Art Relief International Volunteer Blog

I AM! Self Portraits

2012-02-08T13:13:00.000+07:00

I am Sarah. I am an artist. I am a younger sister. I am a daughter. I am American.

How would you finish the sentence "I am ____" ?

We asked this question to the young students of Wat Pa Pao in Chiang Mai and engaged them in a conversation about personal identity.

Using both Thai words and English, we talked to them about the difference between outward identity- like appearance, and inner identity, such as feelings or emotions.

We gave them all slips of paper with an identity word and asked them to come up and put their word on which ever side- Outer or Inner, that they felt it belonged. There were many that could have gone either way, so we discussed with the students why they felt the way they did about each identity word.

Then we went through all of the words and the class repeated them aloud in English. Using these words, we wanted them to create silhouette identity portraits, and get the students to talk about different ways that they can describe themselves, both inwardly and outwardly. We started by tracing each student's shadow from a light on a sheet of white paper.

Then they began cutting out their silhouettes, and gluing the white space to black paper.

Then, we asked the students to look at the identity words again and decide which ones would suit their identity. How would they finish the sentence, "I am... "? Would it be an inner identity or an outer identity? The students began by writing "I AM" in English at the tops of their silhouettes.

Then, we used pastel crayons to write the words on and around their self portrait. There was a wide range of ages, but most of the older students were quick to know what was an outward-identity word, like "tall" or "dark hair" and wrote it around their silhouette. Then they chose inner identity words, such as "happy" or "smart" and wrote them in the black space of their silhouette.

There was so much good discussion! We continued to practice saying words in English with them and asking them to repeat them to us back in Thai so we could learn too. The students were really engaged in the activity and many of the older ones tried to write all of their identity words in English.

Students were very proud of their work!

After everyone was finished, we asked a couple of students to come up and talk about their work in front of the class. They explained some of their word choices and talked about their personal identity.

Everyone finished with a great silhouette portrait.

At the end of the day, everybody could say, "I am HAPPY!"

It was great to see them excited and continuing their discussion of the workshop after we were done. It is always worth it for us when we see the students proud of their work.

Til next time...

Be happy and make a Difference!

Sarah

You Are What You Wear!

2012-02-08T13:07:00.000+07:00

Sawatdee ka!

Another week has begun at Art Relief International, and we kicked it off by going to Thai Freedom House on Monday. This week at TFH, we engaged the students in a discussion about the way in which we present ourselves. We first talked about memoirs, and using one sentence to describe your life- it was very challenging coming up with a 6 word memoir but some of the students had beautiful, insightful sentences about their lives. What would yours be?

One boy's one-sentence memoir, translated to English, was "Knowledge is my future." Another, our youngest student at THF, wrote "Every day I want to see my parents." Their sentences were beautiful and poetic, and some silly and fun, describing their lives as they are right now, such as "I love my best friend named Jenny!"

The students enjoyed the exercise and were very quick in coming up with their words. Mine was neither poetic nor insightful, but a quote from my Dad. Another volunteer wrote "Life is happiness, so live it."

It was a great way to start the workshop and get the students interacting with us.

We went on to discuss other ways in which any person can express themselves. One important way is in the clothes that we wear.

We showed different examples of people wearing different clothing, and asked the students what they could know about the person based only on what they were wearing.

Then finally, we discussed self portraits. We showed examples of portraits done by famous artists such as Frida Kahlo, Vincent Van Gogh, Andy Warhol, and Pablo Picasso. We discussed the differences in each portrait, and what each artist could be trying to convey in the way they present themselves.

Then we got to work on our own self portraits!

These self-portraits were going to be made out of fabric, concentrating on the clothing that you present yourself in. Each student was given a piece of material to draw themselves. Using different squares of fabric, we chose what kind of clothing we would dress in and began to stitch our "outfits" to the material.

After stitching the squares of fabric on along our pencil lines, you can cut away the extra fabric and just have your article of clothing. It was a very simple, easy way of stitching and the students caught on very quickly and made beautiful outfits for themselves!

Some of the examples of work students did:

The students were encouraged to get creative with their self portraits and add additional things to it! Some added gems or rhinestones to accent their work. Others began to draw backgrounds for their image.

Because of all the detail the students were adding to their work, most did not get a chance to finish. After they are done with their self-portraits, we have small canvas draw-string bags to sew them to. They are going to look beautiful, so stay tuned to see images of the final product!

Once again, we never fail to make a mess of ourselves at Thai Freedom House! Luckily everyone pitched in to help clean up.

The students were really engaged in the discussion of how we present ourselves and how we can express who we are to those around us. Clothing is a great way to express yourself- and making mini outfits to fit our personality was so much fun. We can't wait to go back to Thai Freedom House next week and finish up our project.

Be Happy and Make a Difference!

(my Dad's quote and my six-word-memoir :) )

Love always,

Sarah

Lights, Camera, Social Action!

2012-02-06T15:23:00.000+07:00

Hello friends and followers -

Over the last month, Art Relief International participated in a very special partnership with Actuality Media. Actuality Media (http://www.actualitymedia.org/) is an NGO that connects emerging filmmakers with local non-profit organizations around the world to create documentary films that highlight the work being done. It turns filmmakers into change-makers and turns change-makers into movie stars!

ARI volunteers and friends enjoying the gallery.

At Art Relief International, we were lucky enough to participate in Actuality Media’s pilot program in Chiang Mai. We’ve had four emerging filmmakers shadowing us for the last month and working on creating a film that could shed light on the work that we are trying to do.

Our film crew decided to focus on the life of one of our workshop participants, Kon, who they met at Thai Freedom House. Kon is a Shan Burmese refugee who is given little access to education in Thailand because, as a Burmese refugee, he is considered a non-person by the government. Kon’s dream is to be a teacher, so we invited him to come help us teach our Young Lions about Shan culture, which you can read about here.

This last Saturday, the ARI/CCT Teams headed to Sangdee Gallery in Chiang Mai to watch the finished films for the first time. We were so happy to see how the filmmakers caught Kon’s energy and essence and were able to tell his story in a new artistic medium: film! The night was a huge success, with drinks, laughter, art, and even some kind and generous donations to ARI.

A huge thank you goes out to the Actuality Media team for allowing us this opportunity. Please check out the Actuality Media website, where the ARI-inspired film should be in the next few days!

Love from Chiang Mai,

Aimee

Ojos de Dio

2012-02-06T13:01:00.000+07:00

Mexico? Where is Mexico?

This week our Young Lions practiced patience by making Ojo de Dios. The "Ojo de Dios" or God's Eye is an ancient symbol made by the Huichol Indians of Mexico. The central eye was made when a child was born. Each year, a bit of yarn was added until the child turned five at which point the Ojo was complete. The child keeps their Ojo de Dios to protect them throughout their life.

The kids listened carefully the story about Mexico and could not wait to start making their own Ojos de Dios.

I want to start!

They are very easy to make and the project was a great chance to use up scrap yarn. We had so much Yarn left from previous projects so that the kids could choose from a wide range of materials and make them as colourful as they wished.

Our students took two sticks and tied them together with yarn. They weaved the yarn around the sticks patiently moving the yarn behind the top stick, back over the top stick, behind the left stick, over the left stick, behind the bottom stick, over the bottom stick, and behind and over and behind and over and behind and over again and again.

