Art Smart At Brunson

Location: Brunson (Milton) Math & Science Specialty Elementary School

Date: Saturday, February 02, 2013; 9:50-11:30 am

The wet and slushy sidewalks

It was wet and slushy out on the streets as I walked to the train station in the morning.  In fact, it was so challenging that I barely made it in time for the Green Line CTA out to Central.  It was  a good mile to the Brunson School and while I could have taken a bus, I decided to walk.  Immediately I realized it was going to be a mistake when I saw the sidewalks covered with wet snow.  I had just returned from a few days in San Diego; which has sun, bright skies and nothing resembling a snowy sidewalk.  I kept going and after a few slips and slides found myself outside the school.  I went in and reported myself as a Chicago Cares volunteer, after which I was directed towards a room.  There were two other volunteers, Jason and Oscar who were already there and we chatted about some of the Chicago Cares programs before they asked me if I had done other ‘Read-With-Me’ projects.  I said I had, but them saying ‘other’ got me thinking.  “This is the Art project, correct”, I asked and of course I was in the wrong room.  My project was just across the hall, not as bad last summer when I had signed up for a walking tour and spent 30 minutes with a group before realizing I was on the wrong tour!

Our first attempt

I crossed the hallway and found Emily, our Volunteer leader for this project and some other volunteers, including Sara and Melissa.  Emily is a staff member at Chicago Cares and was temporarily leading the project till a permanent leader could be found.  She told us that we would be doing Paper Marbling using shaving cream.  She gave us a handout explaining the history and development of Paper Marbling, starting with its origin in 12^th century Japan.  It went on to discuss its growth throughout Europe and its introduction to America.  It was interesting read, but I thought would be too much for the kids to grasp.  On the back was the procedure to make our shaving cream marble patterns, which included layering an inch of shaving cream on paper plate, leveling it with a piece of cardboard, using watercolors and toothpicks etc. to make patterns, transferring to another paper and finally removing excess cream with poster board.  As a practice, we decided to make one before the kids arrived and while it was nothing that would sell on the streets; we at least got the concept down.  

The kids came in and I found myself paired with a girl named Jada.  She turned out to be well mannered and inquisitive girl who was ready to participate.  Emily wanted the volunteer and child to read the history document and we both started doing it.  However, it was a very long document with complex words such as ‘Suminagashi’, something I'm sure I saw on a sushi menu somewhere.  After reading halfway through the document, Jada and I looked at each other and decided that we should just get down to it and make some marble posters.  She put some of the shaving cream on the paper plate and looked at me for guidance as regards the quantity and the leveling step.  After a few tries we got the right amount and then I told her to go with her imagination and use whichever colors she wanted.  She chose purple and told me that it was her favorite color.  When asked why, she said because it was her late grandmother’s favorite color as well.  What a precious thing to say!

While she was doing it, the boys on our table were having fun with the shaving cream and some were even calling it whipped cream.  It took considerable patience on the volunteer's part to make sure they did not put it in their mouths.  At one stage Jada got irritated and yelled at them saying it was shaving cream and not whipped cream.  But she continued to work with her colors and then using toothpicks, we created a pattern.  We transferred it on paper and after scraping off the shaving cream, it looked pretty decent.  She then started on another pattern, this time intending to draw a landscape picture.  I asked about her family and she mentioned that her older brother was sitting next to me and she had a younger sister, at home.  But what I found interesting was that she had a twin brother Kenneth, who was sitting at the other table.  I have always found twins fascinating and I walked over to see what he was doing.  Lo and behold, more than 20 feet away, Kenneth was also creating a landscape image.  This was either an amazing piece of coincidence, or there really is something called 'Twin’s Intuition'. 

While Jada is very talkative and assertive, Kenneth is quite and attentive.  However, both of them were quite engrossed in their work and I started to create my own picture.  I decided to do concentric circles in different colors and then using a toothpick, create web like patterns.  While doing that, I asked Jada what she wanted to be when she grew up.  She said she wanted to be a nurse because she wanted to help people.  Why not a doctor I asked.  She said because doctor’s open people up and nurses are more involved with patients.  I said that she could become a children’s doctor and she actually stopped what she was doing to consider this point.  She said that this might be something she would like to do. I asked her older brother what he wanted to be and he said he was going to become an inventor.  I told him that I was a scientist by training and that seemed to fascinate him, though I said I have not invented anything of note recently. 

My pattern: Left on shaving cream, right after transfer

We were nearing the end of our session and while I was focused on finishing my picture, the kids had ended up doing several colorful and good looking patterns.  Some had gone to the bathrooms to dry them using the hand dryers.  The volunteers cleaned up while Emily handed out books for the kids to read.  I noticed that all the books were new and asked Emily if she had purchased them.  She said that Target donates most of the books and after what I had experience with the Company just two weeks ago, I was not surprised.  The children left and Emily gave me and Oscar, from ‘Read-With-Me’, a ride back to the train station.  We chatted on the train and I learned that he was doing somewhat similar work as me and we exchanged cards.  Afterwards I looked at my marble poster and was amazed at how decent it looked and how much better it would have been if I had been more diligent.  Nevertheless, I put it up on the soft board in my workarea at the office, which is starting to resemble one giant collage.  Just 4 months ago some of my colleagues use to complain that I had the most boring office.  Thanks to my work with Chicago Cares, there is a lot more color…and not just on the walls. 


*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy