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  • A LAB Update: September 2011
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  • The Lab: Off to the races for 2nd Session! (January 30, 2011)

There will be a suggested donation $15 at the door.  Doors will open at 6:30 pm.

This event is sponsored by the School of Social Work at St. Catherine University/University of St. Thomas.

Note: St. Catherine University (St. Kate’s) is located at: 2004 Randolph Avenue, St. Paul, MN  55105.
Find St. Kate’s (and directions to the campus, Jeanne d’Arc Auditorium & get parking information by calling:
651-690-6000 or visiting St. Catherine University online at: www.stkate.edu

 

This year something special has been brewing at The Lab.  Tucked away where most people wouldn’t look, a new musical groove has been forming.  Students paired up with mentors to explore piano, guitar, drums, and electronic music production, covering all sorts of genres, and finding a place to practice confidence, patience, creative expression, and a healthy one-on-one relationship.

Robert is one of the Lab’s musical All-Stars.  He learned skills on piano, drum set, and GarageBand (a music production software), and recently released his first solo album, Outer Space.  (Click here for a sample song from the album: 02 Rocket Boy.)

Robert takes inspiration from Prince, George Clinton, Jimi Hendrix, ACDC and others and now considers himself among the ranks of these “great rockers.”  Through his music mentorship, Robert got deeply creative, and demonstrated what it means to focus oneself entirely to the task at hand.  His album is an example to all aspiring artists of how beautiful it is to be genuine, and to put your story and your rhythms out into the world.  Thanks Robert.

“This is the story of a Rocket Boy. He says he one day will fly in space. He says he’s not playing around with his dreams, so he’s one step away.”

You are my star you twinkle like the stars.
You have my heart and soul from the time I was born
to the time I am deceased.
You make me feel like I am loved
but sometimes it is like a roller coaster ride with all the ups and downs.
So sometimes it feels like a leaf falling from a tree
when my life is going on.
You make me laugh when I am sad
You make me smile when I am happy.
But most of all you make me feel like I am loved and blessed
by an angel from the heavens.
I know you won’t give up on me when things are going wrong.
I know you will be the first to say everything will be okay.
You are like a new song everyone wants to listen to you.
You are blessed in so many ways it’s hard to describe.
You are like Mother Nature
you don’t know what you are going to do next.
But when you do speak everyone stops and listens.
You are important and you are alive in this world for a reason.
But everyday you are here, the closer I get to you
and I trust in you a lot more than the first time I met you.
So just to let you know
I love all of you for a reason.

 

Can’t see what,
Can’t see how
As a kid,  I always wanted it NOW!
I just want to be successful
with wealth and health
But now these obstacles and troubles along the way
There’s no way I’ll get there
that way
Hope is a simple concept,
yet misused
I hope to live a cartoon life,
a simple life, maybe get a wife
But before I do, so much stuff to do
Improve my skills,
drawing is my profession…
writing too
Do it all day, maybe all night,
do it all over ‘till I get it right
Hope to reach my goals,
be happy and free
But I just continue
to strive and hope
I’ll be the best I can be.

~ Harding Youth Lab Poet

This art work was created by a Washington Middle School student. He is part of a Visual Art group facilitated by Kyle Johanson, our VISTA worker who also happens to be a visual artist. Kyle is teaching our students about how art can be a healthy way to express their ideas. In this group, he was talking about the artist Jackson Pollock and his technique of “drip painting”, and this student created a beautiful piece! Jackson Pollock was part of a greater art movement called Abstract Expressionism, which was developed to convey emotion and feeling through a visual language.
If you’d like to see Kyle’s work, check out his website at www.kylejohanson.com

The next picture featured here was created by another student in Kyle’s Washington Visual Art Group.  In his two canvasses, this student told the story that one shows “happiness” looking out into the world, and the other canvas, showing the scary things in life looking back in through the window.

Shop for your spring flowers and help support The Lab!

Click on the coupon to the left and print out this coupon and bring it to Linder’s Flower Market (www.linders.com) on the weekend of May 6 – 9, and The Lab will receive 15% of the Lab sales that weekend.

All money raised will go to engage and hire community guest artists and support the development of our Technology Lab (digital cameras, digital video cameras, piano keyboards, microphones etc…)

Wellstone Elementary’s drum line knows what it means to combine hard work with fun.  On March 10, thirty sixth-graders from Wellstone marched into the Lab with bucket drums, trash barrels, and percussive poles.  They danced and stomped, and made a bass boom louder than any amp we’ve heard at the Lab. Led by a brilliant educator, Jamal Abdur-Salaam, these artists demonstrated what it means to be a mature team – and the power that comes from that effort.

Students from Murray were in the audience, and Jamal told them what this bucket drumming was all about. These sixth graders are drumming first and foremost as a reminder of why they are in school.  Their call and response goes:

Why do we go to school? “To learn!”

Why else? “To figure out what we can do!”

Why else? “To become!”

What a great compliment to the work that happens at the Lab.  We create a safe space and invite students to get creative.  And Glo reminds students every week that they are hear to find another side of themselves, a person they can be proud of.

As Jamal said, ”It’s the person playing the bucket that makes it sound like what it is.  You get out of it what you put into it. And I like to connect that to life. You get out of your life what you put into it.”

We are so thankful that Jamal and his students came to visit, and plan on it happening again.

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