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CASL and Christopher House visit the Chicago Children's Museum

The first Friendship Journeys excursion to the Chicago Children's Museum took place on March 13. About 18 families from the Chinese American Service League and Christopher House came out for an evening of art, play and discovery.

Creating
Upon arrival, families worked together on their Joseph Cornell inspired projects. Children painted the inside of their boxes using bright colors. Tamara talked about how different colors can express different feelings and ideas. Children also drew pictures of their favorite people, animals and interests to add as collage elements.



Sharing
This mom is helping her son choose and cut out pictures of animals to use in his box. Friendship Journeys offers the opportunity for children and parents to share special time together and for families from different parts of the city to interact and get to know each other.





Exploring
After spending time in the studios, families had a chance to explore the museum. The Chicago Children's Museum is a place where children can learn through play and creativity.

We hope all the families enjoyed themselves. Please post a comment about your experience. We would love to hear from you. You can submit it at the end of this post or send it to me via e-mail at gvalverde1@artic.edu.

See you soon!

Young Collectors

Liberty School, Cicero, IL

Yesterday we ventured out to Cicero for the final community workshop. Eight out of ten families attended representing different schools in the district. Liberty School is on 13th Street, just West of Cicero Avenue. We were very impressed with the artwork that graces the hallways of this school and we were delighted when the school's principal dropped in for a short visit during our slide show.

Some of the children brought their collections and made presentations to the whole group (thank you moms!). Later on, they displayed their collections on a nearby table and everyone got a chance to see the objects and ask questions. I love what one little girl said about hers:




"I collect golf balls and rocks. My uncle gives me the golf balls. The reason I collect these things is that they show all the interesting things that exist in the world." What a thoughtful comment by such a young collector!



Below are some pictures of the wonderful compositions that were begun by this group. We can't wait to see how these young artists develop their boxes throughout the program.



We thank Liberty School's principal and staff for their hospitality. We are especially thankful to Mary Cruz, René and all the moms for contributing to making this workshop a great success!
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