Happy Holidays to the Artoconecto/KIDSART Family!

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and inspiring New Year!

From our family to Yours

Peace and Love to All Our Friends

Alexandra and Danny

THE ARBOLEDA FESTIVAL, ON NOVEMBER 12TH IN THE DESIGN DISTRICT BENEFITS KIDSART PROGRAM

KIDSART that’s not just for the kids

Published on 09 September 2011 by Anne Tschida in All Communities, Miami

Artist Bhakti Baxter led children in making sculptures of kids.

What a pleasure to see the sampling of art that just opened on the second floor of the downtown LegalArt building (a Knight Arts Challenge grantee) in Miami. There is an impressive, pastel-colored, spray-painted canvas covering one wall; on another, a large, multicolored, epoxy-covered sculpture. In the middle of the room, a bunch of wonderful little sculptures, made from all sorts of materials that look like, well, yes, a bunch of little kids.

All of the above were made by children as part of a summer camp program sponsored by Artoconecto, which paired the kids with local artists to come up with these collaborative works — in the case of the pieces above, with Douglas Hoekzema, Sinisa Kukec and Bhakti Baxter, respectively.

Artist Sinisa Kukec guides kids into the world of art. Photo by Benjamin Thacker

It’s a pretty cool collaboration all around, as the program and this resulting exhibit, called “KIDSART Bridges: Tolerance and Understanding,” also involved children from across the Atlantic in Croatia. So in another corner, hung above a bit of floor covered in hay (which perfumed the room with a great rural essence), are some really lovely paintings crafted from the kids of this formerly war-torn Yugoslav republic. (In an interesting cross-pollination, one camp artistic “counselor” in Miami, Kukec, is a Croatian native). A current LegalArt resident, Pachi Giustinian guided her group of children in a workshop through some experimentation with abstract painting, which, in the end were pieced together in a semicircle on another part of the floor — almost like they were coated place-mats, fit together on a huge table. Giustinian and Baxter also had works of their own placed near the collaborative pieces; maybe as a “guide” as to the origins of the inspiration.

The burgeoning artists and their camp leaders arrive at LegalArt.

The fifth artist who participated in the workshop camp, Leda Almar, decided to get the children to explore the often difficult task of figurative drawing. The result is the revealing series of children’s portraits.

Upstairs on this opening night, the studios of the first year of residents at LegalArt were also opened up, giving the public a glimpse of what has been created during this inaugural incubator program. The live/work spaces are handsome and the work appropriately varied, from the in-house residents Viking Funeral (Carlos Ascurra and Juan Gonzalez), Jiae Hwang, Manny Prieres, Giustinian and the ™ Sisters. They will be departing by the end of the year, when a new group, now being considered, will take over in February 2012.

“KIDSART Bridges: Tolerance and Understanding” at LegalArt, 1035 N. Miami Ave., Ste. 220, Miami; www.legalart.org.

Courtesy of Anne Tschida and Knight Arts

OUR LAST CAMP IN GVOZD, CROATIA. THANKS TO ALL THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE AT SUNCOKRET AND TO OUR GREAT KIDS!

BREAKING THE BARRIERS OF INTOLERANCE BY NIKOLA FALLER

Nikola and his friend and assistant Nina traveled from Hungary--they got lost in one of the most complicated and intricate crossroads that divides Eastern Europe-they ended up in Slovenia! The next day, they set out back on the road determined to make it to Gvozd. They did! and brought with them the most inspiring spirits and contagious energy. As soon as they pulled over into Suncokret, kids, artists, and volunteers immediately engaged--downloading stacks of fresh hay from his van, tools, baskets filled with artwork. The kids were in awe and realized how much you can do with hay, besides feeding it to the cows. " I use organic and natural materials in my work, because I believe that preservation of the planet is also part of my artistic journey. Today we will use branches from a nut tree, they are strong but at the same time they are flexible, and this will be symbolic for the kids--we must be strong in life but also flexible." By Nikola Faller. More photos and stuff-click on the sunflowers or right here!

Miami Week #4...Pachi Giustinian: Understanding as a Common Goal-Paint as 'Object'

Featuring LEGALART Artist-In-Residence, Pachi Giustinian!

Tolerance and Understanding In Our World.

Thank you Pachi Giustinian!!! Thank you Legal Art!

Artist Pachi Giustinian did an amazing job with her workshop at Legal Art this past Saturday... the children worked together to better understand the common goal... to paint as “object”. Giustinian’s workshop was truly a non representational abstract approach. And the children did an amazing job working on individual pieces , knowing that they would come together at a latter date.