They could change colors by knotting new colors to the old one, so the knot forms on the back of the sticks. The different colours made every Ojo de Dios a unique art piece.

.....At the beginning it can be very frustrating,

but once you understand how it works, it’s fun......

and the final artworks were just amazing!

Love

-Alena

2012-02-03T10:17:00.000+07:00

Hi there !

Today we will be painting - and cottoning !
This workshop will allow the children at Mitmundek to color two drawings, a sheep and a bubble bath, and stick cotton at wherever spots they find it most appropriate.

First, we color in.

This young lady (3 years old) showed great talent as she colored the pictures with impressive precision. The ARI staff and volunteers all agreed that they must not have been so skilled at such a young age! So, look out for a a certain Long Om in 20 years time, an artist might be born...

Others needed a little assistance to get going with the water color...

But Cee's teasing always succeeds to put a smile on the children's faces and reassure them that they are doing as great job!

And now to the fun part!

Once more Long Om showed surprising talent as she carefully stuck the cotton on each picture. She was VERY serious about staying inside the lines.

Well, all the drawings turned out beautiful, just look! If only sheep had cute cotton candy fur like this one...

We had some time left to play with cameras, instruments, and more water color paint! The children seemed to enjoy every minute of this workshop just as much.

Finally, Long Om decided that it was time to head off to school, not paying any attention to her mother desperately trying to convince her otherwise. Oh well, this only resulted in more laughter... and cute pictures!

So, just another fun day with lovely, inspiring people really. I can't wait for more of these to come!

Much love,

Marie

Sticky Miracles

2012-02-01T16:57:00.000+07:00

HEJ!

My name is Marie, I am from Denmark and have been spending twelve incredible days here at ARI. This is my first blog and the workshop I will be describing today seems like a perfect way to start!
Although I have truly been enjoying the variety of the different workshops, just as much as the harmonious spirit they all seem to share, there was something particularly great about our rubber glue painting session at Healing Family Foundation last Tuesday. Here are the three simple steps we followed (with a few interruptions: but that's what the fun is all about, right? :))

1. Let's start gluing! This part might seem pointless as the white glue does not come out on the drawing sheets. But be patient, magic is about to happen!

Marika (right) and I (left) quickly agreed to stick with an abstract theme for our paintings: it is surprisingly difficult to draw with glue.

...Or perhaps we simply did not have the same precision and focus of the skilled creators at Healing Family Foundation!

But how to concentrate with a cute little creature, who some suppose to be a dog, running around??

No, the weak volunteers of ARI could not resist spending (a long) five minutes playing with this little piece of sugar - who obviously enjoyed it too, just look at that pose!

But let's not get distracted (again)...

2. The glue dries fast so after a bit of puppy love we could move on to the next step: PAINTING!

HFF members showed just as much creativity at this point of the workshop...

And what a sight! I told you you would soon be able to see results! And it is about to get even better...

But hold your horses, we just have time for a game of Simon Says before we proceed! Although everyone enjoyed it in their own way, the language barrier did make it difficult for the Thai Simon to understand the Western one, and the other way around. Hopefully, the lovely people of HFF were able to learn a few new English words: I am sure proud to say that I now know how to say ''clap'' in Thai :)

We also took the opportunity to entertain the ''dog'' a bit more (what if the poor thing got bored?). The paintings weren't yet dry anyway... Were they?

Anyway !

3. At last! Now we only need to scrape off the rubber glue. Sorry to say, this intense fingernail work resulted in the impossibility of taking pictures, or even do anything else, during the process - but it sure was a fun, different experience!

And ...

VOILA! The final products came out better than we could have ever expected.

Indeed, everyone seemed proud to pose with their newest creation.

Oh, and then of course there was a little more puppy time...

Thank you HFF for showing great enthusiasm and creativity, and for being so open and lovely to us new volunteers. I look very much forward to meeting with you again for another creative hour or two!

Much love,

Marie

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

2012-02-01T10:15:00.000+07:00

Hello everyone! On Monday at Thai Freedom House, we introduced the children to the concept of recycling. After our usual silly warm-up games and getting the kids loosened up, we sat in a big circle and talked about how recycling is important to our environment and our lives. We had the the kids talk about how they can create environmental change. We discussed the differences between reducing, reusing, and recycling and what an example of each of these concepts would be. The children were excited to give examples and talk about different ways that they can reuse plastic bottles or cans.

The children had some great ideas, and were very involved in the discussion. They pointed out several things in their classroom that had been recycled or reused.

Then we got to work introducing the project. In this workshop, we showed the children that we would be using recycled paper and materials to create journals. Using two pieces of thick cardboard from old art paper pads for the cover, the children set to work using all sorts of different scrap paper to creatively decorate their journals.

We were armed with piles and piles of scrap paper and glue. Everyone was excited and ready to get started.

Some children used cut-out stars to decorate their covers.

All kinds of paper were used, including magazines and newspapers!

Once they were finished decorating their covers, we punched two holes in the side so that we could bind the journals together. Even the paper inside was recycled! The members of ARI saved up old one-sided sheets of paper from the office, as well as collecting some from local copy shops. Once all the paper was lined up, the children used yarn to string it all together.

Using the paper to collage beautiful covers was so much fun, even the volunteers couldn't help but make their own journals.

The children of Thai Freedom House really enjoyed making their journals unique and special. At the end of the workshop, it was evident by our mess that everyone got really into it- and that recycling can be a creative process!

The end results were beautiful- each child took home their own personal, unique journal that was made from 100% recycled material.

We look always look forward to spending time with the wonderful children of Thai Freedom House and showing them that artistic expression is more than what it seems! We all learned a lot today and we can't wait to go back.

Be Happy and Make a Difference,
Sarah xox

Flower Power at Wildflower Home

2012-02-01T10:13:00.001+07:00

On Monday, we went to Wildflower Home which is a lovely refuge for young Burmese women refugees who are either pregnant or who have babies. The home is in the countryside just outside Chiang Mai and there is an organic garden and accommodation. There are also some very sweet dogs which make it feel very homely. WFH cares for the women and also teaches them English and useful life skills.

Sleepy puppy

Cee demonstrating

Art Relief International goes there once every two weeks to hold art and crafts workshops and this week's workshop was using wire and beads to make flower jewelry.

We demonstrated to the women how to make a basic flower using fine wire and beads, and then showed them an assortment of beads where they had great fun making their color choices.

Most of the women at WFH are very good with their hands and managed to make the flowers quite easily, we then showed a more complicated design, and they made earings and pendants, and some of them repeated the designs to link together to make bracelets.

Some of the flower jewelry made

The workshop ended up with a fabulous selection of Jewelry and the women felt confident that they know how to work on their own to make more which could be sold to raise funds for the project or themselves when they leave WFH.

Look for their beautiful work to be featured for sale in the future on our Etsy site:

http://www.etsy.com/people/Artrelief!

Safety First at Mplus+!

2012-01-31T11:18:00.000+07:00

Hello from beautiful Chiang Mai! I am Sarah, one of the newest members of ARI. I am an artist from New Jersey, USA and just finished my first week with Art Relief International and have been loving every minute so far. My passion for art and working with children has brought me to Chiang Mai to work with ARI and so far it has been a wonderful growing and learning experience.

We finished up last week by visiting our friends at Mplus+, which is a non-profit organization in Chiang Mai, working to promote sexual health and identity for men in the LGBTQ community, transwomen, and male sex workers. Its a wonderful gathering place and resource center and we were happy that they welcomed us back for a workshop!

