CS+Art Tutorials

We've just finished wrapping up the CS+Art Java Tutorials! Check out the website for the favorite one, Angled Stars, along with the dates and locations when the tutorials at Saratoga High School were given. Pictures are below:

1/5/2017 — Mercury News

The organization was featured on the Mercury News! Check it out here: http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/01/05/saratoga-high-school-student-keeps-arts-alive-through-nonprofit/

11/9/2016 — Ravenswood School District/Belle Haven Elementary School

Ms. Alexis Hamilton just posted an absolutely amazing and highly moving paragraph about the event. It's so beautiful I think it deserves an entire post of its own! Therefore, I've pasted it here:

A young woman's act of kindness made a huge difference for me last week. As you know, I teach in a very high poverty school. Although we live right next to the enormous wealth of Palo Alto and the Silicon Valley, I have to beg and borrow to scrape together art supplies for my classes. And these kids need art. They live with the trauma of poverty under the dark cloud of insecurity... they don't always know where they will sleep at night, they don't know when their parents might be deported, they have watched brothers and uncles and fathers hauled away in the middle of the night for crimes they may or may not have committed. They have watched and sometimes felt the pain of domestic violence and lived with the devastation of drug addition. They themselves fear being taken from their homes and put into the foster care system. Into this darkness an amazing high school student raised the money needed to donate almost $1000 in art supplies through a foundation she created. She sells her own very impressive artwork to raise the money for her foundation. As a thanks to her for the exceptional good she is doing to heal the world through art, please take a minute to see her web page... she would really appreciate it... and I would too... please help me give thanks to this wonderful person who is using her gifts to benefit children with so little. 

http://artandcraft4all.org

Thank you Sohini Kar

Thank you so much for those kind words, Ms. Hamilton!

11/9/2016 — Ravenswood Elementary School

Leaning down, Ms. Alexis Hamilton, art teacher at Belle Haven Elementary, gingerly shakes a small tub with a few oil pastels rolling around. Then, raising her head, she smiles at the new set of pastels resting upon the table, exclaiming, “This feels like Christmas - I can’t tell you how excited I am!”  

Oil Pastels - Before (Left), Gifted New Set (Above)

Last Wednesday, November 9, Art and Craft 4 All, Inc, donated over 700 dollars’ worth of art supplies, from 1,000 18”x24” white sulfate drawing papers, to the aforementioned set of 288 oil pastels, to 15 gallons of acrylic paints, in colors like white, black, yellow, blue, and red (a full list of supplies is at the bottom). This gift was for the Belle Haven Elementary School, of the Ravenswood School District, which enrolls 550 students, who will all now use the donated supplies. 

The Shipment

School bathed in the afternoon’s dusty light, the team dropped off the supplies at around 3 o’clock. The school was mainly empty, save for a few stragglers, including Ms. Hamilton’s three helpers, who stayed behind to help her clean up the art classroom and reorganize their remaining materials. With communications dating back all the way to September 16, both parties had been eagerly awaiting this arrival, and Ms. Hamilton immediately found us and led us to the room. All the while, she exclaimed, “This is perfect timing! We’ve been using printer copy paper for our art this last weeks!”

Bringing the boxes in

There, they all unloaded all of the boxes, laying them out upon the table, with exclamations of delight following each one. Excited, Ms. Hamilton declared, “You can’t even begin to imagine how happy the kids will be… You’ve touched five hundred children.”

The materials, set out

Finally, the team finished setting everything up.  

Handshake, in front of the materials

The three helpers, Ms. Hamilton, and Sohini Kar (President)

From Art and Craft 4 All: We are immensely glad to have been able to provide these supplies to the students of Belle Haven. Seeing the glee and pleasure on the faces of the helpers was an incredible reward and put a positive twist to our day. We hope, with such an enthusiastic and upbeat teacher and with a a whole variety of brand-new supplies, the students will be able to experience art to their fullest

Full list of supplies:

7/25/2015 — Manav Vikas High School

A dusty chalkboard hung over stone walls, covered in dust kicked up from the dried mud outside the cut-out door to the classroom. Without proper tables, students sat on simple, wooden benches that shook back and forth as the three students to each fidgeted and shifted. Their books laying in twisted piles at their feet, the students hastily scribbled calculations and answers on the small chalk slates they each held as the teacher wrote out problems on the board.

