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During the month of October, we will be host the exhibit, Two Sisters: Woven Together with Photographs and Quilts.  Two sisters, Roslyn N. Carrier-Brault, fine art photographer, Middletown, CT and Jan N. Unghire, Quilter, Sweet Pea Quilts, Ivoryton, CT, will share in an artistic collaboration featuring the disparate yet intertwined media within which they each work.   The exhibit will run from October 6th through 27th with an opening reception on Thursday, October 6, 2016 from 6-8 p.m.

 

The gallery is located at 51 Green Street and is open to the public from 9a.m. to 3p.m. on Mondays through Fridays.

 

 

We had three amazing college students work with us to deliver the Girls in Science Camp at Green Street and serve as role models for the campers. This year, those young women were Josephine Ho, Mackenzie Schlosser, and Victoria Barr. In this six-part series, they share their experiences and favorite moments of the week.

Girls in Science Camp Reflection – “Young People Have a Lot to Offer”

by Mackenzie Schlosser

I haven’t spent much time teaching girls this age, so I was initially a little nervous for how the week would go. I’ve done chemistry demonstrations for high schoolers, and we’ve always been conscious of the level of science education they had so that we would pick experiments that wouldn’t go over their heads. For the girls in science camp, we discussed so many exciting and advanced topics. We talked about DNA, nanoparticles, light, and many other things that I didn’t learn until at least middle school or high school.

I wasn’t necessarily surprised, but it was a fun experiment for me to see how quickly they all learned what we were teaching. I think this is a good lesson for everyone. Just because people are young, doesn’t mean they aren’t highly capable. Many adults try to dumb things down for younger people and think they’re immature. Working with all these really clever girls proved to me how important it is to challenge young people and hold them to high standards. More often than you’d think, they can meet and exceed your expectations.

We had three amazing college students work with us to deliver the Girls in Science Camp at Green Street and serve as role models for the campers. This year, those young women were Josephine Ho, Mackenzie Schlosser, and Victoria Barr. In this six-part series, they share their experiences and favorite moments of the week.

Girls in Science Camp Reflection – “Learning from Unexpected Results”

by Josephine Ho

One of the first words that was introduced to the campers was “hypothesis”. The emphasis on making a hypothesis was notable throughout the camp. Instead of being spoon-fed information, the campers were encouraged to discover science in a very real way.

The camp did not only allow them to discover science in a memorable way but it also helped them develop a sense of curiosity, which could eventually turn into a love of learning. I was happy to see that the girls were encouraged to make mistakes and to understand that science isn’t always perfect. When the campers did not get any DNA from their DNA extraction session, without prompting, they came up with possible reasons why the extraction did not work for them. It was reassuring that they understand from a very young age that a hypothesis could be wrong and that scientific experiments do not always produce the results that we desire.

What matters the most is that we learn something from those experiments.

During the month of September, we will be displaying the work of Litchfield artist Suzan Scott.

Both a constant observer and interpreter of the natural world, Scott’s artwork represents the poetic intersection of her interests in art and science.  Reflecting back over her creation of this series entitled nightwatch, Scott remarks:  “As daylight fails, our world changes; the things we know to ‘be’ withdraw; colors fade, shapes merge, edges blur, sky slips into dusky ‘not quite black’ hues, and stars, invisible by day, pierce the dark. A parallel world emerges, one that is vast and deep, mysterious and primal, set in darkness –  the world at night.”

Scott’s alluring and magical nighttime interpretations  of this “parallel world” of the dark will be on exhibit from Sept. 1-28 with an  opening reception on Thursday, September 1 from 5-7p.m.  The gallery is located at 51 Green Street and is open accessible to the public from 9a.m. to 3p.m. on Mondays through Fridays.

 

During the month of August, the Green Street Teaching and Learning Center of Wesleyan University will be displaying the work of Connecticut teaching artist, Beth Klingher.

After spending ten years teaching math in New Haven public schools, Klingher continues to work as a teaching artist in schools throughout Connecticut where she is known for exploring the connections between math and art.  Her exhibit at Green Street, Art in Pieces, highlights her mosaic art.  Each of her imaginative mosaic constructions is a symphony of visual and tactile materials–  glass, ceramic, stone, and pottery.  This lively exhibit of abstract geometric designs, stunning undulating landscapes and playful patterns of color is a joyful concert for the eye that is not to be missed.