This workshop focused on the importance of safe sex and the use of condoms. We decided to erase the stigma of the taboo of condoms by getting a little silly with the vibrant people of Mplus+! We brought back our workshop of facial expression stress balls and put a safe-sex spin on them by making them out of condoms!

Creative faces!

The people at Mplus+ loved the idea, and got very creative in making their stress ball faces unique. We used markers to create beautiful faces and yarn for different hairstyles. Everyone had fun trying to out-do each other and create the most wild hairstyle!

Some of us added googly-eyes!

After we were done making our stress balls, we got the fabric out and started making condom wallets. The Mplus+ artists chose their fabric, cut out a template for their wallet, and started sewing!

It was so impressive to see the creativity coming out of these people, they were really enthusiastic about the projects and were inspired to create! After they were done sewing, they even added buttons and decorations to their wallets.

That's me with my new Condom Cozy!

Everyone enjoyed the projects and spent the evening laughing, creating and sharing good energy. We were happy to spend time with the people of Mplus+ and had so much fun!

Our collection of stress-ball people!

The night was such a success! I can't wait to share more of my experience here with ARI. Until next time, Stay Safe!

Love,

Sarah

The Trickster and the King

2012-01-27T14:15:00.000+07:00

Today, we will be emphasizing Shan culture through folktale and song.

Gong is a young Shan man, whose greatest wish is to become a teacher. He joined our Young Lions workshop to practice his teaching skills. His touching story wakens the interest of a film-team which is going to produce a short documentary film about his struggle. The premiere of the film is on Friday the 4^th of February in Chiang Mai. If you are planning a trip to Chiang Mai you are welcome to join our exiting movie-night.

It was very touching when Gong sang two Tai Yai (Shan) songs. You really could feel how heartily connected he was with his culture.

Then he told about the Shan suit he was wearing and showed the children the typical embroideries and buttons.

Cee then caught the children's fascination by telling the impressive story of The Trickster and the King.

Now our students are going to tell you the story using the language of Art:

There once was a Trickster who used to play tricks on the villagers.


The Villagers got so tired of it that they asked the King for help.

The King told the Trickster that if he could deceive him 3 times then he will be a free man again. If he could not, he would be killed.

The Trickster was successful and played the King 3 tricks:

1: he told the King that he was hungry, but he was not.

2: he tricked him into coming down from his throne, which a King should never do.

3: He lit a match and the King hit his head by running out of the room, scared of the fire.

When the King heard that the Trickster played tricks on him, he was furious and commanded the soldiers to put the trickster in a cage above a river and to cut the the rope after seven days. As the Trickster was sitting in the cage a merchant with bad vision ca to the trickster in his boat. The trickster told him, that if he stayed in the cage for seven days he will be able to see again.

The merchant believed him. On the seventh day the King ordered the soldiers to cut the rope and the cage felt into the deep, swift river.

The trickster stole all of the merchants treasures and visited the castle to meet the King. He told him that he had met the King's ancestors in the depths of the river and that they have given him some treasure to bring back to the King. The trickster told the King that if he stayed in the cage above the river and allowed the soldiers to cut the rope after seven days, he would be able to meet his ancestors in the depths of the river.

The King believed him and never has been seen again.

The trickster was then crowned the new King of the land.

THE END!

Fun in the Magic Garden

2012-01-26T12:10:00.000+07:00

Today we set off again for Hope Home.

It really earns its name, because whenever we arrive, joy and excitement are with us.

And that always gives us hope that we will have a great time together with the beautiful children of Hope Home.

We started to sing the song "Hello, How Are You" and the two boys, Phil and Boonrot loved it very much. They shook their arms and legs while laughing.

Then we gave them little stickers of flowers in bright colours and also stickers of butterflies, bugs and dragonflies. They felt the soft foam in their fingers, and they loved this, too.

Then Boonrot and Phil tried hard to give each sticker a nice place in their magic, sparkling garden.

It was not easy work for their muscles, but they succeeded in the end.

They both loved this work very much!

Then, a white sheet of paper was put on it, and as soon as we went over with the oil pastels, the shapes of the flowers and insects appeared one at a time.

It was not an easy work, but we helped them to do it!

A Magic Garden was created.

After that we gave the children massages on their hands, arms, legs and feet.

they loved being touched in this way and enjoyed the attention very much.

The little babies were hugged and given attention, too.

We had a great time again at Hope Home together with these children who are all so admirable !

I have to say good bye now, because I leave ARI tomorrow.

I had a really great time with the very supporting team and the children we educated about art.

I will keep the memory alive.

Gundula
from Germany

Fool Me Thrice

2012-01-25T16:18:00.000+07:00

It was a tricky day at Wat Pa Pao today, when students were asked to create their very own mosaics of scenes from The Trickester and The King, a traditional Shan folktale. Once we'd said our hellos and danced out our jitters P'Cee captured the attention of the students with her story telling skills.

The students kept their eyes on P'Cee as she told them how the Trickster tricked the King three times and what became of the fooled king. Every now and again an excited student would chime in with part of the story before P'Cee. Laughing ensued as the end of the story rolled around and then silence fell again (but not for long) when colorful squares of paper were passed out and students began designing their own individual scenes from the story.

It's amazing to see the diverse talent that each of the students hold. All took to the page like naturals and were able to come up with many different variations of the same (or different) scenes.

The students multitasking abilities were also impressive. While working on their project with one hand they were able to reach over and help their neighbor with the other. And once the rules were explained the volunteers of ARI realized the full extent of the children's curiosity, chatting and answering questions the entire time. Ranging from "Where do you come from?" to "What is your favorite color?" The hour long class was filled with conversation, laughter, and the occasional friendly prank.

At the end each student presented their new piece of art and explained what scene they had chosen to recreate. Put side by side it was clear that the children of Wat Pa Pao had created their own version of The Trickster And The King. They created a colorful puzzle of squares that didn't have to trick anyone into believing their story.

The Language of Facial Expression

2012-01-25T16:16:00.000+07:00

There are 6,500 languages spoken across the world and so many culture differences throughout the globe. But even if a language barrier exists, you can explain yourself through the expression of your face to people the world over. It doesn't matter if you speak English, Thai or Shan- when you smile everyone will see that you are happy and if you start crying you will probably receive support and solace in every country.

This week we spoke with our students from Thai Freedom House about different emotions, moods and feelings. By moving just a few muscles their face can change completely and express happiness, anger or sadness.

We had the students draw different emotions and that showed them that nothing stands completely on its own. When you move the shape and position of your eyes and mounth, it affects everything else.

Afterwards the students continued the workshop by making emotions-stress-balls in the beautiful garden. We filled colourful balloons with cornstarch and a bit of oil. The result was a funny stress-ball that can be formed in particularly any shape.

Later the students used their newly acquired knowledge to decorate stress-balls they made out of balloons by drawing facial expressions on them. To improve their artwork they gave the stress-balls a nice hair-do using wool. By kneading and forming the stress- ball the facial expression could change and became more or less strong.

To present the finished artworks to each other we sat down in a circle and talked about the facial expression they had chosen for their stress-ball. Nearly every student had chosen a laughing and happy face expression and the explanation were always the same : "we're happy, to be in the school and to make arts. We wish that the ARI would come every day and make art workshops with us!"

