Want a little artist date to some of the world's greatest museums without leaving the warmth of your sofa or studio?
Here's the back story.
And here's the link to the site:
http://www.googleartproject.com/
Brené Brown on Creativity
After watching Brené Brown's viral TED talk, we bought the book. Inspiring read, not the end of the world or anything, but compelling and convincing and very readable. Here's what she has to say about creativity (P.S. I skipped ahead for that chapter:
"1. "I'm not very creative' doesn't work. There's no such thing a creative people and non-creative people. There are only people who use their creativity and people who don't...
2. The only unique contribution we will ever make in this world will be born of our creativity.
3. If we want to make meaning, we need to make art...."
Get the book for the whole story: The Gifts of Imperfection.
Subway Map Stringed Instrument
Too good not to share. Go to this link to hear the NYC subway appearing as a realtime stringed instrument --you can play along, too, by plucking the "strings." Another great fun way to play with Sensory Alphabet elements line and sound!
Imagine this as an inspiration for an art quilt or art cloth. Subways don't exist in reality in my part of the world, so they hold a certain grimy glamour for me. Ideas are everywhere. Awareness.
The BIg Freeze, and the Studio Thaw
Its COOOOLD outside. Guess that's the state of the union. We had rolling blackouts yesterday, but "they" seem to have figured out the grid for now. And, dispite dripping the tub, the water in the house is frozen, nothing to do but wait for the thaw (tomorrow it will be 43) and hope for the pipes' best. We've never had pipes freeze before so this is a major distraction and anxiety (i foresee torrents of water coming down from the attic). I am glad there is no El Cielo workshop going on! At any rate, send me pipe fairy prayers and, gee, while we are at it, if its going to be this dadburn cold can't we muster up a little snowfall tonight? Just a bit. Just to make the visuals complete.
However, while the freeze is going on its business, I have had some extended time in the studio (where the water still works). And that has been wonderful. It's a creative thaw I've been anticipating and hoping for. The place is still a mess from teaching supplies in and out, but instead of being my (yeah, right) regular neat and orderly person, I just cleared a workspace and dove in.
The piece I am working on is one that's been in my head for a long while, since working on collage examples for the Text on the Surface workshops. I discovered it when I took everything out for the Southwest School class this past Monday. There have been several calls for entries that I want to respond to, and at least one of them had to do with working outside of one's comfort zone (SAQA, I think) and another one has a theme that fits the collage perfectly. So rather than do my usual work-on-the-table improvisation, I actually made a paper pattern, am printing some of the elements, cutting others, and will have this big text based piece done by the end of the week I hope.
So, stepping out of my usual narrative, goddessy, archetypal themes, this one will be modernism, pure and simple (sort of). Its quite scary to spend time on something so different (though I have been ooching toward more formal, abstract work for a little while) but I suspect I have to do so this time in order to renew something important, to step beyond my own pictures of my own work, and to take a chance. That was the thaw I needed in order to get myself back to the design table in an authentic way.
So what about you? I'd love to know what risky business you are trying for your own creative thaw.
Plasma Tree -- Fun with Line
Linda sent me this wonderful diversion. It's a good application to use with kids exploring the sensory alphabet element of LINE, don't you think?
http://www.stumbleupon.com/to/s/1rgOAs
What I learned... (Text on the Surface)
Starting today (Monday afternoon), there's a five-week course at the Southwest School of Art -- Text on the Surface. If you're in SA and are interested, I think there is an opening for one more student.-
This was the course I attempted to design as an online course, only to discover that I am "not-so-good" at teaching online (as the kids say). Thanks to all the text test pilots who suffered through it! I suspect that I could get better, but I am not sure I want to until I can't get out there to teach in person any more. I have a hard enough time with my interpersonal intelligence skills (or lack thereof) in person and trying to interact online in a teaching situation certainly pointed up my weaknesses. (I am the kind of person who can spend an entire evening with a feuding couple or two in the clutches of an extramarital affair and never notice anything.) The nuances of interacting online often evade me, whether it be via email or listserve. So while I have certain technical facility with it all, I seem to lack the ability to make the charisma leap -- or something!
Perhaps just putting out an e-book would work -- but I had a really hard time trying to interact, give feedback and provide guidance in an electronic "classroom." Fostering community online evaded me. And I suspect, as with realtime teaching, that that is what all of us want in an educational situation.
