SACAP sponors Family Art Workshop at Wellington School

    On Sat. Dec. 11, Littleton artist Frank Sullivan conducted a family painting and bookmaking workshop with some students from the Wellington School and their parents. The workshop was the final in a series of three family art workshops sponsored by the Southern Aroostook Cultural Arts Project, to provide an opportunity for a children and their parents to participate in an arts project together. Funding for the classes was provided through a grant from the Maine Community Foundation. The workshop was open to all students at Wellington School from kindergarten through third grade, as well as their parents and older and younger siblings.

Contributed photograph
MIXING PAINT — Paula Dahlk and her daughters, left, Meysha and right, Elizabeth mix paint to work on a project during the Southern Aroostook Cultural Arts Project’s Family Art Workshop at Wellington School. Littleton artist Frank Sullivan conducted the family painting and bookmaking workshop. The workshop was able to be held through a grant obtained through the Maine Community Foundation.
    During the workshop, 16 participants from six different families worked collaboratively to each create a story book, telling the familiar story of “Little Red Riding Hood,” using only abstract pictures. Students and their parent helpers had to think about the story and plan out each page of the book. They problem-solved together to come up with ways to convey the story using abstract, visual symbols, rather than representational pictures and words. Participants explored the different ways that shapes, colors, and methods of applying paint can communicate ideas, action and moods, in the absence of text and recognizable subject matter. They also learned different ways to mix colors using paint and how to cut and fold a single sheet of paper to make a 16-page booklet.
Contributed photograph
DRAWING — Barbara Thorne and her children, Amanda and A.J., work on painting their figures for a book during the Southern Aroostook Cultural Arts Project’s Family Art Workshop at Wellington School. Littleton artist Frank Sullivan conducted the family painting and bookmaking workshop. The workshop was able to be held through a grant obtained through the Maine Community Foundation.
    When each family group had completed painting their pages, the books were assembled, complete with book covers, also designed by the children and their parents.
    Artist Frank Sullivan, who conducted the workshop, is a professional artist with over 20 years experience teaching art. He operates Rainbarrow Studio in Littleton, where he works and offers art instruction at all levels. He also teaches art at Northern Maine Community College and has taught many classes at the Wintergreen Art Center in Presque Isle. His work hangs in private collections throughout the United States.