing the floor in the hallway outside our studio.
One of the tiles that he was working with broke into a dozen geometric shapes. Antonio and Roy were outside in the hallway and the repair man asked them if they could put the pieces back together and make a square... which they did. Antonio asked me if we could make puzzles sometime.

This project is a response to their request as well as an important step in the process of becoming fluent with materials and growing the excellent fine motor skills which will allow knitting and crocheting to be more engaging for all of the children.

STEP 1. Draw a picture

STEP 2. Trace it with glue

STEP 3. Lay pieces of yarn in the glue until all if it is covered

STEP 4. When the glue dries, cut the picture up into pieces. Scramble them up and see if you can put it all back together!

here are some of the pictures that we made:


Dajana did this self portrait. She did the hair first and then asked me for, "something skinnier than the hair because the other parts of the face aren't as dark as the hair." We chose the purple yarn because it was the only skinny yarn that wasn't sparkly or brown,"because my face don't sparkle and the face should be a different color than my hair."




I asked Nyauria if she has a favorite animal. She told me that she likes horses best. I suggested that she draw a horse for her puzzle. Nyauria seemed a little worried,and told me " I can think about a horse in my head. But I don't draw one too much." We began talking about the shapes that make up a horse's body and Nyauria drew as we talked. She plans to "make the horse magic with different yarn colors."

Symone and Diamond both made rainbows.


Diamond cut apart the side of her paper and glued it in with the yarn, "to made it like two puzzles. on top of the other one."


I found these three drawings in Alana's cubbie...





We will work more on these later today and it will be exciting to see which of these pictures Alana continues to work with. Or maybe she'll start another one. I am constantly on the lookout for patterns in the children's work because the things that we draw and make repeatedly are important to understand and talk about.

January and early February

*** In January, a small, brightly painted room at the West Broad Street YMCA was given to us so that we could create an art studio. It takes time and collaboration between students and teachers to create a space in which we all feel comfortable making, talking and thinking. We are using ideas from the Reggio Emilia early education philosophy to guide us in setting up this studio and in our interactions with the children. (for more information about Reggio see links on the side bar!)

Initially, the plan for LOOP IT UP was to follow the Warm Up America course; teaching everyone to knit or crochet and creating a collaborative patchwork blanket. After we met the kids we decided to step back for a while and focus more generally, on learning stitches and creating samples. Some of the kids caught on right away and were really into the process. Others, found even this a tedious start. For these kids, often the younger ones, we needed to come up with an alternative way to get them engaged and feel a part of the studio.

I have been reading a wonderful book, Beautiful Stuff, by Cathy Weisman Topal and Lella Gandini. The book discusses learning with found materials and setting up an accessible studio for children. Through my reading and watching the kids, I began to think that starting a program like LOOP IT UP with projects that demand so much long term focus might be a little overwhelming. With this in mind, we decided to just ease into things and let the kids get comfortable with us, with making and with the studio environment which we're building. The introduction from Beautiful Stuff says "The goal is to allow children to become fluent with materials-- as if materials were a language."

We have many shelves in the studio. They are lined with containers of materials: yarn, ribbon, sparkly trims, beads, buttons, plastic rings, bottle tops, sequins, paper and then some. We also have empty containers and the kids are encouraged to collect whatever strikes their fancy to work with.

Here is some work from the first few weeks!


Tony's necklace. "it's all cranberries and cherries. I switched them to make a pattern."

These next two are from the little guys at the Boys and Girls club.
collecting, sorting and composing.



Although invited to explore the materials shelf, Jaylen kept picking white paper and markers. With his paper and markers, he drew one of two compositions. Again and again and again.


the first is the small colored forms, which he explained, "are the family. there are a lot of members. different colors are different members that are different years old."

The second is the gray structure in the upper right corner. I asked him about it and he said, "just a what is is... a design, yeah a design. but I think they live in it."

For the first week and a half Jaylen made piles of these drawings. And then, quite suddenly he found the glue...


if you look closely, you can see that he glued all these letters on top of one of his family drawings.

*****gearing up for 2009

I'm trying to get a sense of how many people are interested in helping with the Loop It Up Savannah program which we started last quarter. There are several parts of this project with which we could really use your help.

The first is of course, teaching knitting and/or crocheting classes to local kids at the YMCA. I'm still working out logistics, but we will probably structure the class schedule much as we did this past fall. there would be a group which meets mon/wed 4:30-5:45 and another group which meets tues/thurs 4:30-5:45. ideally, teachers would be available on both days in the set... but we can work things out to fit your schedule. Classes are off to a great start and the kids are really really great! we mostly just need more teachers!

If you are unable to help with teaching, but would still like to be part of this project let me know!! We could use help with a handful of things, some even as easy as roling yarn balls! I'm hoping to make some loop it up bags for the kids to store their knitting stuff in-- early on in the quarter, before classes start and also, I would like the incorperate a "stitch diary" componant into the class--- sort of a process book, sketchbook, work book thing for them to get involved in and be proud of................ I'd LOVE some help with ideas for this and with actually putting the books together.

thank you thank you! official sign up sheets will be available when we get back to school, but I'm trying to get the word out nice + early, so that we can really get going with this ASAP. please pass this along to anyone that you think might be interested!

*** GET IN TOUCH: fibersforce@scad.edu / join the fibers force facebook group!!!

recent press!!!

two stories !!!

http://www.scad.edu/news/2008/fibers-loop-it-up-savannah.cfm

http://www.savannahtribune.com/news/2008/1119/social_community/037.html

**** news/ schedule for 2009 coming soon!

TOTALLY AWESOME!!!

*** get in touch to be part of it!

Volunteering

Thank you for your interest in the Loop it Up Savannah project!

In order to volunteer, you must have at least advanced-beginner skills. Please fill out a volunteer survey form and return it to the West Broad YMCA or to the Fibers Department at the Savannah College of Art & Design. Please let us know your availability- days of the week- for volunteering. You will be contacted about attending a training session between October 22nd-24th.

If you would like a volunteer form e-mailed to you please send a request to loopitupsavannah@gmail.com

The first six-week session will begin in November. Classes wi ll be held at the West Broad Street Y once or twice a week from 3:30-5pm, based on volunteer availability. The more volunteers we have, the more people we can teach.

Forms are also available at the West Broad Street Y, 1110 May Street or call 912-233-1951

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