Leandra, Lucas, Trenard, Lara, Skye, and Kamilla better understanding a finished painting as an object, by Pachi Giustinian....coninue by clicking on the KIDSART blog!

Miami Week #3: The kids explore the clandestine world of spray painting (aka GRAFFITI)....

KIDSART 2011

Tolerance and Understanding In Our World.

UNDERSTANDING PLATONIC PATTERNS

Stencils, Patterns and Painting.

A Work Shop By Douglas Hoekzema

Saturday, August 13TH, 2011

Our third Miami camp this summer was taught by painter, sculptor, and designer Douglas Hoekzema. It was an exciting adventure in better understanding “Platonic Patterns” through the act of repeatedly painting shapes, using hand made stencils the kids cut out themselves!!! Mr. Hoekzema methodically explained the seemingly simple task of stencil making with construction paper! a lot more complicated that it looks!!! Snow flakes came up a few times... and then it dawned on us... many of the kids and adults in the room have never even seen snowflakes before... and so, the Kids quickly rose to the occasion! Flowers, crystals... zebra stripes... rows of houses... the list ran on and on!

More photos on the KIDSART blog!

We All Have a Different Approach by Lila Herceg

Our fourth camp took place yesterday with Lila Herceg, who traveled from Varazdin--a three- hour-trip by bus. Lila is a contemporary artist who graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. Her approach to the theme of Tolerance was emphasized in the use of same materials and the same subject. She discouraged them to copy one another. "I want the kids to realize, after they are finished with their assignment, that although they are all making a collage about trees, at the end all their works will be different from one another." By Lila Herceg.

Sharing An Artistic Universe by Stipo Zoroja

Stipo, a veteran visual artist from Bosnia, arrived into Gvozd this morning after a long drive from his native Livno. The kids were really excited and looking forward to working with him. They knew that they were going to paint with acrylics on canvases. They quietly sat around while Stipo explained the relationship between motherly love and the universe. He encouraged them to look around and observe the harmony contained in nature. He declared that tolerance is like the love of a mother towards her children, and that we should all carry on these lessons of love and share them with one another. “I feel free here and when I am free I can create art. I want the children to free themselves today.” Stipo Zoroja

Tolerance with Our Surroundings By Aleksandra Podrebarac

Gvozd is a region that is surrounded by wild almost untouched nature. Fruit trees such as apple, pears and blueberries are as common as coconut trees are in the Caribbean and in costal areas of Southeast Asia. Aleksandra Podrebarac's workshop focused on nature, the kids home. An artist from the war torn neighboring city of Karlovac, Aleksandra’s goal was to use the power of observation to make them understand not to take their environment for granted. "It will also teach them to be as tolerant with nature’s way as they should also be towards one another." By Aleksandra Podrebarac.

Enter the KIDSART blog in Croatia to see more of today’s workshop.

KIDSART Goes International!

KIDSART Bridges/Croatia begins! Click here for the first camp!

“Hrvoje and I truly enjoyed our adventure. We enjoyed our ride back, we felt very relaxed and exchanged nice feelings about how it all went very smooth. Children were touching, and I admire all the work that Maja and Predrag are doing for Gvozd community and I am very happy that Hrvoje and I contributed to this great work. I think we can all be happy with our results. Greatest reward was looking at children and shaking hands with each of them. I could see in their eyes they enjoyed the time with us. I consider that greater than art.” Anita Sulimanovic

KIDSART Week#2: Artist Leda Almar and the kids!

Our second art camp!!! Understanding Through Self Portrait; by artist and educator Leda Almar, was an absolute success in a step towards understanding the portrait! The children learned about drawing... how to use paint and color. Most important of all... we all learned how the portrait is an awesome vehicle to self expression.

Artist and educator Leda Almar... a step towards understanding the portrait

All photos by Benjamin Thacker
For all the fun, and much, much, more. please go to the KIDSART Blog!

Bhakti Baxter kicks off KIDSART!

Photographs by Benjamin Thacker

www.thrubenslens.com

Art is messy!

An amazing Saturday morning for the kids! And don't forget Ms. Cheezious!

All that and more photos on the KIDSART blog. Stay tuned for our first camp from Croatia, too!

The dynamic arts non-profit Artoconecto is pleased to announce KIDSART BRIDGES: Tolerance and Understanding In Our World, a new and exciting series of arts camps that will take place at artists’ studios in Miami (US) and Gvozd (Croatia), during the summer of 2011.

