Wicker Park
Kids Grow
The
Music Garden—2008
PARK KIDS
2008 PROJECT
Created by the
Park Kids Grow Art & Garden Class (25 Children Ages
5-12)
CLASS HELD:
Thursdays, March 6-June 5, 4-5:15 PM, WICKER PARK FIELD HOUSE - 1425
N. DAMEN AVE.
Registration deadline February 29 – no charge – contact
wpgarden@aol.com
or
(773)
278-9075.
The class
is now open but limited to 25 children.
The
will attend the concerts & show their music garden.
HISTORY OF THE CLASS
The Wicker Park Garden Club has taught Park Kids Grow
Art and Garden since 2004 for 10 weeks in the spring and 6 weeks in
the fall. Last spring we also taught the class at three other
Chicago
parks, a project funded by the Friends of the Parks. The thesis of
this curriculum is that the children are planting the 'seeds of the
future' and are themselves, the next generation of Chicago park
developers. The class combines horticultural techniques, visual
arts, art and garden history, training in verbal self expression,
and techniques in promoting ones ideas and designs in the context of
‘how they work for those who visit the park.’ Each year the
children created designs and presented them to the other children in
the park's after school program, ending with gardens created by the
entire class that featured visual arts. The children grew all the
plants from seed and then planted them in the gardens. In addition
they designed and realized the mural in the
Wicker Park
playground as well as created the ‘Sculptures that Grow’ in 2006.
In past years, the program was funded by the Friends of the Parks,
Parkways Foundation, Garden Centers (Grand Street Gardens, Fertile
Gardens) individuals (Leslie Zimmerman, Amy Brinkman, Donna Nelson,
Denise Browning), and by the Wicker Park Garden Club.
www.parkways.org,
www.fotp.org, www.fertilegardens.com,
www.grandstreetgardens.com
OUR
TEACHERS
All teachers have background in working with children
and extensive horticultural and art training. Our teachers include:
Esmeralda Rodriguez (Park District Head Teacher), Denise Browning,
Leslie Zimmerman, Amy Brinkman, Petrina Patti, Mindy Bartholomae,
Mary Pat Black, Lara Kastner, and Deborah Cullen.
2008 Design--The
Music
Garden—The
Backdrop for the
Wicker
Park Trio
Performances
This year we will work with the children to design a
temporary backdrop for the 2008 Wicker Park Trio Concert Series. The
backdrop will be on display from June-August and then
removed—components will be saved and reused in upcoming years. The
backdrop will be free standing--not attached to the wall. The
project’s goal is to create a garden that incorporates visual arts
that are inspired or derived from the music and or the composer's
lives or styles that will be presented this summer. This will add
dimension to the blank wall and give a festive fell to the site.
But, most importantly, this will involve the children in the
development of the music program, while they learn the music in
advance of the programs, incorporating that knowledge into the
design of the backdrop.
The curriculum will
include the following. The Class is taught by 6 volunteers.
Horticultural
Principles:
The Children will learn the principles of how to germinate seeds, to
propagate plants from cuttings, to choose plants for the location
(light, intent), and techniques of planting them in the garden.
Music History and
Artistic Extrapolation—Yo-Yo Ma and Messervy’s
Toronto
Music
Garden:
The children will be introduced to the composers and compositions
that will be presented in the summer series. They will experiment
with different ‘translation techniques’ to learn how to ‘code’ the
music into visual art or garden designs. The study of the Ma-Messervy
video and garden photos will assist with this process. In addition,
the music will be played during the entire class when they are
either planting or creating their mosaic works.
http://www.toronto.ca/parks/music_index.htm
INPUT FROM THE
PERFORMERS:
We will ask the summer performing groups to stop by and speak to the
children as they are listening to and translating the music.
VISUAL
ARTS—MOSAIC-3D:
The children will
be given the goal of creating a backdrop that looks like a three
dimension printed score with the ‘3-D abstracted’ musical notes both
in and behind the garden. The final design structure of the score
and the notes will be determined by designs created by the
children. The 3 dimensional musical notes can be realistic or
abstracted and are to be created from found object glass fragments
that work into a mosaic format. The children will begin by drawing
ideas based on what they translate from the music and then create
3-D models of their ideas.
INTEGRATING MUSIC,
VISUAL ARTS AND GARDENING:
The children will then choose plant materials that works with their
visual arts materials—adjusting all parameters.
DESIGN
PRESENTATIONS:
Each child will then present his/her design as a 3-D model to the
other children. All will then work on a resolution and create the
final Music Garden
.THE
PROFESSIONAL MUSIC PERFORMANCE GROUPS SUMMER 2008
SYMPHONY
SOUNDS—Performs JUNE 15, JULY 13, AUGUST 10
Wicker
Park - 1425
N. Damen - 11am-1PM
String Quartets
Sarah Marsh, Founder
& President
www.symphonysounds.us
ARTS AT
LARGE—Performs JUNE 22, JULY 20, AUGUST 20
Wicker
Park - 1425
N. Damen - 11am-1PM
Jazz Based Ensembles
Anne Breeden,
Executive and Artistic Director
www.aalchicago.org
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