Art After School at Comet Ping Pong

If your kids are into art, outer space, or science fiction (or, even better, all of the above) and want to flex their creative muscle, then here’s a program you’ll want to check out: Art After School, a new program for kids ages 6-11, is about to begin its fall series of weekly workshops at Comet Ping Pong in Chevy Chase.

Led by DC-based artist and creative camp director Marissa Long, Art After School promises to be a fun and engaging artistic after school activity that stimulates imagination and prompts independent thinking. Rather than focusing on pre-prescribed or “how to” artistic activities, AAS invites youth of all skill levels and interests to imagine and create with a variety of accessible materials.

The fall series of Art After School is offered in partnership with award-winning Comet Ping Pong, recognized as one of Washington, DC’s, most beloved restaurants as well as one of its biggest supporters of art, music, and DC schools. Using the outer space theme of Comet Ping Pong’s new private back room as inspiration, this Art After School  mini-series will employ themes of space, science fiction, and time travel. The fall session is a sneak peek of an extended Art After School series that will be offered in winter of 2012. Classes will take place on Wednesdays from 4-6pm.  The total cost is $140 ($30 + $5 materials fee per session). Space is limited for this special, sneak-peek session, so register soon by emailing ArtAfterSchoolDC@gmail.com.

Here’s what’s on the Art After School schedule:

October 26, 2011 (4 – 6pm): POSTCARDS FROM SPACE
Youth will create postcards from other planets – real or imagined – either as themselves on a trip or as other-world inhabitants. Postcards will be collected and mailed to each child’s home at a later date. Translations of newly discovered languages and alphabets may be necessary.

November 2, 2011 (4 – 6pm):  TIME MACHINE TREASURE CHEST
During this session, youth will imagine traveling to a time and place in either the past or future in search of lost treasure. They will decorate and fill small cardboard boxes to create “treasure chests” that represent the time period and narratives of discovery they have imagined.

November 9, 2011 (4 – 6pm):  PLANETARIUM
After making their own invented constellation charts (complete with illustrations, labels, and small punched holes), youth will use flashlights to project their constellations onto a homemade planetarium “dome” in a darkened space.

November 16, 2011 (4 – 6pm):  THANKSGIVING ON MARS
What would dinner look like on an alien planet? Youth will answer this question with the creation of a Thanksgiving-esque banquet table full of strange, cosmic grub, drinks, utensils, and centerpieces.