The Rare Hare Studio offers art classes to children ages preschool through 8^th grade, introducing a wide variety of materials and techniques. Students are encouraged to explore supplies and tools freely, as well as to participate in guided lessons. Basic artistic elements such as line, shape, color, texture, form, space, and value, as well as design concepts, are discussed and practiced at appropriate grade levels. Study of these elements is further enhanced by an emphasis upon the use of patterns and rhythm in art. Taking note of patterns in the environment around us and how they can be interrelated is an integral part of this process.

Rare Hare Studio recognizes that like people, art comes in many shapes, forms and colors. We offer a truly unique mix of classes where participants can discover new things and yet build on what skills they may already have. Some students can draw very well, others may prefer to make sculpture or weave. We offer opportunities to develop existing skills, and introduce new skills in a comfortable, relaxed environment.

You can see a schedule of upcoming classes here.
Find out about recycling arts/donations and F.A.I.R. here.

Rare Hare Studio wrapped up 2008 with art classes focusing on card making, decoupage, and holiday gift making using recycled scraps and reclaimed objects.  Offering a combination of art classes for kids and for families, artists of all ages were engaged in the endless fun of recycled arts.  We look forward to seeing everyone in the new year, with more unique classes and special events.

This artist uses tiny beads to enhance a card in Family Card Making.

In a recent Jackson Pollock Jr class, this young person creates his vision of a ship. This child’s ingenuity with the scraps is what our F.A.I.R projects are all about.

This student explores color mixing with water color and eye-droppers; she discovers what a little and a lot of paint can do, how colors can mix to make other colors, and what types of patterns can occur from dripping the paint, dragging the tool or pulling up one end of the paper while the paint is wet.   This type of exploration with art and scraps is always a theme in the studio, but young ones can try it out in our Jackson Pollock Jr. class (ages 3-7).

Thanks to the Normal Heights Community Council for special recognition; Honorable Mention for Best New Storefront Window on Adams Avenue. We like to share the joys of reycled scraps and art with all that pass by!

Contructed from recycled wood scraps, families assembled their table/altar and began the process of creating mini-offerings like fruits and vegetables, cakes and pies, pan de muerto (bread of the dead), flowers, and other details.  Using skulls and skeletons to enhance the altar, families explored many different combinations, making each altar so unique.

These sisters worked side by side making great pieces; notice the mini-papel picado hanging under the left altar, requiring patience and skill with scissors.

Using wood scraps, thread spools, and other recycled and reclaimed materials, the altars came alive…and the skeletons were dancing!

These mother-daughter altar pieces were award winning!  Can you see the wine bottle, newspaper, and the bounty of fruits and vegetables?  These are no ready-made Costco deli platters! 

With an assortment of speciality papers, recycled materials, pressed leaves, vintage postage stamps and more, participants decoupaged on 3-D forms, including bird houses.  In family classes, kids and adults can enjoy the process of creating together, colloborating or working on individual pieces.

These decoupage pieces were done on wood laminate squares, and below is a decoupaged wooden tea box.  The layering and creative compositional elements can draw you in….and then HOURS pass by…getting lost in decoupage is so fun!

Mess is never a problem with the Jackson Pollock Jr. class.  This youngster lavishes in the the easel paint, discovering that paint brushes are nice, but hands are what it’s really all about!

This 4-year-old creates a collage portrait using reycled scraps and buttons.  In Jackson Pollock Jr., young children (ages 3-7) get to experience a wide variety of mediums at self-serve stations.  This class is typically offerred once a month on a weekend.  Please see our class schedule for the next class.

Mini-Room Design, a key component of Rare Hare F.A.I.R (Fostering Artistic Ingenuity w/Recycling) allows kids the opportunity to create with a wide variety of recycled and reclaimed items to make their own room, house, and in some cases multi-level mansions!  Sky is the limit with mini-rooms, as students spend hours making furniture and designing their interiors with fabric, wood, tile, and plastic scraps.  It is amazing to watch the project in action; with endless possibilities, the kids are intensely focused on putting their vision into concrete forms.  There is someting innate in us all about nesting and making one’s own space reflect personality and to have it function effectively.  This 3rd grade student’s ingenuity with the scrap materials was highly creative and imaginative.  His idea of making stairs from tile scraps sent other students into a stair making frenzy! 

Mini-Room Design = Housing Market-Crisis Therapy; these houses won’t foreclose!

It was a beautiful day just south of Seaport Village for ArtWalk’s annual ArtWalk on the Bay, featuring KidsWalk, an area designated for kids to create art.   The Rare Hare F.A.I.R booth was in full effect, offering kids opportunities to make keychains and back pack ornaments from recycled materials.  A second project included using scrap slide card tabs to “tesselate” designs.  Similar to making mosaics or putting puzzles together, students used triangles and other shapes to create their own patterns.

During the Art and Social Commentary summer camp, middle school students discussed the work of Jasper Johns, specifically looking at his work Map from 1961.  Added to the discussion were themes of how the U.S is a “melting pot” with both “red and blue” states on the electoral map.  Students created their own interpretations of this symbolic and geographic form, using water color, collage and other mixed media to convey their ideas.

Inspired by Native American totem poles, students mixed influences of animals and social commentary, as well as allowing recycled cardboard forms to “shape” their own version of totem poles.

Students studied Monet’s water lily paintings, taking note of his use of light and reflection and his variations on color.  Students also practiced making tints (adding white to a color) and shades (adding black to a color) to add value and depth to their work.  After several studies in different mediums, students created a 3-D water lily pond, mixing paint with recycled and reclaimed objects.

This proud 2nd grader gave her 3-D water lily pond to her Dad for his birthday!

Sample studies by a 5th grader and a 2nd grader

Creating like the Fauves (French for Wild Beasts) and influened by the work of Paul Gaugin, students used bright bold colors, line, and repeating forms to create their own landscapes.

This second grade student apply glue to scraps for her 3-D lily pond.  The kids got “lost” in their lily ponds, having so much fun with the cool colors and reclaimed objects used for additional details.