At the end of our lesson the kids still had so much energy and creativity so that they continued making art outside on the walls of the Thai Freedom House.......

…....the day ended with more FUN, GAMES and MUSIC! And we could tell by the look on everyone's face, that we all were HAPPY!

See you next Monday!

-Alena

Making New Furry (and Not So Furry) Friends

2012-01-24T12:15:00.001+07:00

On a quite Monday night, after a long break, Thai Freedom House was

bustling with happy children, chatty teens, and excited adults all ready to be back.

As the stream of people trickling in began to slow, a circle was made in the

middle of Free Bird Café and the sounds of “Chilli Chilli” filled the room.

Once introductions had been made and the activity explained students dived into the mess of yarn we’d brought and with smiles, laughter, or diligent concentration began constructing a unique collection of yarn that would soon turn into a pom-pom.

Many of the students that come to Thai Freedom House have been forced to leave their homes in search of a stable life. A large percentage of the students are Burmese refugees or displaced indigenous youth from Hill Tribes. Yet their unstable living situations don’t stop them from smiling, making new friendships, and creating successful lives for themselves.

Gong, one student, came back to visit the school after becoming a successful Shan musician. Now able to support himself and following a successful career in what he loves, he still had time to return to Thai Freedom house and make pom-poms with his old (and new) friends.

Each student has an amazing skill level and ‘can do’ attitude that would brighten anyone’s day. Despite what they’ve been through, every Monday night, Thai Freedom House is filled with returning and new students who are ready to relax and enjoy the peace (and laughter) that art brings.

With a Heart Full of Knowledge

2012-01-23T14:38:00.000+07:00

"How would he/she change?"

This was the question we asked students at Baan Im Jai after they'd finished creating their very own character.

The students at Baan Im Jai decided a gender, age, occupation, and likes for a character that hopefully reflected who they wanted to be when they grew up. However there was one small change made to their character at the end of the activity, they now had HIV and we wanted to know: How would he/she change once infected with the virus

The students at Baan Im Jai fell silent for a moment then replied that they wouldn't change if they knew how to deal with the disease, but if their character didn't know about the disease then maybe they would change a little bit once the disease began to take over.

A student works on their HIV fabric stenciling.

Our previous workshop had been a success, the welcoming children of Baan Im Jai had gathered in a circle around a small computer screen just a week earlier to learn all about how HIV works, how to protect yourself, and how HIV medications work, as well.

Now the children were getting ready to create beautiful pieces of art revolving around HIV awareness and acceptance from the ideas and knowledge they had gained (and already harbored) from our previous lesson.

Each student designed a different cloth panel to paint with symbols about HIV. Condoms, needles, and hearts filled the little black squares as chatter died down and brushes began moving. It was amazing to watch the talent of each child come to life as their work progressed. It was clear that each child had an open and loving heart and passion for knowledge.

Once finished their work was laid out in the sun to dry and was collected by Art Relief with the plan to display the pieces at a public at an art exhibition about HIV awareness and acceptance. As we cleaned up the room, which has been filled with paint it was apparent that the youth of Baan Im Jai had been filled with knowledge that they would soon pass along to their peers and fellow Thai citizens.

All Around the World People Check Their Mail

2012-01-23T11:58:00.001+07:00

During the early morning in North America, citizens across Canada and the U.S slept or began getting ready for their day while in Europe the early morning turned into midday and another continent away citizens in Asia began winding down their day as it turned into early afternoon, volunteers from Art Relief International began welcoming children to this week’s Young Lions workshop.

As the tune of “Chilli Chilli” filled the air, more and more children entered the yard to create a piece of art that would soon be sent all around the world. This workshop was a special opportunity for the children to share their work with international artists and receive work from those same artists via postcards.

The children clustered around the ARI map as Cee explained the workshop and asked children to locate the countries of the artists, and new friends, the children would be sending their work to. Excitement filled the yard as children reached for small posits labeled with different countries and eager eyes scanned the map in search of a match.

Once all the countries had been found and the children each had a postcard of their own portraits began to be created. One girl who frequently comes to Young Lions, Bam Bam, drew a starry sky resting above a house full of different rooms representing herself and her family.

It’s hard to visit Thailand and not realize how important family is to the individuals living here and Bam Bam’s portrait did a wonderful job expressing the cultural significance of family in Thailand in such a small space. Now Bam Bam, only 8 years old, will be able to share that part of her culture with someone a world away and hopefully have the chance to learn about a culture foreign to her as well.

As the workshop drew to an end the children slowly began heading back home, as all around the world people began waking up and falling asleep.

School for Life Stands Up to HIV

2012-01-23T11:40:00.002+07:00

Last Tuesday and Wednesday, we made the long and winding journey up the mountains of Chiang Mai to return to School for Life and continue our HIV Awareness Workshop in collaboration with our new partnership with Volunteer Positive . In the van with us were stencils based on the brainstorms the children had completed the week before and a large mural designed by New York artist David Berube that the children would be helping us to paint.

Fabric Stencils based on the children's brainstorms.

Our traveling mural based on the students' brainstorms!

Before we began our mural and stenciling work, we had a short activity for the students to participate in called The Character Sketch. We had each student create a character by answering some basic questions like what's the character's name and age, are they married or single, what do they do for work and fun and what is their greatest dream. The students then drew a picture of their character. When all the students had finished this activity, we brought them together and asked what would be different in this character's life if they were HIV+. The students took a moment to reflect, but most couldn't think of many things that would be different, which was exactly the point! We told the students that anyone could be HIV+ and that there can be no outward signs of having HIV.

This lesson was made tangible to the students when Cee announced that David, our volunteer from Volunteer Positive who the students had been working alongside since the week before, was HIV+. At that moment, you could have heard a pin drop in the room. After several double-takes, the students broke into applause for David.

What was truly amazing, however, was the students ability to disregard the stigmas and discrimination commonly associated with HIV in Thailand and to work alongside David on creating a beautiful mural based on their brainstorms. In addition to creating the mural, the students also worked on making beautiful embroideries over their stenciled pieces. Our mural served as the backdrop for Volunteer Positive's party last Friday night where it was displayed front and center on the stage. We are so happy to have had the opportunity to work with School for Life and Volunteer Positive on this traveling mural and hope that we will be able to display our work in Chiang Mai to continue to erase stigmas associated with HIV.

ARI and School for Life's Mural created a wonderful backdrop for Volunteer Positive's closing ceremonies!

Stay Positive,

Aimee

Owl, The Mythical Bird of Wisdom

2012-01-20T12:02:00.000+07:00

As a part of new income generations projects ARI is running with Wildflower Home, we started this week teaching the women how to make cute little owls, witch they could turn into owl-earrings, owl-key-rings or owl-pins.

Owl is a common motif for craft works in Chiang Mai. While walking through the markets you can find hand made owl-key-rings, owl-brooches and owl-bags. We tried to use this popular motif to create something our students can sell in their future lives.

The women from Wildflower Home are very skilled. They learned a lot about colour combinations in our previous Workshops (Postcard- and Candle-Lantern- Making) and they are also very experienced in sewing. Their openness and willingness to learn something new makes every workshop a unique experience.

The students were able to work independently by following just a few instructions from they ARI -Volunteers.

