Creating with Girls Inc.

April 14, 2016

Girls Inc. is a non-profit that focuses on providing these young women with positive experiences and environments to aid goal setting, self-awareness, and improve academic performances. And their mission is to inspire all girls to be strong, smart and bold. They have spent several school holidays with us integrating STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) while being exposed to different ‘trades’, experiencing different processes, and making amazing art pieces!

girls with flowers — The girls all make and attach their flower to the chandelier frame

The girls visit Dallas Glass Art and work with artist Carlyn Ray and her talented team to create a flower chandelier and also learn about different techniques using glass. In making the chandelier, the girls manipulate hot glass, learn about the engineering of the metal frame, and the installation to hang each glass piece.

This chandelier will go either in an art leasing program to different sponsors/ donors or will be auctioned at Girls Inc fundraiser to raise money for next years project!

CHANDELIER

Design: The girls made paper flowers to look at the layers of the flowers and how the stem would be the support.

Looked at layers of color and construction of a flower and stem

We talked and learned about color theory and choose which colors would be integrated and layered into the chandelier.

The girls with their flowers, before they add them onto the chandelier — The girls with their flowers, before they add them to the chandelier

Creation: The girls pinched and pulled each flower into their own unique design!

Bonking off the flower they just made to be fire polished and cooled properly in the annealer

GLASS LEARNING:

We work with Carter Science Institute put together a learning curriculum which integrates what we are creating with their school studies. Here Carlyn is teaching about the refraction of light and the light spectrum.

Learning about how rainbows are created and the refraction of light

What 3 materials transfer light? Water/ Ice, Plastic/ Resin, and Glass! Let’s explore:

Looking at light through glass (with gold leaf) and talking about fiber optics! — Looking at a light through glass (with gold leaf) and talking about fiber optics!

MOSAICS

The girls also worked with professional artist Katrina Doran and her son Taylor to learn and create amazing mosaics. Here you see them working on mandalas, experiencing Carl Jung’s psychology study of the mandala.

They specifically went over tessellation, polygons, measuring the area of a surface, calculating the number of tiles for the surface area, how to enlarge a drawing, and teamwork- lots of teamwork!

The rabbit is 5′ x 3′ and is comprised of 3,375 tiles (tesserae)

METAL

The Girls at John Christian Designs learned about the tools of the welding trade and how what they are learning in school comes alive in this studio as well! They learned how friction produces heat and cut small metal parts.

With JC: Learning about fabrication, friction, and measuring

Then with Nick, they followed a “Girls Inc.” pattern and welded their cut metal pieces onto a metal plate.

Learning Lesson: Through CSI’s learning lesson, Katelynn (doing a UTA internship with Dallas Glass Art) demonstrated and taught the girls how circuits come alive in the metal studio.

Learning about circuits Katelynn — Learning about electrons, electricity, and circuits with Katelynn

Painting the sign: The girls were able to see their final product finished out by John Christian of John Christian Designs and were excited to put on the last colorful layer of red paint!

Masking off the letters and painting their sign

Finished product!

The sign the girls welded and fabricated with JC Designs

ARO (Art Reaching Out) through artist Carlyn Ray at Dallas Glass Art brings professionals in front of young students to open their hearts and minds. Creating art involves self-expression. Creating a large scale piece teaches teamwork, the value of each piece to create a whole, and sharing a common vision.

A sneak peak of the 3.5' tall — A sneak peak of the 3.5′ tall chandelier

These young women are exposed to different studio environments, work with individuals who are passionate about what they do, and are exposed to other career paths. Each step of the way, these girls have learned something about themselves, overcome fears through sparks and fires, and learned to both trust one another and also see the beauty of working together as a team.

Special thanks to Clayton Elliott for donating to this project as well as the Fritz Duda Foundation for continued support. Girls Inc. would also like to thank GE Capital for the opportunity by providing funding to Girls Inc.

To donate, contribute towards this piece or inquire about Girls Inc, please contact Zahra Perez at ZPerez@girlsincdallas.org