Look at the joy, HERE! This is how we have been able TO BE for MORE THAN 🔟 consistent years.
The Create Everyday Classroom has always been a safe, cozy, vibrant and joyful space where every one is welcome, while having the ability to freely express themselves.
I whole heartedly value being a part of this neighborhood. We have ONLY benefited from the exchange we have had with our neighbors as I believe they have also benefited from their exchange with us.
Peter and I went to the intersection of Nicollet and 26th yesterday to pay our respects. I am overwhelmed with so many emotions, I haven’t been able to sort them all out yet.
Right now, I feel EVEN MORE of an overwhelming sense of gratitude that I GET TO DO THIS, HERE, with these humans (and their families). I LOVE YOU ALL. Please know my utmost priority is to protect what we have created together.
ways to compartment and display, while finding, collecting and creating tiny works of art. upcycled tote bags, miniature display cases, pocket travelers. simple sewing, fabric painting, illustrations + 3D creations, daily walk collecting + sketching, Peter Blake + Annabel Dover + Casey McGlynn artist inspirations
The Museum of Me by Emma Lewis
James Castle, Gillian Theobald, Cheryl Andrey, Henrike Gomber
JUNE 22 - 26
kraft (paper) + cardboard
ONE MORE SEAT available
students comment every summer about how they love painting on cardboard. here's an opportunity to do this all week! portraits (on a string), yard bag costume creatures, window installations, simple sculpture and assembly, James Castle + Hernike Gomber + Gillian Theobald + Cheryl Andrey will be our artist inspirations.
Silent Days, Silent Dreams by Allen Say
Liaqat Rasul, Kara Kramer + Jenna Douglass
AUGUST 10 -14
momentum with mixed media
mixed media book making, sliding window illustrations, alternative printing methods, drawing and image transfers, cyanotypes, compound compositions, mixed media mobiles, Jenna Douglass, Kara Kramer + Liaqat Rasul artist inspirations
Tell Me a Lion Story by Kara Kramer
AUGUST 24 - 28
drawing + painting David
ONE MORE SEAT available
David Hockney ALL WEEK: portrait, figure, still life, landscape
Over the duration of EVERY summer, I become completely absorbed in THIS.
And I want to honor this, here, before I (very) slowly (more slowly than you probably can imagine, actually) make the transition back to my own studio.
I stand for:
BOOKS! actual, tangible books
art making as community
art making as an alternative language
pure deLIGHT
inclusivity.
peaceful, reflective, public spaces
PLAYFULNESS
the fact that art making can happen anywhere with anything
art making as a means of self soothing
TIME to imagine, transition, reflect, assimilate
simple pleasures
making messes
as many learning styles as there are people
a belief that art can save lives. It saved mine.
these younger people being OUR teachers
and so much MORE
(but you get my drift)
I love ALL these young artists SO MUCH. Please protect them. They ARE our wonder-filled future.
Thank you, @artsmia, Urban Sketchers, Twin Cities, @glamdolldonuts and @mcadgallery for continuously providing an extended community for us
and, thank you, parents, for trusting me with your children
“Everyone knows what you’re against. Show them what you’re for.” - Andrea Gibson
Lee Kranser artist study: I am SUCH A FAN of Lee Krasner. She was responsible for Jackson Pollock being recognized in the first place as well as his continued, (chaotic) success. It has taken the art world, in general, a long time to recognize Lee’s brilliance, acumen and work. This artist study is inspired by Krasner’s collages. In the midst of frustration, Krasner tore up her paintings, soonly recognizing something was very appealing about arranging these pieces in an alternative way.
Pacita Abad artist study: This artist continues to be a source of inspiration to teach after becoming fully absorbed with her, personally, over the summer of 2023, when she had a retrospective at the Walker. We referenced images of Pacita Abad's mask series or "everyone I meet on the train". We also studied her underwater works and created our own textile art referencing these works as our inspiration.
Corita Kent artist study: “There is no mistake. There is only make.” We honored the artist, Corita Kent (another one of my absolute favorites) by creating posters celebrating the art of making.
Wassily Kandinsky artist study: Kandinsky believed in evoking a feeling, telling a story or making an impression with shapes and colors in his work (rather than painting in a more literal fashion). We arranged + traced cardboard, organic shapes on our canvas, creating our own abstract composition while focusing on brush stroke and color while painting.
Jasper Johns artist study: During a significant era of Johns' work, the artist focussed on motifs such as numerals, targets or flags and used these as the catalyst for his abstract paintings.
Maira Kalman artist study: Maira Kalman has created and continues to create an incredible body of work. If you aren't aware of her, please use your search engine to take a peek NOW. She is such a breath of fresh air! I'll assist. Here's a link to get started.
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Remaining 2025 fall + winter classes and workshops
have been posted
View this linkfor more information or to register.
If you are new to The Create Everyday Classroom Summer ART Camps, WELCOME! Please scroll down to familiarize yourself by reading GENERAL CAMP INFORMATION at the bottom of this post.
