Art + Activism = Change, New Class at the Oak Park Art League

Photos from class, Art + Activism = Change, Class with Elaine Luther at the Oak Park Art League

Here are some photos from my day camp from last week at the Oak Park Art League (OPAL). Students were ages 9-12 and made posters and t-shirts on a cause that they care about.

In addition, we made Tibetan Prayer Flags with kirigami patterns on them. Those are hung out of doors and they spread their blessings throughout the community.

We’ll be offering this class again in the fall! (Thanks to OPAL for the terrific name for this course.)

I used to teach pure technique, “this is how you do this, you can make whatever you want.” Now my mission as a teaching artist is to teach a reason along with the technique. The art method is in service to the larger issue or message or theme of the class.

Another part of my mission is to teach people who don’t usually get to make art – this is part of why I like to teach in libraries, it’s a setting that makes art making accessible to anyone and everyone, regardless of ability to pay.

Art + Activism = Change is a course that was incubated by the Chicago Public Library; the staff there requested my Rock the Protest Poster one year, and then Activist T-shirts the next.

It was very rewarding to combine these projects into one day camp, teach the critical thinking, symbolic thinking, art techniques, and coach the tweens through their processes of creating their activist art projects.

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Want to learn to make kirigami Tibetan Prayer Flags on your own at home? I made a step-by-step tutorial for that, with 114 photos! Check it out, here:
https://www.elainelutherart.com/2016/06/new-tutorial-kirigami-prayer-flags

Want one of these projects at your library? Click here for the Contact Page to start a conversation! All materials are included, even t-shirts!