This week's visit to City Arts was considered laidback and evidentially led by the student artists. The lesson planning team decided to change the agenda in efforts to take more pictures rather than focusing on ice breaker exercises with most of our young artists. The task this week was to find a buddy and a teacher and venture around the neighborhood to capture images. During this activity, young artists went to stores around their neighborhood and areas they have not yet discovered. Though at times we went deep into the neighborhood and were confused about our way back to City Arts - the time spent capturing images was fun and effective. Some images capture were of murals around stores, store fronts, plants and flowers, street signs, food, and much more. During this activity, young artists were asked to focus on what they want to be shown in the exhibit. By doing so, we referred to the drawing young artists did last week containing what they like taking pictures of and because of that teaching artists helped narrowed their focus. A goal we wish to carry on throughout our next few classes is staying focused during the image capturing process, in efforts to make sure young artists have a lot to choose from by the time of the exhibition. 

It was the second time back at City Arts for the Monday group, since classes weren’t held on the holiday last week. We were all very excited to go back and see the young artists take initiative with their photos. Although some of our crew was sick, we were ready to take on the lesson. The subject for this lesson was “What does City Arts mean to you?”. The class began with drawing on a large piece of paper together, and they could draw or write anything that represents City Arts for them. Some young artists drew paintbrushes, flowers with their names in them, and wrote a few words about City Arts. However, one student merely drew lines all across the paper. When asked about them, she replied, “I’m connecting everyone’s art and what City Arts mean to them”. This answer showed the goal of City Arts: to build a safe community where young artists can come together and learn together.

​We then began our main activity of the lesson, which consisted of the young artists taking pictures around the building that represent what City Arts means to them. Some had pictures of friends, the water fountain, and the artwork on the wall. Every young artist was required to take 25 pictures, and pick their favorite 5 to show to the class. After we took the pictures, we weren’t able to see everyone’s top 5 favorite pictures. Therefore, each young artist showed their favorite picture about what City Arts meant to them. This was a great way for us as teachers to see some of what the young artists see at when they think of City Arts. We can’t wait for next week!

​We were so excited to go back in for our second week at CityArts! The young artists were full of energy and we all couldn’t wait to take some more pictures. We started the class off with a quick check in, to see how everyone was feeling. The beautiful weather and the long weekend helped to put everyone in a great mood for our Wednesday afternoon class. After checking in we talked about magazines and collages. The young artists discussed what they thought was important in a magazine and what they thought a collage looked like. Using many old magazines, the young artists created collages that described themselves. 
 
Once the collages were complete, the young artists paired up with Providence College students and went exploring. The young artists were prompted to take 20 photographs to include in a “magazine about themselves.” Given the beautiful weather we walked around outside and the young artists got some beautiful pictures! These pictures are a great start for the young artists to start working on their photography skills as well as doing some reflection into how they see themselves and what is important to their identity. We can’t wait for next week!

​This week we were very excited to be welcomed back to CityArts with open arms to help facilitate another fantastic session of Community Lens! On Monday, we got to know our awesome new group of young artists through get-to-know-you-games and some basic introductions. We were super excited to help the young artists begin to learn the basic functions of the camera. Through a fun and interactive scavenger hunt the young artists learned about the zoom functions, the focus options and how the flash can make pictures look very different. 
 
On Wednesday, we continued getting to know the young artists when the second group of teachers came in! Through another fun round of ice breaker games we developed stronger connections with the young artists and as a group. We then talked with the young artists about the important aspects of photography including the golden ratio and the rule of thirds. We then got to know the young artists even better as the practiced their new skills through a get to know you scavenger hunt. We are all looking forward to the next week of classes where we will work as a team to finalize our theme for the rest of the semester. We are so excited to see where our class take us! Check in every Friday to keep up to date!!!