"I'll go where the work takes me. I always tell people if it goes out the window, I'll follow it" - Stanley Whitney
From the quilters of Gee’s Bend to Piet Mondrian to Agnes Martin to Stanley Whitney. Establishing a structure within which to create can be community building, representational, meditative, bold and liberating.
mostly drawing and painting
“Art work is a representation of our devotion to life” - Agnes Martin
"Hope" is the thing with... : June 23-27
REGISTRATION IS CLOSED for “Hope” is the thing with… THANK YOU
"The dignity of the artist lies in (their) duty of keeping awake the sense of wonder in the world." - Marc Chagall
Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, and Beauford Delaney artist studies (a lot of painting), museum scavenger hunt, primitive clay forms, poster design
"Painting is a nail to which I fasten my ideas." - Georges Braque
Art is for Everyone: August 11 - 15
REGISTRATION IS CLOSED for Art is for Everyone. Thank you.
"Nothing is an end because it can always be a basis for something new and different.." - Keith Haring
We designated one day during Rule Breakers Summer Camp last year
for a Keith Haring artist study:
This year, we're going to dedicate an entire camp to this artist and his work!
doodling, large scale drawing + painting, poster design, performance art + play
"Children know something that most people have forgotten...I am now 28 years old on the outside and nearly twelve years old on the inside. I always want to stay twelve years old on the inside." - Keith Haring
"Whatever the medium, there is the difficulty, challenge, fascination and often productive clumsiness of learning a new method: the wonderful puzzles and problems..." - Helen Frankenthaler
These Five Painters (Helen Frankenthaler, Grace Hartigan, Elaine de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell) were not only the catalysts for new approaches in painting, they were pioneers for women in art.
mostly abstract painting with a bit of collage and figure work
"Somehow, in painting I try to make some logic out of the world that has been given to me in chaos." - Grace Hartigan
GENERAL CAMP INFORMATION
The Create Everyday Classroom Summer ART Camps are Monday through Friday, 9am - 1pm Because of small class sizes, variations on lessons are easily provided when taking into consideration age, interest, and skill. Camp sizes are small (10 participants) with an age range in each of 4 to 12 years.
With TEN years of SUMMER CAMP at The Create Everyday Classroom, rituals have been created that returning students look forward to every year. In addition to visiting the museum (Mia on Thursdays), there is silly walk day, water balloon day, balloons in the museum courtyard and popsicle day.
Students come prepared with their own mid morning snack, water bottle and lunch. We have daily picnics on the MCAD campus or in the Mia courtyard (weather permitting).
Last year, during IN THE CITY Summer Camp we met up with Urban Sketchers. This was such an incredible experience for both parties, the facilitator and I are going to do our best to coordinate one event during EVERY CAMP week this year. Get a glimpse of what this might look like here:
Each camp is $295 per week. A non refundable $150 deposit secures your child's seat with a balance of $145 due the Monday of summer camp week. Seat reservations may be made
via venmo @Kari-Maxwell
citing your camp(s) of choice in the memo
You will receive confirmation of your seat(s) via a venmo return memo Once a camp’s seats have filled, “Registration is closed. Thank you!” will appear under the corresponding camp dates.
If this is your first time enrolling, in addition to your payment, please email createeverydayclassroom@gmail.com with the full name and age of your child(ren). More elaborate camp details and necessary paperwork is sent out via email in May.
And, to ALL families, past and present: Thank you for your referrals. For the ten years my program has been in place, word of mouth continues to be my only form of advertisement. With that being said, if this link has been shared with you by another, please let me know who referred you in your email.
Take a peek into previous years of The Create Everyday Summer ART Camps HERE and HERE
When I am not painting in my studio, I am developing curriculum or teaching at my tiny little art school in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis.
I get such a charge out of designing curriculum. Since I founded The Create Everyday Classroom in 2013, I am beginning to collect a wealth of rich lessons. I still prefer to create and teach new curriculum though. I love sitting down and figuring out how to puzzle piece together at least two of the following: artist studies, art making methods, children's books and museum visits. More often than not, I find a common thread between three or four.
My class sizes are small. I teach an average of ten students per session between the ages of 4 and 10 years. I have found this number of students allows for a more individual, open ended curriculum which is the most important quality for me. I want students to always feel the freedom to improvise, make adaptions and experiment while having the support they need to do this.
Having been a Montessori teacher for over fifteen years, I am a firm believer that there be a significant age range in each class. One element of my curriculum design involves creating variations within each lesson so that all students will feel challenged and engaged. Under this paradigm, students have the ability to absorb the layers and complexities involved in making art.
Kari Maxwell received her Bachelor of Arts in psychology with a minor in philosophy in 1992. She graduated from the masters program (MECR) at CU, Boulder in 1997 with a Montessori certificate in early childhood education. She has been a practicing educator ever since.
Sometimes, I think, the children's sketchbooks are their most important work. Even though, by the time they go home, the children usually can't remember what sight or thought was the catalyst for which mark, shape or scribble.
This student has filled a handful of sketchbooks in my classes. There have been many pages that have gone home empty too. Somehow, without any inhibition, though, this (not quite) six year old captured movement. Just like that. There is also something else about these sketches that amaze me. This very young person already understands a certain benefit of creating several sketches on the same sight (or idea). AND this young person was obviously quite comfortable continuing an idea across the course of a sketchbook binding and consuming both pages. WOW.
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