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       Humans are artists. At ECRS we begin with the proposition that not only humanity collectively, hut every person has the capacity to create art. To attain this aim fully is difficult and a rare occurrence; to approximate it is within the grasp of everyone. Each of us has the capacity to grow; each of us can tap imagination and give it concrete form in a delicately balanced mobile, in a woven wall hanging, in the contours of a carved sculpture.
       There is excitement in the unfolding of this capacity. There is discovery, experimentation, playing with materials to learn their possibilities and limits. This unfolding needs freedom and structure, and a climate of support: it requires putting aside some preconceptions: images of machine-made perfection, the desire to create museum pieces. This is not haphazard "anything goes" self-expression. It requires effort.
       The process needs gentle nurturing, stimulation and guidance. Students need help in focusing on personal responses to a medium, on preference in colors, shapes, textures; they need encouragement to build trust in those responses, and to use them. Stimulation can come from a variety of materials, from different processes, and from fellow students.
       The social dimension of craft work is too often ignored, unused. As in folk dancing and dramatics, individual growth is often stimulated by participation and interaction within the group. Crafts classes at ECRS are structured to provide opportunities for individual work as well as for involvement in group interaction. As students discuss their personal responses to materials, shapes, techniques; as they communicate their frustrations and design problems, there is growth in appreciation of others' uniqueness and mutual support. There is honest acclaim. One marvels at solutions others have found and is stimulated to seek one's own - in tune with oneself. Thus, activity shifts between interaction with the group and individual efforts; the experiences in each area enrich the other.
       As in all ECRS classes, discussion of leadership principles is an integral part of the course, and such discussion flows directly from the student's own experiences of the activity and the feelings as a participant in the group.

       This activity builds confidence in one's own aesthetic judgment. It is particularly valuable because so many adults feel inadequate in their ability to create an attractive product. The activity evokes spontaneous, intuitive reactions and allows the participant to act on these impulses immediately and directly. Each design then has freshness and beauty. The participants discover through their own experience that they can rely on their own aesthetic judgments and can produce a thing of beauty.

Supplies:

• Construction paper, black and white, large sheets, as well as 8 1/2 x 11, for background sheets
• Pre-cut geometric shapes of both colors, in a variety of sizes: circles, triangles, squares, strips
• Glue or paste

       The leader scatters the shapes in the center of the table. Participants choose any number of pieces and arrange them on a background sheet, to achieve a design that pleases them.
       When participants have finished arranging the shapes, a dab of glue will hold each shape in place.
       Since the shapes can be easily shifted on the paper, this activity offers lots -of opportunity to experiment and try different alignments. It is very exciting to watch people move a piece just one millimeter to create more satisfying relationships of shapes and spaces.
       It is important to limit colors to black and white and to limit the shapes to basic figures in order to help participants focus on one design consideration at a time: that of placement of shapes in relation to each other.
       Time should also be limited to 10-15 minutes: as in informal dramatics, if too much time is allowed, the participants may begin to elaborate or clutter, and may feel the need to produce something especially "good".
       Each design is then hung on the wall. The leader conducts a discussion, eliciting from the participants what is fun or pleasing about each design, encouraging people to be very specific in their observations rather than, "It's great!" or "Lovely." Often the leader needs to point out specifics, such as, "Look how this circle at the bottom is echoed by that one near the top." or "Look how this stripe at the bottom gives the whole design stability." Sometimes one can cover one shape and see how the design would have suffered without it.
       The primary purpose of this discussion is to give honest acclaim, and every design contains an element worthy of note. This discussion also serves to articulate some basic principles of design, without being theoretical. It is best to limit the discussion to 12 to 15 designs. Otherwise people tend to tire and comments dry up.
       In this activity, success is almost built in. However, I would like to make a distinction between this activity and "instant success" activities. To build confidence among participants in art activities, leaders often introduce what might be called "instant success art." These activities produce very pleasing results, more because of the material and techniques used than through the particular efforts of the individual. An example: brown paper, spread with glue and exposed to flame creates a burnished copper effect. Of course, the brown paper and glue technique can be very useful to intentionally enhance or carry out particular effects, but where used as a project in itself, it does not build self-confidence. The participant must expend effort and judgment to be able to experience real success. The black and white shapes, precisely because they are neutral, ensure that the participants perceive the success of a good design as the result of their own creative abilities.

       Warm-up activities stimulate ideas and prepare participants for some of the challenges in a particular craft. In a warm-up to String Art, for example, a variety of threads, string, and cords are presented. Each person selects five pieces of fixed lengths. In small groups, the participants discuss why they chose those particular threads, string or cords, referring to color, thickness, texture, or other characteristics. Then they arrange their threads on construction paper in a way that pleases them, and when they feel satisfied they glue down the threads. With the "openers" completed, the class can discuss each piece from a personal and group standpoint.
       Then we are ready to begin a project in String Art. The basic idea is explained and the group discusses possible variations. Each student must problem-solve within the range of his or her capacity and is encouraged to explore deeper and deeper into the creative variations available. There is no group standard to be met. Each individual creates challenges to achieve a satisfying experience both in the process of doing it and in the finished product.

