We Have a Mural

March 13, 2009

Every single Friedel student marched to the Blumkin Home last Friday to meet up with the residents, all the while followed by photographer Ophir Palmon. Later this week, I will add a gallery of pictures, but for now, I recommend everyone check out Ophir’s site, because these are the images that will be used in the actual mural. Ophir’s pictures were made possible by a more than generous contribution by the RBJH activity department. You can check out his fabulous work Here

 

What’s on the Schedule

This Friday, March 13th, our students will meet with residents of the Blumkin home. They will have the chance to get to know each other a little bit, pose for pictures, and enjoy cookies and punch provided by the Blumkin staff. We want to thank Linda Fitzgerald for her help in setting this up; any parent who is interested is welcome to join us. We are still looking for volunteers for April 3 and April 24, so please let us know if you have some time available.

Thanks,

Julie, Kim, Annette

More Inspiration

Here are some very nice images Kim found to bring inspiration to the Blumkin mural:

 

Try This at Home

Here is an example of what you can do with an empty wall…or a wall that you emptied just for the occasion. I don’t necessarily recommend you go the Isabella -and-Annette route, since we are way too attached to our staple gun, and our walls suffer the abuse, but you can take a piece of poster board and make this temporary. It might be a good idea to have the students think about how to make a tree collage over Passover break; this is, of course, a voluntary assignment: have them search their rooms for paper scraps, favorite pictures, pieces of art work (you don’t want to save it all anyway, do you?) and paste all their little scraps in whatever shape they want. You can use fabric, paper, cardboard, old magazines, beads, and whatever else your heart desires. Bring it to school and we’ll include it in the end of the year art show!

Mural Update March 9

We started with the background, so everything will be ready for our artists in April. 

 

Before

 

during

 

and after

Please check back often over the next few weeks, as we’ll be adding lots of images and ideas for your kids to look at. Once we start decorating the tree, we’ll need many leaves to be put on; maybe some of the kids feel like making some extra over Passover break. We’ll be providing some ideas on how to do this.

 

Kim, Julie, and Annette

Materials March/April ‘09

Currently we are looking for fabric remnants (green, brown, tan) for the leaves on the Blumkin mural, as well as paint brushes. Although we will be purchasing the latter, we won’t say no to any donations.

And, of course, (wo)man power…we still need volunteers!

About that Mural…

Yes, we are still working with the Rose Blumkin Home on getting the mural off the ground. Or, on the wall, to be precise. Maggie, RBJ’s activity director (for those of you who don’t know her, she’s awesome) and her team have been instrumental in helping us on our way, and this Sunday Kim and I are finally getting the preparation of the wall done.

 

This is what’s happening: there will be an outline of a large tree, the kids will paint it in and decorate it with flowers, leaves, anything they can think of using fabric scraps and probably some other things we’ll dig out of the storage room. They will do this together with some of the Blumkin residents, and while they get to know each other, Ophir Palmon (check out his website!) will take pictures…which will then become part of the mural. 

We’re excited; if you are too, feel free to come and help. Dates are March 13, April 3 and April 24. We’ll update you on how far we get this Sunday…we’re still working out the details regarding “getting up high”. Maybe we’ll shoot Kim out of a cannon with a paintbrush in her hand. If there are no insurance issues, at least. We’ll have to ask Ron Giller about that.

PS: Friedelart can now be found on http://alphainventions.com/

New Pictures for February 2009

Change of Plans!

Hello everybody,

after a long winter break, we are getting ready to make some changes to our art calendar. The Rose Blumkin Home has generously offered us a blank wall, which our students, together with Blumkin residents, will be decorating come April. This will be a fantastic opportunity, not only for our kids to bond with the residents, but to tighten the relationship between Friedel Jewish Academy and the Blumkin Home. In addition, the wall will stay in place for at least a year, and many many visitors to the home will be able to enjoy this project. We have no doubt our artists will do a phenomenal job, but as always, we need volunteer help to make this happen. If you are wiling and able, please check the new schedule and contact Annette at avandekamp@tconl.com or leave a comment on the site.  Your help is appreciated!

 

Kim, Julie, and Annette