Artists Aiko Cuneo and Lilli Lanier lead a 2008 Rooftop Family Art workshop making paper hats using lots of imagination, scrap paper, scissors, glue and tape. A hat parade ends the session. Most of the materials came from S.C.R.A.P. (Scrounger’s Center for Reusable Art Parts) in San Francisco. Visit http://www.scrap-sf.org/
Folding an Origami Butterfly
Teaching Artist Lilli Lanier demonstrates how to fold an origami butterfly. Rooftop’s 6th grade students collaborated to make hundreds of yellow, gray, and black origami butterflies that were used to create a silhouette portrait of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. 6th graders learned about the characters of the opera — Cio-Cio-San, Pinkerton, Sharpless, Goro, Suzuki and Trouble — in advance of their invitation to attend the final dress rehearsal of San Francisco Opera’s 2010 production of the operatic classic.
Students learned about the Japanese art of Origami (from ori meaning “folding”, and kami meaning “paper”).
Origami is the traditional Japanese folk art of paper folding, which started in the 17th century AD and was popularized in the mid-1900s. It has since then evolved into a modern art form. .
Link to San Francisco Opera’s Education Program’s classroom materials for Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly
Link to Origami Club website, featuring lots of simple origami folds, unit folds and printable origami paper designs.
The Blue Marble Project
Rooftop Alternative K-8 School is traveling all over our Wonderful World with a little help from our friends, families and Dr. Wallace J. Nichols’ Blue Marble Project. http://www.bluemarbles.org
Help us to make the world a little smaller, as we teach our students how to help our Ocean Planet.
Student in the computer lab are learning about geography, mapping, ocean conservation and more, through The Blue Marble Project. Our friends are helping by sharing their adventures through photographs and correspondence.
When you get your Blue Marble, you’ll know what to do! Think about what the ocean means to you, and what you can do to live like you love the ocean. Share your thoughts and adventures with your friends at Rooftop. When you are ready, pass your Blue Marble on to someone new, with the instructions that they should do the same.
Children & Art
“Just as athletes need to exercise every day, children need to make art every day.”
— Ruth Asawa
Through her pioneering work to bring quality arts education to countless children in San Francisco schools, artist Ruth Asawa encouraged young artists to imagine, to play and make more of the world around them. Asawa generously shared her philosophy.
“Art is for everybody. It is not something that you should have to go to the museums in order to see and enjoy… I like to include people who haven’t yet developed their creative side – people yearning to let their creativity out. I like designing projects that make people feel safe, not afraid to get involved.”
She transformed the ordinary by using readily found materials to make art. Paper, wire, even the simple ingredients of flour, salt and water could be used to build community.
Rooftop School has benefitted from Ruth Asawa’s commitment to arts education for all children, as well as the extraordinary leadership of Ruth’s daughter, Aiko Cuneo, who founded the Rooftop Art Program in 1981.
With ArtsEd4All, we continue to build upon the Rooftop “family” tradition of hands-on learning, sharing and community building through arts engagement.
Download a pdf booklet:
Transforming the Ordinary – Ruth Asawa
Student work inspired by Ruth Asawa
Rooftop Alternative K-8 School
Julia Morgan Program Spring 2004
ArtsEd4All 