Informal art
It never gets boring
The longer you do it
The more fun you have.

Painting
And collage and drawing
And contour and sketching
And messing around, around, around, around.

(to the tune of "Black Socks," made up by an Informal Art class at Crystal Lake, Summer School, 1980)

       Informal art is an open-hearted approach to an area that is scary for many. "Draw perfectly or not at all" was the message I got as a child. I learned to copy well and then gave it up because it wasn't good enough. Years later I discovered contour drawing, an approach to drawing that refuted the "exact image" idea, and I began to experiment once again with art in my life.
       In Informal Art at ECRS, people have an opportunity to become more aware of the world around them through drawing and painting it, making collages, sculpting, mask-making. The object of the course is for people to experience the joy of creating in art. As a leader I try to make an atmosphere of playfulness and safety, where people can experiment and have fun. I use materials and processes that help free people of expectations to meet formal standards, to create "works of art" - those expectations that had stopped me and many others. In Informal Art people can explore their perceptions, feelings and creativity at their own level of experience.
       The class begins with an activity that focuses on feeling and experiencing, with no need to make something. People sit in a circle, eyes closed, and pass around a number of small objects (shell, paper clip, acorn, pebble, orange), touching, smelling, listening to discover all they can about each object without looking: afterward, they talk about their experience with the objects.
       The group is told to collect a variety of natural materials from the out-of-doors, and play with placing some of them on a large piece of cardboard or construction paper. The patterns they make with the leaves, grasses, stones and sticks are infinitely changeable and individual. People may choose to glue them down to make a more permanent picture. The emphasis is on relating to the natural materials and the experience of creating, but they make something and are pleased with their own and others' creations.
       On the first day of the class each person receives a small sketch pad and pen. I tell them to go out and draw anything and everything they see, in any way they want. I encourage them to draw a lot and draw for fun, letting go of self-criticism. Like any other skill, drawing improves with practice. The important thing is to make a connection with what they are seeing and drawing - the hill, the tree, the face, the hand, the cat, the fence. The sketch pad is just for them; it never has to be shown to anyone, although there is time in class for people to share what they have done if they want to, and there is appreciation and interest in each other's work. Some people love their sketch pads and the explicit encouragement to draw. Others are more timid about using them, but the opportunity is there without pressure or judgment.

       Contour drawing is a specific approach to drawing, which is both disciplined and freeing. I introduce this concept on the second day, after people have had a chance to become comfortable in the class. Contour drawing means to intensely observe an object and simultaneously draw the edges (or contours) of the object without ever looking at the paper you are drawing on or taking your eyes off the object.

       "Take your pencil loosely in your hand, and while you keep your eyes focused allow the pencil to follow on paper what the eye perceives. Feel as if with the point of your pencil you are caressing the contours, the whole circumference of that leaf, that sprig of grass. Just let your hand move! Don't check what gets on the paper, it does not matter at all! If the pencil runs off the paper, that's fine too. You can always start again. Only, don't let your eye wander from what it is seeing, and don't lift your pencil from the paper. And above all: don't try too hard, don't "think" about what you are drawing, just let the hand follow what the eye sees. Let it caress..."

- From The Zen of Seeing: Seeing/Drawing as Meditation, by Frederick Franck, Copyright by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, NY. Used with permission.

       I have people draw their hand, their foot, a pot, a branch, each other - and focus on seeing the thing they are drawing. Frederick Franck calls this Seeing/Drawing "a way of meditation, a way of getting into intimate touch with the visible world around us, and through it ... with ourselves." In contour drawing you record your deep perception of the thing being drawn, rather than what it ought to look like. Modified contour drawing, where you glance at the paper from time to time but still focus mainly on the object as you draw, is a way of developing a freer approach to drawing while allowing for the desire to have the picture "look like something." We practice contour drawing in class, and then people can use it as they wish.

       Finger Painting is an activity that gives people a chance to play with paints and painting: it brings out the child in us. Using your fingers to paint with, it's hard to be careful and inhibited. I like to introduce finger painting with a body-movement activity and sometimes I play music (choosing tapes that are calming, rhythmic, stimulating, whatever) as people paint.
       Materials for finger painting are:

• glazed shelf paper (which is getting harder to find) or finger painting paper (more expensive of course)
• poster paints mixed with library paste and thinned to the consistency of soft custard, or commercial finger paints
• lots of newspapers to cover surfaces
• smocks or old clothes so that people can feel free to be messy.

       Bold exciting prints can be made from plastic meat trays found in the supermarket. You need only a pencil to make the design on the plastic. You can use almost any kind of paper to print on - construction paper, paper bags, wrapping paper, tissue paper, writing paper, even the backs of greeting cards and scrap paper from the wastebasket. Old newspapers and a smock (or discarded man's shirt) will keep your work area and yourself clean.

       From an arts supply store, buy:

• block printing ink in several colors (water-soluble for easier cleanup)
• a rubber brayer (roller) 3 or 4 inches wide which can be used forever
• a piece of glass like a window pane (8 by 11 inches is large enough) can be bought from a hardware store and the edges covered with tape for safe handling.

