Thursday, October 1, 2015

ArtPrize!


Once again our students are making the most of ArtPrize, especially SiTE:LAB which is just a stone's throw from the Cook Arts Center. Here are some ArtPrize highlights:

- The Cook Arts Center’s list of class offerings this fall includes an ArtPrize Adventures family class. For the first three weeks of class students visited various ArtPrize venues, including SiTE:LAB. The next six weeks will feature hands-on arts activities that revolve around concepts and artwork seen and experienced during the field trips.

- In collaboration with the Hispanic Center of Western Michigan, our Teen Leaders helped construct the “Port of Entry” installation on Calder Plaza.

- As part of ArtPrize's Education Days, 120 fourth and fifth graders from Cesar E. Chavez Elementary School toured SiTE:LAB, followed by a hands-on activity at the Cook Arts Center led by artist Eliza Fernand. Eliza began by explaining some of the terminology used during the tour (installation art, repurposing, found objects) and pointed out how many of the installations had to do with abandoned objects. She then had the students decorate shoes she had collected from In The Image--shoes without mates that were destined for the dumpster--and asked them to think about their shoes' stories while they worked. The activity ended with a brainstorming session about how this accumulation of 120 transformed shoes can be made into an installation. Stay tuned!


Fourth Graders Contemplate SiTE:LAB's "State of Exception"
Painting Shoes at the Cook Arts Center
"Port of Entry" Under Construction