Such was a math class at Manav Vikas High School. To even call it a high school would be incorrect - students from ages 10 to 18 could attend classes, all together. The honor to attend school in general, however, was one that the students treasured, considering how the high school had not existed for their more-or-else uneducated parents.

With the Headmistress of Manav Vikas High School

When asked what art supplies and curriculums existed for the students at this high school, the answer we got was "none." This inspired us to collect art supplies to donate to the school, for artistic use. We created bundles of crayons, pencils, and erasers, and we collected art books and drawing paper as well, and donated it all to the school.

The drawing (+other) books we donated

The drawing (+other) books we donated

With the Headmistress and the teachers of Manav Vikas High School

The school was very thankful, and decided to implement an art curriculum using our supplies. They sent us a very sweet letter soon after to us (below).

This experience, more than a year ago, kicked off Art and Craft 4 All. Since then, we have changed our donation process. We now buy new art supplies to donate to schools. However, our core values have not changed: we spread art to those who otherwise would not be able to experience it. We hope to expand and improve in the coming years.

6/18/16 — Triton Museum of Art Summer Art Fair

Unfortunately, this post is a bit late, as it was saved for a while but never uploaded. Please note that this event occurred almost exactly three months ago, on June 18, 2016.

A half year later, we held our second major event, at the Summer Art Fair at the Triton Museum of Art! The weather was amazing, and tons of people showed up for the event. Many people were very interested in the greeting cards bundles, and we had many sales with that.

One of the card designs

Bundles tied with sparkly gold or crimson ribbon

Sales ran upwards of $100. Overall, the event was very fun and exciting, and we hope to be back soon!

One bundle

Note: As the Museum was kind enough to let us sell at their fair, 30% of profits went to the museum and 70% was retained by A&C4A.

12/18/15 — Art Exhibit at the Los Gatos Senior Center

Today, I held my first art exhibit! I was really surprised to see the amount of people who showed up, especially considering how there was no prior publicizing, and the only method people learned about the event was through word-of-mouth. However, the exhibit was a huge success, and we even raised $103! Here are some great moments from the day.

The exhibit was held at the Los Gatos Senior Center, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Light refreshments were available. Many paintings were propped up and there was a whole table dedicated to ceramics! To cap it off, there were several greeting cards available, in festive bundles wrapped expertly with red lace and gold ribbon. Many people were drawn in by the colorful art works displayed.

The whole room, from the doorway

The room, from the back table

Cute, festive bundles of greeting cards!

By 11:30, I had had some decent traffic, and sold many bundles of greeting cards already. They seemed to be very popular, especially as they would come to use in the holiday season. The greeting card design of vibrant, orange flowers against a dappled green background was especially noteworthy, with one lady requesting a whole bundle of them! She was very excited to put them to use, exclaiming "[t]hey're beautiful!... I think everything here is great!"

From 11:30 to 12:00, however, there was a huge burst of traffic! Many people bought the bundles, saying that they were "Very nice!" and complimenting me, saying "Your art is great!"

However, there was a very sweet moment when one of my paintings, of a sweet white cat wearing a bright pink bow above a colorful, pastel background caught the eye of a very nice lady. She immediately thought of her granddaughter and decided to buy the painting on the spot!

She was extremely excited to gift the painting to her granddaughter and was in awe of the painting, saying "Thank you so much! The pastel background, the cat's eyes, everything! It's so good! Thank you so much!"

Overall, the art exhibit went very well. It was great, personally, to see so many people come in to admire my work and have some fun. All the money we raised will be going back to the community, which everybody loved. In total, the art exhibit was a great event that went very well!