Kandinsky style murals with COSA

Yesterday we went out to see the girls at COSA. Not all of them were there because it is their school break, but eleven girls managed to show up for our project. We started off by doing abstract name drawings with colored pencils. To create these pieces we wrote our names horizontally on the paper using large letters, and then we flipped the paper vertically and wrote our names once again. After that we colored in the shapes created by the overlapping lines. It took the girls a second to figure out what we were doing, but once they understood the general premise they ran with the idea. They created some very, very nice pieces.

Once we finished doing those drawings we switched over to large scale paintings. I got the idea for this project from the blog smART Class; it's a great blog if you ever need ideas for art projects for children. Everyone formed groups of four and five with the volunteers mixing in among the girls. Initially the groups started off just doing outlines and shapes with black paint.

But once they had pretty much filled up their entire paper with black lines, I let each group choose two colors to add to their paintings. Some of the groups "broke" the rules and used another color or two, but I wasn't very worried about it. The paintings they created all looked really amazing and the girls were all having a great time with the paint. Towards the end they were all covered in handprints, because drawing on paper wasn't exciting enough. I even let them do a painting with just handprints, which they really, really enjoyed. 

Overall it was a very successful project. I chose to do this type of activity because ARI is hoping to do a mural with the girls somewhere at the COSA site. Working on a large scale like this helps get them used to filling up large spaces and being creative as a group. I think they're more than ready to move on to actual murals.

~ Katelyn

Quilting Together Community at Baan Yuu Suk

Hi! Rose here once more!

Following the success of our first workshop in Baan Yuu Suk we were so excited to return there last Saturday! At the end of our previous workshop, we gave the girls assessment forms to fill in to see if they had enjoyed the workshop and to ascertain what type of arts and crafts they would like to do in the future with ARI. Almost all of the girls indicated that they would like to do sewing projects in the future. It has also been mentioned by the project coordinator at Baan Yuu Suk that the shelter would like to do some sort of community project while working with ARI.

Taking these factors into account we decided to make a community quilt with the girls. Each girl designs her own patch which will be used in a larger quilt design. As every girl there has her own story, coming different families, circumstances and backgrounds, we wanted to emphasize individuality and community all at once - which I feel the quilt did on a really practical level. The theme of the quilt is 'Dreams for the Future', and we asked the girls to focus on their futures when designing their unique patches.

Once more, positivity and creativity flowed freely in Baan Yuu Suk, with our youngest student looking ten years into the future when she would be fifteen and could go shopping at a large grocery store with her friend! Little Jimmy wants to be a pirate and sail the world in her dingy and another brave soul wants to save up all the money she makes as a doctor to travel in a rocket to all the stars! 

When completed, the quilt will hang in Baan Yuu Suk as a symbol of the community that has been 'patched' together there, respectful of each different person who arrives with her own past and her own dreams for the future.

Hi COSA, We Are ARI!

Hi again, Rose here once more. Into our sixth week now, not sure where the time is going to be honest! On Saturday last, I had the enormous privilege of taking part in ARI's first workshop with the young girls at Baan Yuu Suk, run by an organisation called COSA- Childrens Organisation of South East Asia. 

COSA is an International Organization which works towards the prevention of Child trafficking and sexual exploitation within the Northern regions of Thailand. Baan Yuu Suk shelter provides a home to girls who have been sexually abused, exploited or have been victims of human trafficking. Literally meaning Peaceful Home the shelter provides the girls with a safe haven to complete their schooling, receive vocational classes, improve their English language skills and to prosper as healthy and confident young women.

I had very little knowledge about the problem of sex trafficking in Asian countries until recently. Having had the great fortune to be born in a western, developed country, neither I nor my sisters, friends or indeed any young girl that I know was ever in danger of being sold into the sex trade. Unfortunately, this is the reality for far too many young girls in Asia. Northern Thailand, in particular, has huge problems with this issue.

As I mentioned, this was the first time that ARI has held a workshop with the girls from COSA, only recently having established a relationship with the organisation. Being our first time meeting the girls in Baan Yuu Suk, we didn't know what to expect, what the girls would be interested in or how they would respond to us. Our doubts were soon dispelled though. We were overwhelmed by the warmth, enthusiasm and spirit shown by the girls, who ranged in age from 4-17.
 

We repeated a lesson from last week, which we had originally held with Wildflower Home, making Flower Headbands using scrap fabric to make the flowers. Luckily we had a translator for this workshop and that allowed us to give the girls a step by step demonstration of how to fashion the flowers, encouraging them to choose which fabric they wanted to use and assisting them as needed. One of the younger girls was so fussy with her fabric that she ended up with 14 flower cutouts to choose from, before she managed to narrow it down to eight!
 

The girls' individuality and creativity really came to the fore during this workshop. We have come to expect children to copy from one another in our workshops as it seems that to go against the grain and make individual pieces it too daunting for some of the children we work with or simply isn't encouraged in Thai schooling. However, this was not the case at Baan Yuu Suk - the girls knew exactly what they wanted and did not seem to worry about fitting into the mold. Perhaps this a testimony to the fact that many of these young girls have seen more than their fair share of what life has to offer in Northern Thailand and are now learning to stand on their own two feet due to the fantastic work of the people at COSA.

Further information on COSA and Baan Yuu Suk:

http://www.cosasia.org/aboutcosa2010.htm