On Friday I had the pleasure of hanging out at Estridge Primary school for the morning. They had a workshop going on with Anthony and Stephanie from the nonprofit Art In All of Us. Stephanie had emailed me a month or so ago via the couchsurfing network. She informed me of her plans to visit my little island this month and was wanting to know if I knew of a primary school that would want to participate in her project. I told the volunteers about the oppportunity and Marty was the first, and most enthusiastic to respond. So I gave Stephanie all the info and set her up to work with the Estridge Primary fourth and fifth graders.
Stephanie and Anthony came in from Antigua on Thursday and had previously been to Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. They reside in Belgium (Stephanie is originally from Madagascar) and have been "visiting primary schools worldwide to promote creativity and artistic activities, as well as cultural exchanges between schools". The aim of their project can best be put in a summary Stephanie sent me through an email:
- to promote creativity
- to create an awareness of other countries and cultures
- to prepare a book presenting all the countries of the world through the eyes and rhymes of the children (every country will be presented through one photograph, as well as one drawing and poetry prepared by the kids). We will select the best poetry and the best drawing collected in every country
- to create an ART Pen Pal network of schools, encouraging schools throughout the world to communicate using ART (drawings, paintings ...) on specific themes. The themes are chosen to increase the knowledge of other cultures and tolerance (friendship, my dreams, my daily life, the United Nations' Millenium development goals...)
The kids spent the morning taking pictures of their friends and learning to capture images using different spontaneous poses and actions. They also drew pictures depicting their island and culture which in theory will then be used to initiate the pen pal process. I had so much fun watching them try different poses for the camera and observing their drawing skills that the whole morning seemed to speed by so fast. It was a great ending to my week and just what I needed to get grounded again after being in vacation mode for so long.
If you're interested about this project and want more info, check out their website, www.artinallofus.org, though I think they are currently having some technical difficulties with the site. I put all the pictures, or most of the pictures I took on Friday , in a new album in My Photos. I also finally have up my Dominica pictures. So be sure to check them all out.
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