It was a nice and pleasant atmosphere. We all had a great time learning and teaching. At the end of the workshop the women presented their hand-made jewelry to each other and exchanged some artworks as gifts. I'm really looking forwards to seeing if they will be wearing their jewellery creations next time we meet.

Until next time

-Alena

Full Hearts and Heads at Im Jai House

2012-01-19T14:20:00.001+07:00

Hello friends and followers,

With the busy schedules we have at ARI, often our weekends become treasured times - time to visit the markets, to sleep-in, to not worry the logistics involved in having a dozen children around cups of paint. But this last Saturday, instead of late brunches and afternoons in the Old City, ARI's staff hopped in the van and traveled through the rice patties to our newest partner organization: Im Jai House.

Im Jai House is a home for teenagers orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Northern Thailand. Over two dozen children currently live at Im Jai House, each of whom is given shelter, education, and individual support as they learn and grow.

Our goal at Im Jai House was to give the children an opportunity to learn about HIV and how they can protect themselves from the disease, which, even in their short lives, has caused them much pain. We were working on the project as part of our partnership with Volunteer Positive, a group that brings international volunteers who are HIV+ together in Chiang Mai to work with local organizations to erase stigma and misconceptions surrounding the HIV/AIDS.

As it was our first time working with Im Jai House, instead of expectations, we had hopes - we hoped that the teenagers would be engaged and creative, that they would be willing to listen to what we had to say about HIV/AIDS; and that they would open up to us. I can confidently say that all of our hopes were met.

An Im Jai resident presents his wish for the future.

Cee copies down the wishes of the Im Jai students.

As we completed the activities - watching movies and playing games that focused on basic information about HIV - the children became more and more engaged. We ask the children if they have any quetions to write them down anonymously and everyone has one, even two, questions scribbled on paper for us to answer. Towards the end of our day, we had the children write down or draw a picture of a wish they hold for the future of HIV/AIDS in the world. Though their wishes were in Thai, I thought of my own wishes for the future of HIV/AIDS: that everyone has free and equal access to medications, that doctors can find a cure, that children don't lose their parents.

Boy shares his designs with us.

A surprise came after our workshop as we were given a tour of the Im Jai facilities. Several of the students and one of their social workers showed us the location of an adobe house they are in the process of building and the pens of the pigs they keep to teach the children about agriculture and the chickens that provide fresh eggs to the residents of Im Jai. The last spot on our tour was the old art room, which is now called "Boy's Studio." Boy, a deaf resident of Im Jai House of about eighteen, has turned the art room into his personal fashion house. He has sewing machines and piles and piles of fabric scraps. On the far wall of the room are bags and change-purses that he has made. Our volunteers bought purses to bring home to family and friends, to keep for themselves. Boy was glowing. He pulled a drawing pad from the bookshelf against the wall, which is overflowing with fashion magazines. He opens it up, and we see that its pages are full of his designs for dresses. The social worker explains to us that they have been looking for a university program for Boy in fashion design, but they haven't been able to find one that will accommodate his hearing-impairment. We learn the Thai signs for beautiful and I like it.

Boy's handiwork.

As we made our way to the van, waving goodbye to the students, carrying our purchases from Boy, I began to think about the name Im Jai House. Though I only know a minimal amount of the Thai language, I was able to piece the meaning together: Im means full and Jai means heart. Full Heart House. I'm not entirely sure that the name is applicable to the residents of Im Jai, all of whom have lost their mothers and fathers to a terrible and vicious disease, but I can confidently say that, on the ride back to Chiang Mai from Im Jai House, I certainly understood the full heart feeling.

with love,

Aimee

Shake, Shake, Shake Your Sillies Out

2012-01-19T14:06:00.000+07:00

Last Friday we got a dancing lessons from some of our students at Healing Family Foundation. As we had so much fun listening to old Michael Jackson songs and teaching each other crazy moves we thought it would be best to continue with the music and dance topic. At the beginning of our lessons we usually sing songs like "Hello, Hello, Hellooooo How Are You," and "Chilli Chilli," but our students are willing and capable of constantly learning new things so we started the workshop with new songs and music games.

We started the Lesson with the Hokey Pokey:

You put your right hand in …

You put your left foot in …

...and you shake it all about...

That what it's all about!

Now that we were all in harmony and just a bit out of breath, we continued with:
"Shake, shake, shake your sillies out... clap, clap, clap your crazies out..."

And of course we couldn't leave out Musical Chairs. But we preferred the less violent version of the game and used numbers instead of chairs.

A fluffy new friend wanted to play the game, too, but he didn't quite understand the rules!

Inspired by the music and the movements we started the art workshop.

The ARI-Team prepared plenty different stencils made out of contact paper on the topic of Music and Dance. Our students could arrange their favorite stencils creating unique compositions.

Following the mood and the tempo of the music they painted over their images but the contact paper resisted the paint and remained white.

We also gave the students the opportunity to spray the colours and create varied and unique artworks.

The workshop was a lot of fun and the artworks were just amazing. Here are some examples:

I´m looking forward to see you next time!

-Alena

Together We Are Strong!

2012-01-16T12:02:00.001+07:00

I am Gundula from Germany and I am volunteering for one month at ARI now. As a teacher for art, I like to encourage children to to artwork.

It is great to see how they enjoy expressing themselves by creating their pieces of art.

For this workshop with Young Lions, I chose a story about Swimmy, a little fish, who shows his friends how, with ingenuity and teamwork, they can overcome any danger. The students listened carefully to the story and created their artwork by crayon etching.

And now I'm going to tell you the story:

Deep in the sea there lives a happy school of little red fish.

Only one fish is black, his name is Swimmy.

The watery world is full of wonders, but there is also danger.

One day a real big fish comes along and swallows all the little red fish, except Swimmy.

On his way through the big sea, Swimmy meets a lot of interesting, unknown sea animals: a shark, a jelly fish, a lobster and an eel. There are also many real big and frightening fish, he had never seen before. But nevertheless Swimmy loves to discover this new world.

One day, Swimmy meets another school of little red fish in a hidden corner of the sea. He tells them of the wonders he has seen and wants to show this to his new friends. But they are afraid to follow him.

So Swimmy has a great idea: he makes the little red fish build themselves into a big, big fish.
Swimmy himself is the the black eye. And so they dare to swim out into the wild world of the ocean and no other animal will hinder or hurt them.

They have a great exciting life together.

There's Hope, Joy, and Music All Around!

2012-01-16T11:50:00.000+07:00

New Volunteer, Rebecca, helping out at Healing Family Foundation

Hailing from overcast Seattle, Washington, I had no idea what to expect weather wise when I signed up for a six month study abroad program in Chiang Mai Thailand. The instant I stepped out of the plane and into the heat of Thailand it became clear that Chiang Mai was going to be nothing like Seattle, even the rainy season was hotter than I had bargained for.

A Colorful Work in Progress

After five months of studying environmental science in the sporadic thunderstorms up North and the suffocating heat down South I still haven’t grown accustomed to the hair frizzing humidity or the bone chilling nights. But I have learned to always expect the sun to shine, and that is exactly what it did on my first visit to Hope Home.