Five of Miami’s leading artists---Bhakti Baxter, Leda Almar, Doug Hoekzema, Pachi Giustinian and Sinisa Kukec---will conduct one camp per week, on Saturdays from 10 AM to 1PM. The camps will include all materials, tools, art supplies, and lunch!

In fact, after finishing their collaborative projects, the kids will find a different food truck waiting, parked outside the artists’ studios.

Miami’s hottest food trucks, including Ms. Cheezious, Wing Commander, Mac and Food, Gastropod, Catered Bliss, and Churromania, will team up with the artists to feed kids ‘body and soul’. “We are very gratified that the arts community and the wildly popular food trucks of Miami have so generously embraced KIDSART,” says Executive Director Alexandra Rangel. “Eating lunch at a food truck after the workshops continues the fun and discovery for the kids.”

This summer KIDSART expands internationally, as the Miami camps will run concurrently with the participation of children from the war torn city of Gvozd in Croatia. Children and artists from both cities will work side by side to create meaningful pieces of artwork that reflect the theme of tolerance and understanding in our world. In addition, Artoconecto is excited to announce that they have been awarded their second grant from the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs for KIDSART, as well as a generous grant from international arts organization CEC Artslink. This will allow Artoconecto to expand its children’s program and partner with the Croatian organization Sunkocret (Sunflower) Center for Community Development. The grants will facilitate both organizations’ implementation of a five-week arts camp where kids will participate in collaborative art projects designed by established artists. The pieces produced during the camps, alongside the artwork of the participating artists, will be exhibited in a gallery space in December, during Art Basel Miami Beach 2011.

...PLUG IN

UPDATES AND NEWS

+++Artoconecto starts a free after-school arts program with Teaching Artist Leda Almar at Art Studio Miami. “Carving Your Message” will run on Wednesdays and Fridays.

First class photos-click here! [link]

++++Artoconecto wins grant from CEC ArtsLink for KIDSART Bridges, an international arts project with Croatia! From the CEC ArtsLink website:

2011 ARTSLINK PROJECTS AWARDEES

Alexandra Rangel
with students

ARTOCONECTO, MIAMI, FL

Host Country: Croatia

"$4,300 to support a collaboration with Suncokret Center for Community Development to carry out two simultaneous 5-week visual arts programs led by international artists for at-risk youth in Gvozd, Croatia and Miami, Florida. The programs will culminate in an exhibition of the students’ work held in Miami during the 2011 Art Basel Miami activities."

Go to CEC ArtsLink to see all of the award-winners!

KIDSART Bridges is an international exchange arts camp between kids from Croatia and Miami.

Project Summary

Artoconecto, the dynamic non-profit arts organization in Miami, Florida, (US) and the progressive organization Suncokret Center for Community Development from Gvozd, Croatia, propose an arts exchange camp called KIDSART BRIDGES which will have the participation of children from their respective areas. The program will run concurrently in both countries during the summer of 2011. For a period of five weeks, children from both partnered organizations will participate and engage in the creation of meaningful pieces of artwork, by following a theme that will address the various socio-economical realities in both cities. This will create a cross-cultural, international dialogue that will not only educate the audiences about the missions of both organizations but also emphasize the importance of the arts in the lives of our children. The arts camps will be conducted simultaneously, and will be filmed by Alexandra Rangel, Founder of Artoconecto. The artwork produced during these workshops, and a short documentary, will be featured in an arts exhibition in the City of Miami, during the festivities of Art Basel Miami Beach in December 2011.

KIDSART MIAMI

Miami art camps will start on July 30^th and will run through the month of August. Register your kids early. Space is limited to a group of 20 kids. For additional information contact us at artoconecto@gmail.com or call 786-246-2052.

PAST KIDSART ARTISTS

2009 KIDSART Artists: John DeFaro, Johnnie Robles, Luis Valle, Agustina Woodgate, Oscar Fuentes and Tracey Hagen

2010 KIDSART Artists: Karen Rifas, Onajide Shabaka, Morphologic Studios, John DeFaro and Alexandra Rangel

KIDSART BRIDGES CROATIA

Art camps in Croatia will start on July 30^th, in the region of Gvozds in conjunction with Suncokret [link]

MIAMI’S HOTTEST FOOD TRUCKS TEAM UP WITH ARTISTS TO FEED KIDS ‘BODY AND SOUL’

The dynamic arts non-profit Artoconecto presents KIDSART BRIDGES: Tolerance and Understanding In Our World, the third annual series of summer arts camps that will take place locally at artists’ studios in Miami, and internationally in Gvozd, Croatia. This summer, Miami’s hottest food trucks, including Ms. Cheezious, Wing Commander, Mac and Food, Gastropod and Catered Bliss will team up with local artists to feed kids ‘body and soul’. “We are very gratified that the arts community and the wildly popular food trucks of Miami have so generously embraced KIDSART,” says Executive Director Alexandra Rangel, “and we are excited that we will have the opportunity to expand the program internationally.”