1. the piece of glass with ink and braver:
2. one whole sheet of newspaper folded three times, for rolling the ink on the plastic tray:
3. several sheets of newspaper folded to make a pad for the actual printing, and
4. the paper for the finished print.

Step 1:

Squeeze out, like toothpaste, about 1/2 inch of ink on the glass, and roll it with the brayer until it is spread out thinly (it doesn't have to cover the whole glass) and "sounds sticky." A little practice will tell you when it is right. The brayer is now coated with ink.

Step 2:

Lay the plastic print, design side up, on the newspaper (No. 2) and roll the brayer over the design until the tray seems evenly covered with ink. Some ink will get on the newspaper and your fingers, but try to keep clean the paper you will be printing on.

Step 3:

Lay a piece of paper on the newspaper pad (No.3). Carefully place the block print, inked side down, on the printing paper. Then with your hand, press hard on every part of the tray, being careful not to move the plastic or the paper. Hit it all over with the side of your fist, or press with the bottom of a spoon. Pressing the print down all over is the secret of a good final picture. Carefully lift the plastic tray from the paper and set the paper aside to dry. The plastic tray needs to be re-inked for the next printing, unless you want it lighter. Add and roll out more ink on the glass when it gets too dry.

       You can cut out the design or make a repeating pattern with one design. Try printing on scraps of fabric, or make prints using materials from nature. Leaves, ferns, and grasses can be inked with the brayer as you did the plastic trays, and pressed directly on paper (covered with a sheet of newspaper while pressing to avoid smearing the ink).
       The possibilities are endless, so experiment and have fun!

       In its simplest terms, weaving is an interlacing of fibers. At ECRS we mostly do what is called "off-loom" weaving. With a minimum of technical learning and very little equipment, this activity provides a wide variety of opportunities-for participants to experiment, play and invent. This type of weaving is a craft which is well-suited for use in a recreational setting. It is very open-ended .and allows the weaver to make choices and innovations as the weaving progresses. Only three or four rows of routine "one thread up, one down" weaving is required at the bottom in order to hold the work together. People choose colors, combine textures, explore the effects of different weaves, invent knots, and incorporate natural fibers from field and woods.
       As in all other ECRS activities, the leader provides preliminary instructions so that both beginners and the more experienced students can set up their own challenges. The leader provides sufficient structure within which the individual can have maximum opportunity for personal choices, and teaches the basic technical elements as they become needed to accomplish the effect the student wishes to create.
       We often start with a cardboard or wood-frame "loom." People choose a yam to serve as warp, something strong enough to withstand the pull or tension as other yarns are laced into it. The warp yam is wound in parallel lines onto the loom. (Nails may be inserted into the top and bottom of the wooden frame.) (See illustration.) A firm knot is tied at each end.

       Now the student chooses yarn for the weft, which will go across at right angles to the warp, and weaves it in, under one warp string, over the next, under the next, etc., to the end. Returning in the next row, one needs to reverse the way the threads cross so that the warp threads which were under the weft will now he on top of it. Three or four lines of this plain weave, tightly beaten, are needed at the bottom and, later, at the top of the weaving to hold everything in place.
       Now one can weave loosely in and out of the warp strings, using yams of different textures, arranging plants and leaves, etc. There is no need to be constrained by routine weaving one thread up, the next one down. Wall hangings can have many open spaces, yarns knotted around some warp threads, adjacent warp threads twisted against each other, etc. People who prefer to create a solid cloth can experiment with textures or different weaves such as twill and herring bone; they can create a design of shapes against a background. The leader's role is to demonstrate specific techniques as they are needed.
       There are many books on "off-loom" weaving. It is most important for the leader to be thoroughly familiar with the technical aspects and to be able to offer help with weaving-in loose ends, changing colors, mending broken warp threads, taking the weaving off the loom, etc. The leader also has the responsibility to foresee potential problems in the work and advise the student of some of the consequences, e.g. closely spaced versus widely spaced warp, "pulling in," etc.). Aesthetic choices should always be the student's own.
       In preparing materials, it is important to provide sufficient quantity so that the student's choices are made on aesthetic preference, not on the basis of available quantity. Variety in color, texture, and thickness is important: it is helpful to have several shades of some of the colors and the same color in different thicknesses or textures.

       In this corner we have a pile of discards, left over papers from the printer, scraps of cloth from Aunt Minnie's sewing efforts, odd pieces that have accumulated in someone's attic. For some people these remain a pile of discards, but in an ECRS crafts class they can become part of an experience in creating something pleasing to oneself.
       Someone once said, "Creativity is an exercise in surprising oneself." We all have creativity within us. Once we discard society's imposed standard of pleasing others, we can then enjoy playing with materials in ways that are uniquely ours.
       If any number of people are given the same raw materials, no one will produce the same end result. Who is to say which Finished piece is "beautiful," "interesting," "artistic" or "unusual"? As the clichˇ goes, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." An effective leader can help participants to get some insight into how they look at what they produced, see potential for growth, and appreciate their own accomplishment.
       Enjoyment, challenge, excitement and exploration should be the motivation.