I had been a volunteer for Art Relief International for one short week and upon entering Hope Home I was introduced to a beautiful girl named Joy, a child at Hope Home with cerebral palsy. Alongside my fellow volunteers and the youth of Hope Home I settled in next to Joy’s stroller with a handmade noise maker and began shaking, in no time the musical notes of the noise maker had reached Joy’s ears and she smiled with, well, joy. She tiny hands clenched and unclenched along the smooth side of the noise makers edge and with my help we shook it side to side and up and down. Joy’s smile became bigger with each shake and the addition of my voice, singing “Hello, hello, hello, how are you? I’m fine. I’m fine. I hope that you are too.” And I could believe form her smile that she was in fact fine too.

Phil works with his feet, while Joy observes the activities at Hope Home.

Once the music had calmed down it was time to introduce the lesson plan. Brightly colored paper, that too made noise in the tiny hands of the children, was passed out and promptly Joy began crinkling and pasting the paper to a sticky sheet of paper that soon would become a mural of bright, three dimensional colors. With a little bit of prompting and help from the volunteers the soft noise of sculptural paper being balled up and stuck to glue, with both feet and hands, filled the sunny front yard of Hope Home. Joy concentrated on the task at hand, smiling and laughing alongside her fellow helpers, watching a magnificent rainbow being created on the page.

After no more glue could be seen, except on tiny fingers and toes, Joy relaxed, blue sculpture paper still in hand. Her and her house mates had each created an individual piece of work, as bright as the shining sun, which had helped exercise stiff muscles and brought music, laughter, and joy to Hope Home.

Just like the weather, people come in and out of Joy and her friend’s lives on an almost regular basis. They don’t know whether to expect a new volunteer one day or a new family the next, but each day they bring sunshine and warmth to the hearts of those blessed with the chance to know them; just like the city of Chiang Mai.

Joy creating Blues Music!

David and Phil posing for the camera.

Positively Creative at School for Life

2012-01-16T11:39:00.001+07:00

On the morning of Tuesday, January 10th, filled with excitement and a bit of the unknown, seven of us from ARI hopped in the van for the one hour drive to School For Life’s campus in the hills outside of Chiang Mai. Described as “an officially recognized Social Welfare School, with a concept that has been described by the UNESCO as "…much needed world class innovative effort in the field of education."

Armed with a couple bins of crayons, magic markers, large pieces of poster board, an animated video and the hope to pass along information regarding HIV infection and AIDS to a group of teenaged young adults we arrived safely on the grounds and prepared ourselves as best as possible before the participants trickled in.

I’m David Berube, a Visual Artist from New York City, USA. I’m in Chiang Mai as a member of the inaugural team of Volunteer Positive. We are the first ever International organization comprised of openly HIV positive members and those affected by HIV doing service work around the world.

ARI is the very first volunteer experience I had while in Chiang Mai and School for Life was my very first workshop.

That's me on the left at our School for Life Workshop

After a few “warm up” activities, we dove into the presentation. The students viewed a brilliant short animation from Africa and dubbed in Thai, they played a True/False game based on common misconceptions regarding HIV infection, and a game representing how opportunistic infections can cause full-blown AIDS if you don’t take your ARV’s.

Everyone enjoyed playing the Opportunistic Infection Game!

After these exercises, the students were asked to break up into groups of five and were given the poster board, an assortment of drawing tools and were asked to draw what HIV represented to them.

When we started out, the group consisted of 15 young adults, 10 female, 5 male. By the end of the workshop, an additional 13 kids of various ages showed up along with their teachers, including a small group of 5 year olds who enthusiastically participated in the drawing portion of the project after an abbreviated explanation and lesson from Cee.

One of the School for Life's brainstorm boards.

When finished, a representative of each drawing group had the opportunity to come to the front of the class and explain what their drawings represented. Images ranged from dancing commons to persons laying sick in hospital beds. Words like "Protect" were written in large font in English and Thai.

One of the most amazing moments came at the very end of the workshop when we had all of the participants write down a question they wanted to anonymously ask regarding HIV/AIDS. The last question we pulled was, “Why were we asked to draw about and talk about HIV/AIDS?” This brilliant question afforded ARI the opportunity to explain exactly why we had trekked to School for Life there on this beautiful afternoon: to help them understand how to protect themselves from HIV, to help them understand that people with HIV are no different from everybody in this room and to show that, by taking your ARV’s, an HIV+ person can live a happy, healthy productive life.

Protect yourself! Stop HIV/AIDS!

Follow the blog in the next few weeks to see the development of this project and the mural we will be creating with School for Life!

A Collage of Healing Experiences

2012-01-12T10:53:00.001+07:00

Happy New Year, everyone!

All of us here at ARI were excited to return to work from our brief winter break. Refreshed, renewed, and ready for more sharing and inspiration, we started our short week off with a burst of energy from the exuberant Young Lions. We carried that happy energy with us the next day as we took a trip to one of our favorite places: The Healing Family Foundation. Every visit there fills us with joy, respect, and admiration for our dear friends there, and this week proved no different.

The project: free-form fabric collage.
The intention: to stimulate the imagination, to inspire and fuel creativity, to give an opportunity to strengthen focus and attention, and to enhance design skills. But most of all...to express ourselves and have FUN!

We brought out a bag of colorful fabric scraps, spread it out among the circle, and equipped each participant with scissors, glue, and a sponge brush.

They made bright and whimsical creations,

created unique compositions,

and had a great time together!

The volunteers got to make their own works of art alongside our cheerful pals.

Tom and our new volunteer, Rebecca

We added a finishing touch to enhance the works by mounting the collages on posterboard. Each person got to choose the color they liked. We used glue sticks to put it all together...and it was instantly more beautiful than before!

Our artists were so pleased with themselves! They showed pride in their work by happily sharing it with the others.

The finished work looked fabulous!

And Alena and Cee got an impromptu dance lesson from our friend John, inspired by some Michael Jackson tunes we played. Nice moves!

Another success here at ARI!

I'm so grateful to spend time at Healing Family Foundation - to experience the beautiful energy of the people there, and to leave every workshop feeling so full of joy, love, and inspiration. We have big cheesy smiles on our faces as we wave goodbye and drive away, with our HFF friends standing outside their door and waving back, grateful for their time with us too.
They're all colorful pieces in the collage of our experiences, of Chiang Mai, of our lives. And that is a beautiful thing.

Love,
Poni

Don't Be Afraid : Mask Making with Young Lions

2012-01-10T17:24:00.014+07:00

"Come on, Britt, don’t be afraid. Show us how you do the boomerang."

Those are the lyrics to the Boomerang song that ARI Volunteers sing each week to the Young Lions.

Boomerang. Boomerang.

The group of Thai children twists and shouts and giggles, afternoon sunlight streaming through trees as the wat’s gate casts a shadow across the yard of Art Relief International. Volunteers from Germany, America and Canada shake as best they can. On the nearby tables, crayons and blank masks lie in wait.

Boomerang. Going out, coming back.

It was my last day in Thailand, and before the clock struck midnight I too would be going back. This time, it would be back to Africa. To Zambia, where I have lived the last three years as a Peace Corps Volunteer. It wouldn’t be right to leave though, without teaching the Young Lions a thing or two about my adopted home.

Cee and Aimee, my sister, partner-in-crime and ARI's newest Art Director, told a traditional fable about how Anasi, a spider character, got his long legs. Anasi stories have been used in various African countries to teach children valuable lessons about life and morals. This story spoke of a time when Anasi was too greedy about sharing his neighbor’s meals. And the Young Lions ate it up.

Not quite...