Five artists in the Miami area, including Bhakti Baxter, Leda Almar, Doug Hoekzema, Pachi Giustinian and Sinisa Kukec, will conduct one camp per week, on Saturdays from 10 AM to 1PM. The camps will include all materials and art supplies. After each project, the kids will find a different food truck waiting, parked outside the artists’ studios. “We want to feed the kids ‘body and soul’,” says Rangel, “and lunch at a food truck after the workshops continues the fun and discovery for the kids.”

Children in Miami from the ages of 6 through 12 are welcome to participate this summer, where camps will run concurrently with the participation of children from the war torn city of Gvozd in Croatia. Children and artists from both cities will work side by side to create meaningful pieces of artwork that reflect the theme of tolerance and understanding in our world. Artists in Croatia include Hrvojé Mitrov, Stipe Zoroja, Lila Herceg, Nikola Faller and Aleksandra Podrebarac. In addition, Artoconecto is excited to announce that they have been awarded their second grant from the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs for KIDSART, as well as a generous grant from international arts organization CEC Artslink. This will allow Artoconecto to expand its children’s program and partner with the Croatian organization Sunkocret (Sunflower) Center for Community Development. The grants will facilitate both organizations’ implementation of a five-week arts camp where kids will participate in collaborative art projects designed by established artists. The pieces produced during the camps, alongside the artwork of the participating artists, will be exhibited in a gallery space in December, during Art Basel Miami Beach 2011.

THE KIDSART BRIDGES program this year will have the participation of four under-privileged children selected through a partnership with Art Studio Miami, who will receive full scholarships for the camps. It is a tremendous opportunity to not only have your child participate in the most exciting arts camp in Miami, but also, you will directly contribute to sponsoring a child.

“KIDSART helps kids build a meaningful foundation for learning, and all kids deserve the chance to fulfill their potential,” says Rangel.

Starting day: Saturday July 30^th

Continues on: August 6^th, 13^th, 20^th and 27^th.

Times: from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Contribution to the program, tax deductible: $100 per child: includes materials, lunch and sponsorship of under-privileged children.

Space is limited to 20 children.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS
DEADLINE MARCH 31ST, 2011


Requesting Artist for Art Camps
Benefiting Miami's At Risk-Youth & Children in Foster.

The local arts advocacy organization Artoconecto, Inc, in conjunction with Art Studio Miami, Empowering Young Minds, are seeking local emerging visual artists, who have bold and exciting artistic ideas ready to be implemented at a series of arts camps for at-risk youth and children in foster care, at Art Studio's location in Little Haiti. The camps are scheduled to start March 2011 and will run consecutively through May. Artists in all mediums are invited to participate. The goal is to select two emerging artists who are ready and enthusiastic about implementing their dream project and work with a group of children in need, on a volunteer basis in exchange for valuable Teaching Artist experience and training. In addition the chosen artist's will have the opportunity to be eligible for a paid summer teaching artist position with Artoconecto's KIDSART program and a possible artist-in-residency at Art Studio.



Artoconecto's KIDSART program, in partnership with Art Studio, will provide selected artists with the tools, materials, population of at-risk youth, space, technical support and guidance necessary to successfully complete their art projects, therefore training them as teaching artists and adding a valuable set of skills to their CV/Resumes. Once selected for the volunteer Teaching Artist training, these artists will be recognized and participate with an honorarium in a paid position at the summer art camp of Artoconecto's KIDSART program, making it a sustainable and rewarding experience for the artist who in the process becomes an agent of change. In addition, the artists will be eligible to become an artist-in-residence within Art Studio.



Artoconecto is expanding the KIDSART project within Art Studio's premises, where during two months and under the tutelage of one artist per month, a population of children in need in the area of Little Haiti, will receive an afterschool arts program (2pm-6pm weekdays) that will serve as a compliment to their primary education.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD APPLICATION