Program Description: Rosemary Giusti Dillon is an artist and art educator with a passion to bring art experiences and knowledge to children who may not otherwise have the opportunity to experience art-making.  She implements resourceful and imaginative teaching in a wide array of artistic mediums with a talent for instilling art appreciation and promoting creativity and open-mindedness.  Offering individualized support, Rosemary provides positive encouragement to ensure that each child succeeds.

Sample Experiences:

Geometry in Nature: This program will explore the natural progression of geometry in nature by creating works of art using graphic grids. Ultimately the students will collaborate in a mural showing natural geometric forms. Students will learn to draw grids of the Golden section, and hexagon shapes to create natural pattern designs.

Students will gain an understanding of the complex rhythms in nature and art, as well as gain an understanding of using “old school” graphic art tools including a T-square, triangles, compass and a drawing board. The mural would be a collaborative incorporation of the designs created by each student.

Art, 2D, 3D, and the Mobius Strip: This 3-day class will explore creating a character in 2 dimensions, (x and y axis), recreating that character in 3 dimensions (x, y and z axis), then creating a Mobius strip world for a small version of the character to live in.

• Class 1- Using oil pastels we will create our 2D character with height and depth
• Class 2- We will create a paper and cardboard sculpture of our character using recycled cardboard, paper and glue, exploring height, width and depth
• Class 3- We will make a Mobius strip out of cardboard, and build a small world that a small version of our character must travel around to return home.

Oh the Places We’ll See!! Exploring through Books: We will read a book a day at this -day class, engaging in discussion of each story, then ending each day with a book themed art project. The books selected are stories that teach empathy and appreciation of others. The books are:

• The Bake Shop Ghost by Jacqueline K. Ogburn (we will construct a large birthday cake from recycled cardboard)
• Horton Hears a Who by Theodor Geisel aka Dr. Seuss (We will juxtapose a giant cardboard figure next to a tiny figure, because after all, a person’s a person no matter how small…)
• The Blue Horse by Eric Carl. As a boy growing up in Germany, Carl’s teacher showed him a picture of a blue horse. The picture the teacher explained was considered “degenerate” art by the Nazis. Later Eric Carl used this inspiration to create a collection of oddly colored animals, including a blue horse! The story will be followed by a class on collage.

Corrugated Corrugated Corrugated!!!!!!!!!

Exploring Forms with Cardboard!

This series of projects will explore recycled cardboard as a medium, from cardboards strength, flexibility, availability, and versatility!

Building a Chair!

This class will use teamwork to construct different style chairs that can support the weight of an adult! This project will explore different types of support constructs, and review different chair designs that are not only strong but visually attractive!

Building a Corrugated House!

This team project involves building interlocking walls, pillars, roofs and interlocking parts to construct a durable house out of appliance boxes and recycled materials. The pieces can then be assembled and reassembled.

Cardboard Sculptures

Using corrugated cardboard, each student can creatively use corrugated pieces to create a unique sculpture.