Afterwards, the kids attempted to point out Africa on a map (with many noble guesses) and then, they named various foods mentioned in the story in English and Thai. Surprisingly, many staple foods in African and Thai culture overlap, such as sweet potatoes, greens, carrots, chicken, and beans.

Then came the fun part – coloring! Everyone grabbed their crayons and set about making the masks as fearsome – or simply as bright – as possible. Friends passed outside the fence and were called to join in. Soon the tables were filled with busily crafting hands.

The eventual giggles that accompanied the final reveals proved that the aim to terrify wasn’t quite met. But the Young Lions prancing around in spider faces didn’t seem to think of this as a failure.

Like me, Valentine had other obligations that night. She was the first to leave, heading out to sell flowers at the market with her family. After a moment of confusion, Aimee tied the new mask around Valentine’s neck so she could bike with both hands and her vision. Her rainbow-hued Anasi bounced off her back as she pedaled away.

Valentine in her Anansi mask.

At that point, I had been in Thailand for two weeks, visiting my sister and soaking up the delicious Asian culture. It is inevitable in travel to notice the differences. I’m an American who has lived and volunteered in South America and Africa for a decent bit. I’m sure I ran poor Aimee ragged with “Well, in Zambia, it’s like this…” and “In Chile, they do it like so…”

About to head back to Zambia, shaking like a boomerang, I remembered no matter how different we get, however far on this orb we roam, we all come back to the same things. Class, race, experience; all pale in comparison to an essential humanness.

Here are the lessons I have learned from the Young Lions:

Kids (and childish souls) everywhere love art and creation. When you are having fun, you want your friends to have fun too. Yummy foods are considered yummy universally. Family binds us and commits us, and most of time we cannot begrudge them that. Being ridiculous makes you laugh, and laughing feels good.

We are not very different.

I am back in Zambia now. Still, I know my boomeranging isn’t finished. I’ll keep throwing myself out into the world, returning each time with my core beliefs fuller and deeper. I’ll remember Valentine biking off into dusk, a spider mask bouncing from her back. No different from a child anywhere, and just as deserving of the chance to hold a crayon and smile.

Not very different, at all!

Love from Zambia,

Brittany

Happy Holidays from ARI!

2011-12-18T21:31:00.003+07:00

Hello friends and followers,

Last Friday was Art Relief International's last day in the office before the holidays. We will be on hiatus until the new year as our team scatters across the world to enjoy the season with family, friends, and beautiful Thai beaches!

As we head into the New Year, I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for your support. Without the support of past volunteers, friends, family, and the international community, ARI could not be what it is today. Your time spent with ARI, donations large and small, and kind words of support sent towards the work we are striving to do have all been met with such gratitude.

There are skeptics out there who choose to believe that 2012 will bring total world destruction. Perhaps I am simply an optimist, but I cannot believe this to be true. In fact, with your help, we are hoping to make 2012 our greatest year yet. We already have some amazing plans for January. We will be completing our mural at Hope Home, continuing our work with Young Lions, beginning weekly workshops again with Thai Freedom House (www.thaifreedomhouse.org), and partnering with Volunteer Positive (www.volunteerpositive.org) for a very special project. We will be welcoming new volunteers with open arms and, though we wish we need not, will be saying goodbye to others. Such is the nature of our work.

In Thailand you sometimes hear the expression jai yen yen. Loosely translated, this expression means cool heart. Rather than a year of destruction, I hope 2012 will be the year of jai yen yen. I hope that ARI can continue to better the lives of the marginalized throughout Northern Thailand and that we are joined by volunteers who arrive with willing hands and open hearts. I hope that the jai yen yen message will spread to world political leaders, who will remember those that ARI tries its hardest to help - refugees, the disabled, abandoned and otherwise marginalized.

In this season of giving, we again turn to you, our friends, to help Art Relief International continue the work that we are doing. We are raising funds for the purchase of materials that will help us bring smiles to the faces of under-served persons throughout Northern Thailand. With your help, we can continue to assist Boonrat, a child living with cerebral palsy who is improving his mobility with our weekly art sessions, and Sam, a child living in a local orphanage who always greets our volunteers with a hug and a huge grin. With your help, we will continue to spread laughter in our garden every Thursday with children like Valentine, a young migrant Burmese refugee, whose joy is more than contagious. We will continue to help these and other persons claim their artistic voices and develop both emotionally and physically, so long as we have the tools to do so. Please follow this link to donate to our cause. As always, any amount would be greatly appreciated.

All of us at Art Relief International wish you and yours the happiest and healthiest of holiday seasons. See you in the New Year!

Happy Holidays!

Cheers,

the ARI/CCT Team

Young Lions Go Wild!

2011-12-18T21:22:00.001+07:00

Hello from sunny Chiang Mai!

This week was our last workshop with Young Lions before our two week holiday break, so we decided to take a walk on the wild side! Young Lions with the help of our ARI team learned about the world's rainforests and the animals that live in them - parrots, elephants, monkeys and even squirrels!

YOU ARE HERE.

After learning all about the rainforests, we decided that we should create our own rainforest world. The Young Lions decorated and constructed puppets of rainforest animals.

Hard at work ...

... or hardly working?!

Valentine and Alena really learned to harness their wild sides!

Cee and Rachel help our Young Lions construct their puppets!

Birds of a feather...

... flock together!

Beautiful smiles all around!

The workshop was a great success and the Young Lions were very happy with their new homemade toys!

Until next time,

Aimee

Magic in the Air (...and on the wall...) at Hope Home

2011-12-15T15:06:00.001+07:00

Greetings from colorful Chiang Mai!

We have a very special project going on at ARI recently. Our dear friends at Hope Home have an archway that they thought could use some beautification. They asked us to paint a mural - any mural we wanted to paint.

The archway at the left, with concrete bench below, pre-beautification

What should we paint?

What could we paint that would be splendid enough to suit the amazing residents of Hope Home? The concept for our mural is the result of a brainstorming session here at the ARI office. I took our collective ideas, and with some help from our artist friend Jude, created the design:

Pink elephants shooting rainbows out of their trunks...

...and the rainbows turn into butterflies that fill the bright blue sky!

With bright green grass with flowers and bees underfoot!

WOW!

It's still a work in progress, but so far, it's looking great!

Day One:

From the left: Poni, Rachel, Alena, Jude, Dehlia

Our first-day progress

Day Two:

What are you doing, Cee? Oh, painting clouds!

...and painting Jude!

Our second day's progress

Day Three:

Jude, Alena, and Aimee work on grass, flowers, and bees

More green!

The finished green-green grassy bench!

Complete with rainbow detail and side panels

Our third day's progress

Music provided by Namchok!

We couldn't have done it without a little help from some friends along the way:

Hangin' with my homie.

We're adding a LOT of color to liven up the Hope Home space! We hope it brings them much joy in the years ahead, and brightens up the children's lives the way they've brightened up ours.

We will be working more in the coming weeks to finish the mural before the holidays. Looks like the folks at Hope Home are planning to celebrate...

Stay tuned to see our final piece in all its brightly-colored glory!

LOVE and rainbow magic,
Poni

Lanterns Light Up Wildflower Home

2011-12-14T10:55:00.001+07:00

Hey all!

Today we finished off our lantern project with Wildflower Home. It was tons of fun and the women got super creative with decorating.

They began by punching holes in both sides of every sheet.

Then weaving them all together...

The girls with their finished lanterns!

