Circled around a hole with shovels in hand, the kids dug up skeletons and spears as part of their lesson on indigenous people—sort of.

After arriving at the BuildaBridge house, the Artology participants worked with teaching artist Pedro Ospino to create replicas of objects of everyday life in the cultures of many indigenous people.

Their trip to the BuildaBridge house with the Artology program was significant because it was the first time that kids have come to the house for an activity. Ultimately, BuildaBridge plans on creating a community studio out of the carriage house on the BuildaBridge property, an arts space where children and other members of the community might come for arts-integrated education.

Before starting their activity at the house, the kids received a short introduction on how the indigenous people lived. No focus was placed on an individual culture, but rather on the elements of many past societies.

Working with “anything around” the BuildaBridge house, such as stumps, sticks and rocks, the participants created objects that were then buried behind the house.

Ospino stressed that the placement of the objects was important because two groups came to the house. One group would create objects and bury them, then the other group would come and dig up the items and vice versa. Like archeologists, they then used the clues around to determine the purpose of their findings.

Ospino, who also creates his own art, works with lots of different organizations.

“He is very interested in indigenous native cultures,” said Charlene Melhorn, Artist in Residence and Artology Director, adding that the Columbian native has worked extensively in Brazil, Philadelphia and New York, where he has created murals, totem poles, masks and screen printings.