we had another great excursion as part of our ongoing arrow explores series, this time to r.wood studio. the littles had so much fun making clay beads with rebecca at our spring party, we decided to continue the fun at her studio...they first toured us around the studio and showed us each step of the process of making their beautiful handmade dishes: rolling out the clay, firing, then glazing them. then, everyone was able to make whatever creation they could dream up: tiny plates, more beads, a dragon, and even a shipwrecked boat. we finished the day with a refreshing honeypop! fun indeed!
we are beginning a new series today that focuses on homemaking.
we have asked some of the families at arrow to share different parts of their family life, in hopes that their experiences will inspire you in some way.
in preparation for these occasional posts, we thought we would share a video that a few of us have passed back and forth over the years...amanda first shared it with me.
but first, a little history... when arrow first began four years ago, we had a regular group of families who gathered with their children a morning or two a week, with a goal of the parents doing some sort of handwork while the children played together. we fully admit that sometimes our knitting projects lay in a pile while our attention was more focused toward the littles, but *sometimes* there were moments when we would look around the room and the children would be playing happily and we were able to be involved with our handwork, be it knitting or something similar. those moments were special. to see the children happy was most important, but to have that time with the other parents (mamas & papas too) was an unexpected side-effect. we now reminisce about it, as those early children have now grown older and graduated from arrow, but it is a deeply cherished memory for me, one of many on my own winding path of motherhood.
so, here is the video of renate hiller speaking about the importance of handwork...and we will share some more thoughts soon...
we had another great day with the creative folks from Athica, Georgia Museum of Art, and Treehouse kid&craft at our third Come Together event! each organization desinged an activity for different age groups based on the theme of "vessels". arrow led the 1 to 3 year olds and used glue and tissue paper to make bowls, using an inflated balloon as the base. then, treehouse brought yarn, glue and tin cans- the 4 to 6 year old children wound the yard around the cans covering them in multi-colored lines. GMOA had clay and jewels for the 7 to 10 year olds to make their own bejeweled cups with, in honor of their new catherine the great exhibit, and athica had ingredients for carving stamps and making books for the older kids, although all the ages mingled with all the different crafts- a sure sign of fun! thank you, everyone!
we all had so much fun at the first come together event, so we decided to continue our collaborative educational series, this time focusing on diverse cultures. so join us as we once again team up with ATHICA, the Georgia Museum of Art, the Lyndon House Arts Center, & Treehouse Kid+Craft to host our second collaborative event with art activities planned for all ages.
here are the details....
Drop in any time on date (TBD) between time (TBD) at the location (TBD). we will have an interactive shadow puppet theatre inspired by the art of shadow play practiced throughout the ages in Asia, particularly in Indonesia. we can't wait to see what other surprises our partners have planned.
...and here's a sneak peek of our shadow puppets in the making....
we'll post some updates on our progress along with details on the new date....
Update on 2013-02-27 21:02 by ARROW
so we are sorry to announce that the next Come Together event has been postponed to a later date (still to be determined) due to a scheduling conflict with the host venue. We will keep you posted when a new date & time are ready to be announced.
twinkling lights, snacks, and handmade fun were all part of our open house this year during the athens holiday market...we were excited to have a few handmade things for sale as a fundraiser: our new *cookbook*, the sacks that amanda made for us, and some dyed playsilks, along with some treasures that rachel crafted...
the little ones played inside arrow and made paper stars & cloved clementines, while their parents shopped the market...
one of the sweetest parts of the evening, though, was the Pocket Lady (aka, keara) wandering through the market, charming the littles with her big smile and tiny treasures tucked away in her pockets: feathers, shells, kazoos, and other special things.
a few weeks ago, Arrow banded together with athica, the georgia museum of art, the lyndon house, and treehouse to put on a day of creating with children, in conjunction with athica's exhibit appropriately called 'community'. we are very excited to help this collaboration continue...stay tuned for our next gathering, in winter 2013...
we had our first apple festival this past saturday at arrow...we had lots of sunshine, friendly faces, yummy pies and more! thanks to everyone who came!
tabatha and family made a run to hillcrest orchards in ellijay for apples.
(thanks, t, t, t, and f!)
author liana krissoff led an applesauce making workshop:
we blocked off the driveway with haybales, and had cider and popcron:
there were crafts, with a special blockprinting one led by susan & her 6 year old daughter, bird:
we dyed playsilks for our little ones, but in the process we learned about immersion dyeing and some of us played around with some tie dyeing too. we had lots of fun, and will do this again sometime !
