Create your Community Museum

May 17th, 2021

We are excited to share a series of blog posts created in collaboration with the Curriculum in Early Childhood Education students at Holyoke Community College! The HCC students completed a Service Learning Project with Carle Art Educators this spring, continuing a partnership developed over the past two years. Students worked in groups to develop projects inspired by books in The Carle’s exhibition Picture the Dream: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement through Children’s Books. Students Ashley Marini, Bri Santucci, and Stephanie Turgeon planned the projects, experimented with materials, and documented their process for the blog. The following is their description of their project, which responds to a book included in the third section of the exhibition, “Today’s Journey, Tomorrow’s Promise,” featuring stories of the reemergence of activism in contemporary America. READ MORE

The Rocks are The Road: A Sweet Smell of Roses

May 10th, 2021

We are excited to share a series of blog posts created in collaboration with the Curriculum in Early Childhood Education students at Holyoke Community College! The HCC students completed a Service Learning Project with Carle Art Educators this spring, continuing a partnership developed over the past two years. Students worked in groups to develop projects inspired by books in The Carle’s exhibition Picture the Dream: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement through Children’s Books. Students Alexa Janicki, Bryanna Rivera, and Rebecca Hawkins planned the projects, experimented with materials, and documented their process for the blog. The following is their description of their project. Their project responds to a book included in the second section of the exhibition, “The Rocks are the Road,” featuring the Civil Rights Movement’s key players and events. READ MORE

My School Emotions Notebook

May 3rd, 2021

We are excited to share a series of blog posts created in collaboration with the Curriculum in Early Childhood Education students at Holyoke Community College! The HCC students completed a Service Learning Project with Carle Art Educators this fall, continuing a partnership developed over the past two years. Students worked in groups to develop projects inspired by books in The Carle’s exhibition Picture the Dream: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement through Children’s Books. Students planned the projects, experimented with materials, and documented their process for the blog. The following is Mikayla Scott, Krystava Cabana, and Brittany Pietskowski’s description of their project. Their project responds to a book included in the first section of the exhibition, “A Backwards Path,” exploring the forces that sparked the civil rights movement. READ MORE

Paper and Glue Rubbing Plates

February 11th, 2021

One of our favorite tools to use in the Art Studio are rubbing plates. We’ve made several posts about making them with natural materials, manufactured materials, and materials from around your home. But to use them in the Art Studio during the pandemic, we had to think of a new way to create rubbing plates. We needed to make rubbing plates that could be single-use and fit the safety protocols for the Art Studio- something that all educators are balancing during the pandemic. To make them more sustainable, we determined that the plates had to be durable yet paper-based, and something that folks could take home. In thinking back on a previous toddler program, we realized that we had a solution, using only liquid glue, and sturdy paper! READ MORE

Inspired by the Small Things

January 18th, 2021

While prepping supplies in the Art Studio, there are often a lot of small pieces that are left behind. Small scraps of paper become large piles as we cut and hole punch materials for our Every Day Art Projects. And the more time we spend looking at them, even the smallest scrap becomes inspiration for art-making. This blog post will share some of the scraps we have been saving, and how they can be used for art-making. READ MORE