For this year’s artVenture workshops, I invited Daisies and Brownies to the studio for one session and Juniors and Cadets in for another session. During the studio visit, I like to bring them into Architectural Glassarts so they can see a real, working studio.

While we wait for everyone to arrive, I like to start a casual conversation with the girls that are there to find out where they go to school, how old they are, learn their names and hopefully open up the conversation so that they can make new friends and start getting comfortable with other girls that they may not already know. I’ve got a variety of ice breaker games that are derived from drama activities to help the start the fun and get the creative juices flowing.

It’s important that they be comfortable enough with each other to be able to communicate and share their ideas because they need to collaborate on a piece of art that will go up for auction in a few months at the annual artVenture gala.

 In years past, I’ve brought in images of famous artwork for the girls to get inspired by and recreate in glass. This year, I brought in images for the older girls to look at and be inspired by. But, I asked them to put a name on what was inspiring them about the particular images they chose. Then, we divided into groups based on the images that everyone felt drawn to, and each group discussed the ideas that they had for subject matter for the collaborative fused glass art piece. Some groups were on exactly the same page, while others had a more give and take design process. The 12″ x 12″ pieces were made by the Juniors and Cadets.

With the Daisies and Brownies, we talked about symbols and their meanings instead of looking at artwork. Each group came up with a list of symbols that they wanted to work on. Once an symbol was agreed upon, they sketched out their ideas and then those sketches were blown up to fill a 12″ x 12″ paper.

Each group learned how to safely cut glass using mosaic nippers. Then, they learned how they needed to fill in their design and add bridges, making sure all the pieces overlapped so they would fuse together in the kiln.

After making their collaborative pieces, I like to make sure that all the girls get to make something to keep that will remind them of their experience, generally this is a pendant or a suncatcher of some sort.