In the Name of Art

Kid's Printmaking Day 4, Skipped Day 3

Sadly, I had too much to do yesterday and didn't take any photos of our collage and chine colle class, but today we did printmaking and it was the first time the kids had tried that.

This is Jack and he's drawing a dinosaur on a styrafoam plate, the tyrannosaurus and he seemed to have the same expression for a minute or two.

Matt, Ezra and Emily are experiencing the focus involved in carving a piece of eraser with a lino-cutter.  The pink styrafoam printing plate has been completed and if you look close you can see the drawing there.

Same group as above including, at the end of the row, Kristen, as they begin to ink their printing-plates. The yellow marks are from a stamp pad.

I could tell from the blue smudge on her face that Kristen was serious about making the best prints possible! Tomorrow, we tackle relief wood sculpture ala Louise Nevelson.

Running Crazy, Less Art

So I've finally decided that I really need my mornings, every morning, or most mornings to be able to make any kind of consistent, sustained progress with my art. This week proves that. I've been teaching mornings at Hudson Art in the Park and with that time taken, I've been unable to get much of my usual work done.  I've accomplished a great deal with the kids, they're a great group, enthusiastic and happy to be out and painting or print-making or making collage. But the pages here haven't seen much art. That's the problem with a job, before I know it, sleeping, family, eating and walking the dog have gobbled up the day. 

Anyway, with that said, here is another of the historical narratives:

Phinally, Photos of the Phorth

Art in the Park, 2nd Day: Landscape Painting

The first part of today's class we walked around the park and did small pencil sketches of the different scenic vistas in Hudson Springs Park.

More sketching, after talking about why artists draw and paint landscapes. These bright artists thought it was because it is beautiful and is all around you, and I agree.

We were going to do 5 landscapes but settled for 3 and a smaller book (our time was running out).

We took the drawings back to the shelter and after a demo began to paint.

It was a very windy day to work with lots of sheets of paper, so to dry the landscapes, we had to weight them down with rocks.

We began our books today, but didn't finish the covers so we'll have to do that tomorrow AND start the collage. If it's as windy tomorrow, we may do something with wood because that can't blow away!

Day 1, Art in the Park

Seven delightful 3rd graders took part in today's art lessons. First we made name magnets to serve as an attendance marker and to help Ms. Saxe (me) to learn names. Those will stay with the students all week and then on the last day they'll take them home. Some shots of our rapid progress with the magnets:

Our final project was a Me-mobile combining a self-portrait with mobile that would move in the wind. We all talked about what a self-portrait was and looked at Durer's painted self-portrait. Just to make the point clear, we also looked at the Mona Lisa and everyone understood it was not a self-portrait, but a portrait that Da Vinci had painted of someone else. A short demo of how to construct the mobile followed and the kids took it from there, deciding on their own whether and how to make arms and legs.

We finished in time to clean up and pose with artists and self-portraits:

Thanks to all the artists who helped to make this a perfectly creative day!

Gallery Day

The following pix are of friends Gretchen and Christine in the Akron Women's City Club Gallery the day we installed our collage show. I'm just fascinated by the coffered paneling and the old world ambience of the interior.

Gretchen in a pensive moment.

Christine with a gaggle of collages.

This one gives more of a feel for the whole room. Reception for the artists on July 17 from 5 to 7, hope to see you there!

Bacchus in Pink

A birthday card for Monica Riffe (a belated greetings) with Bacchus as a celebrant, what a party that would be! Baking today and nearly burned the banana bread. Picking up eggs and chickens this afternoon and making deviled eggs for the picnic tomorrow. I'll tell my secret ingredients if you leave a comment!

Running here and there

What? No pictures?! Yes, when running as fast as I can up to the lake in one day and back, lunches with various and sundry groups, picking up entries at the gallery, and not making it down to the micro-studio at ALL! The 4th of July is only 2nd to Christmas in this neck of the woods.

But I have been THINKING about art, say, taking a picture of George Washington (see, the 4th is having an effect here) and doing the strips thing over his face with ads......hmmmm, sadly, my ideas never seem to pack as much of a visual punch as letting the idea take form by itself. But if it works you'll be the first to see it.

An Elusive Ballet

Have you ever seen a bird flying after a particularly elusive insect? They dart, intent, focused solely on something that is invisible to me. The focus, intensity and choreography are obviously aimed at a practical result but seem so mysterious. It's what I hope a viewer sees here, there isn't any practical intent of any kind intended, just the baffling arrangement is left.

Memorial Day Picnic at the Fogels