Klingher’s  Art in Pieces  will be on view from August 4- 24th with an opening reception on August 4th from 5-7p.m.  The  gallery’s summer hours are Monday through Thursday from 9a.m.- 5p.m. and Fridays from 9a.m.- noon.

Check out the completed calendar of Science Safety workshops for the 2016/2017 school year.   We will be hosting a new workshop in August for custodial maintenance, so save the date.

Our Discovery AfterSchool Instructors share stories from their classes in this guest blog series Discovery AfterSchool Stories. For more information on our AfterSchool Program, please visit – http://wesleyan.edu/greenstreet/youth/afterschool.html.

By: Peter Van Siclen

The Green Street African drumming ensemble has been learning a lot this semester. At our Student Showcase, they will wish family and friends a relaxing summer by performing the Liberian folksong “Take Time in Life”.

In addition to djembes, bells and rattles, students will also play saxophone, piano and sing!

On Saturday, May 14th ,  long-time artistic collaborators, Jocelyn Pleasant and Lovette Caesar-Johnson will provide an exciting program of African drumming and dancing at the Green Street Teaching and Learning Center from 11:00a.m.-12:00p.m.   This FREE community workshop will draw upon the rich rhythms and celebratory songs of West African cultures.  It’s a family-oriented program that will be both entertaining, informative and energizing for young and old.   Come dance with us as the drum beats speak!

Also,  before or after our community dance workshop on May 14th, stop in to chat with us about our upcoming fall AfterSchool program.  We will be holding an open registration day for the Green Street Discovery AfterSchool program on that same day from 10:30a.m.-1:00p.m.  During our fall AfterSchool program, we’ll be offering a wide assortment of arts and science classes on Monday through Friday for children in grades 1-5, as well as, an inspiring Friday offering for middle school students, WesleyanBound.  This unique class provides a fun, valuable opportunity for students in grades 6-8 to gain exposure to the college experience through weekly treks to Wesleyan’s campus in order to meet student leaders and faculty, to tour art exhibits, science labs and sports facilities, and to visit college classes and performances. Our classes will fill quickly, so be sure to bring your $25 deposit to ensure your child’s fall class choices.

Our Discovery AfterSchool Instructors share stories from their classes in this guest blog series Discovery AfterSchool Stories. For more information on our AfterSchool Program, please visit – http://wesleyan.edu/greenstreet/youth/afterschool.html.

 

By: Danielle Schmitt

 

For the last month, students in the Introduction to Photoshop course have been learning how to use the Shape tool in Photoshop. They have learned how to make geometric and organic shapes, how to change the size of the shape, how to rotate it, as well as how to change its style or color. Students first practiced using the shape tool and changing the styles.

After they learned the basics of manipulating the shape tool, they were given a basic cityscape to manipulate by adding or subtracting buildings, adding additional symbols, and bringing images in from our previous digital collage project.

 

 

Finally, students were asked to imagine an alien family and to put them in a background of their choosing. Students used their previous skills of using the shape tool to create an alien. With teacher assistance, they were able to copy more than one alien into the same picture. They then chose a background off the internet to add to their composition. Students put their aliens in places like outer space, a backyard pool, even a dance club!

 

 

 

 

 

Visit FroyoWorld on Main Street in Middletown on Friday, April 29th between 5:00-8:00pm to help support Green Street! 20% of all sales will be donated to Green Street to support our youth programs.
Our Discovery AfterSchool Program serves primarily children in Grades 1-5 from all corners of Middletown, many from our neighborhood here in the North End. We also have a unique middle school class offering on Fridays called Wesleyan Bound where students are exposed to a college campus. They get to participate in workshops with student leaders, talk to professors, tour galleries and laboratories, and more.
It is never to early to start thinking about registration for Fall 2016 classes!  We will be opening registration in late May so stay tuned for more information or call us  (860-685-7871) to be put on a notification list and we’ll let you know when registration is open.