Showing off their work proudly! Very well done everyone!

We're rollin' in the dough!

2011-12-13T22:40:00.000+07:00

Hello everyone!

Our visit to Mitmuandek last week was especially playful!

We made some homemade play dough to bring over to our young friends for some fun creative play. I found a recipe online and mixed together flour, salt, water, and a little bit of oil into a nice, squishy dough. Then a few of us got to work in the kitchen, kneading in food coloring in each color of the rainbow. It was a recipe for fun!

Rainbow people!

Our little friends were very happy to see us when we arrived at their home.

Magali and Alena with a new friend

Gigi gets some love from Dehlia

Cee and another new friend

We started the workshop with some jolly music time. Everyone got to play different instruments.

My little drummer boy!

Dehlia and her friend shake, rattle & roll!

What's this thing?

After our musical interlude, we set out the dough. The hands-on fun began!

Gigi explores the sensations of the dough...

...and gets some loving attention from the volunteers and staff.

Aah! There's a snake down there!

Some were more interested in interacting with the everyday objects...

...and they also loved to be entertained and showered with affection.

Magali puts on a show that thrills our youngest audience

Love me!

Then it was time for clean up, a bit of rest...

...and BUBBLES!

What a wonderful day at Mitmuandek!

Sam is the star of the show!

Whee!

- Poni

Rock Concert, Live and Unplugged!

2011-12-13T15:17:00.001+07:00

This week a nice Arts, Crafts and Music Festival took place in Chiang Mai on Nimmanhaemin Road, with free concerts and live music in nearly every café. To involve our students from Hope Home in this acoustic experience we started a music workshop.

We used some old instruments we already had and made new instruments out of balloons with pearls inside, bells, bottle caps etc...etc... so that everyone could play an instrument in our new band.

Our stage: Hope Home garden

On the rattle: Joy and Rachel

On the guitar: Boonrat and Cee

On the bubbles: Dehlia, Poni aaaaaaaaaaaaand Namchok

And last but not least... our dancers: Phil and Nam Sai (our new Hope Home friend)

I´m sure we will singing the songs for many days to come......

'Til next time!

-Alena

Mandala Nature

2011-12-12T16:33:00.001+07:00

Hi everybody!

Last week with the Young Lions, we put together a nature mandala.

A mandala is a sacred space, often a circle, which reveals some inner truth about you or the world around you. Let's go to pick up natural elements in the environment and all together create something beautiful.

Flowers, sticks, and tree fruits...

Everyone contributes their own mini design

As everything that is made with love does, it turned out beautifully!

Dance, sing and enjoy! Well done everyone!

Love,
Dehlia

Putting the Pieces Together with Healing Family Foundation

2011-12-09T16:44:00.001+07:00

That's me on the left with some Young Lions!

Hello friends and followers!

My name is Aimee and I have just started my role as Art Relief International’s Art Director. I am returning to Chiang Mai from New York after having volunteered for ARI during the fall of 2009. I am very excited to begin this new position and extremely proud to be working with such dedicated staff and volunteers.

Last week I attended my first workshop at Healing Family Foundation. Our goal was to engage the residents of HFF in the creation of a collective painting. Each of the residents of HFF was given an individual piece of a cardboard puzzle on which they painted beautiful underwater scenes.

Showing off their creations!

Residents at HFF work on creating their ocean.

Once all of the pieces were painted, we worked as a group to put the pieces together. Little by little, our ocean began to come together, until finally, with applause and cheers from our artists, the last piece of the puzzle was laid.

Putting the pieces together!


Almost there!

After the puzzle was finished, we searched for connections between the individual pieces. "Look! That shark is chasing those fish!" "Oh! And there's the skeleton of a fish he ate!" It was amazing to see the connections between individual pieces and to create stories about our own little ocean. The residents at HFF were very happy to have their new puzzle to play with again and again!

Laying the last puzzle piece!

Emotional portrait, Wat Pa Pao, 5th Dec 2011

2011-12-09T15:47:00.001+07:00

Hello,

Sometimes we could talk about ourselves and our emotions, but it's not so easy...

We could manage this experience with a self-portrait. This week at Wat Pa Pao, the students started their self-portraits by drawing the eyes and the mouths in pencil.

Second, they fixed their drawings with a black marker...

I love Manga...

...and they added the colors most expressive in the moment.

Colored hairs!

Manga is also an inspiration for boys!

Cee self-portrait????

Finally, we could share our feelings and emotions with each other. Colors helped to express personal views of life...

The green for nature and peaceful feeling....

I enjoyed working on self-perception and expression with the teenagers from Wat Pa Pao! They were so curious and sensitive.

Best,

Magali

The Colorful Elephant Mobiles at School For Life

2011-12-06T14:52:00.000+07:00

Hi people!
My name is Dehlia. I come from France and I'm glad to be with you for this beautiful project. I would like to become an art therapist, so this is a great opportunity to share our experiences around arts and heart values.

It was a great day for School For Life students to create some artwork with one of the most popular animals in Thailand. I'll let you guess... yes, the elephant! Let us enjoy the creation of the elephant mobiles at School For Life.


Draw and Cut, cut and stick

Very concentrated and creative students!

Have you seen a rainbow elephant?

The elephant dream team

Last flashy touch

Yes !

Yeah!!

Wonderful !

So sweet...! Just love and light.

Young Lions Get Ready for Fathers Day

2011-12-06T10:49:00.006+07:00

Hello everyone!

This is me with one of the students

from Healing Family Foundation

I have just arrived from Canada and will be spending the next month volunteering with this wonderful organization.
My name is Rachel and this past Thursday I had the pleasure of making some father's day gifts with the Young Lions.

These children are so full of fun, so we started with just that!

Some rope swinging and paper airplanes.

From there the children began brain storming and drawing the beginnings of their project. Monday the 5th of December is the Kings birthday and as well father's day.

Add a splash of colour!

The paintings turned out beautifully, now time for some cut and paste.

As fruit falls from the tree ahead we begin cutting the saa paper and decorating the frames.

The children finish up their designs and Cee helps with the finishing touch, now the pictures are able to stand!

The children proudly show off their work,

well done!

Until next time, happy father's day!

Making New Friends

2011-12-01T11:59:00.000+07:00

Ah yes, what would a childhood be without learning how to make pom poms?! It is a great way to use up spare wool, and pom poms can be used to create all sorts of wonderful things. I feel it's something every child should learn to do, and it was the idea for our project this morning at Wat Pa Pao. The children are around nine years old and were very eager to learn how to make pom poms once we showed them examples.
Making pom poms can take a long time depending on the thickness of the wool used and how large your template is. To speed things along we had pre-cut doughnut shapes out of cardboard for the children and decided it would be easier to demonstrate each step as the workshop went along.

Step 1 - Start winding the wool around the cardboard

And again...

And around again...

.....until the hole in the middle disappears.

Step 2 - Cut the wool around the edge of the cardboard. Then tie a piece of wool between the cardboard to secure the wool strands......

And that is how you make a pom pom.

Step 3 - Time to create our friends

Yes, your friend can have a nose...

Or a head-dress...

Definitely eyes!

Showing off my new friend

And my new friend

Step 4 - introducing our new furry pom pom friends to each other

"How are we going to get down?"

Just too cute! I want to take them all home with me!

It was great fun watching the children create unique furry pom pom friends
out of a plain ball of wool.

-Kerry