Believing that its always better to work from one's strengths, I am sticking to the actual world for teaching and facilitating for now, So if you were waiting to hear about an online course, wait no longer. This working from one's strengths means that sometimes you do just make a u-turn. Find another way; back up and begin again.
It smarts. At 62, I, like a lot of people my age, don't really like being a beginner at anything. We prefer to stick with our success stories. We often do know what we like to do and how we like to do it. On one hand, that focuses our attention and keeps us from wasting the time on the planet we have left, but it can also lead to stagnation and boredom. So even though I am not continuing with the online adventure, I'm glad I tried it out and learned something new about myself.
Art with CAYA -- Youth Ambassadors
The week flew by with work at Bamberger Ranch and then at Southwest School of Art with the CAYA group, Texas host kids and families and the year-long residency group of SEED teachers. On this post, we just wanted to share some of the graphic and visual forms we worked on -- you can see more photos of the various aspects of the program, and the kids at work, on the Posterous SEED blog, if you're interested.
This is what I love about these graphic forms, and why I think they work as collaborative art projects:
First, limit the palette in use to some degree -- kraft paper brown, black, white and red construction paper were the choices here (We loosen up on these color restrictions as the day goes on, figuring that the repetition will hold the general design together).
In the projects, we emphasize cutting over drawing or sketching. First, its less intimidating for kids who don't think they are good artists. Secondly, it keeps things simple and strong and bold. Black cutout letters and shapes are the bones for any little fussy stuff on top!
The t-shirts start with cutout "logos' for air, earth and water. Each kid makes a logo. I gang them together reduce each to a grid that will fit on a thermofax and the kids get to print their own shirts. Then, with colored fabric markers, each one can individualize and personalize his or her design. Again, the black ink on white shirt holds the whole design together.
The "dream towers" included collage work (each person cutout a large word that described a personal dream, then collaged it with magazine pictures), a few notan designs, etc. Again, the color palette holds it together. I used the model of the Eames "house of cards" as patterns for the large foam board cards. These notch together with slits and make relatively stable and sturdy set/exhibit pieces that can be easily stored, recycled with new images with a new group, and infinitely rearranged. Since our final exhibit and presentation was in a gallery where we could not attach anything to the walls, these towers provided display space for work -- and they could be quickly assembled and disassembled and moved easily in the van or even a passenger car backseat!
The black foam board cards were just taped into triangles (for stability) and stacked on top of each other. Kid wrote their recipes and remedies and cures for issues facing their world on these with chalk -- again, the boards can be wiped clean and reused. The blackboard form was fun, gave shape to the thinking and message, and was un-intimidating since if one made a mistake you could erase and do it again. And I love the black and white with the other forms.
The mask forms are simple paper bag masks using limited colors and mostly cut out shapes and forms. The kids (each in their group of either water, earth or air) chose a creature or element to personify as a mask and to "speak" for -- their assignment was to be a voice for those without words -- the animals, plants and elements of nature that depend upon survival with our solutions for the difficult problems facing the environment and our stewardship of the world, our partnership with the rest of the world. We used recycled packing materials from our lunches and other meals in these, as well.
After years (and years) of doing collaborative (and quickly produced) art forms with kids and adults with all kinds of content, I do have my bag of tricks and approaches that help with visual strength and form, but still give everyone the sense of personal contribution and expression. I think that providing a few "rules" in terms of setting a strong format, limiting materials, and structuring the work experience all add up in the end.
Central American Youth Arrive Today
From the studio this morning, I travel to Selah, Bamberger Ranch, to help facilitate a workshop for youth ambassadors from Central America and South America. The kids, arriving here from Idaho (I think the weather will please) are participating in a three week program hosted by USAID and Georgetown University. After staying at the Ranch and participating in some media workshops, they will join Texas families for the rest of their stay. We'll be presenting work, thoughts, art and more on our themes related to leadership and entrepreneurship on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at the Southwest School of Art.
Yesterday, I met the new group of SEED teachers -- Central American rural teachers here at Palo Alto College for a year of training. A wonderful team of spirited, strong women and men worked with me learning to lead and assist in some of the activities with the youth ambassadors. A team of ten will join us at the ranch and another team will assist in activities on the river and at the art school. If you'd like to follow along with some of the ongoing projects I do with these international programs, click over to the posterous blog at http://SEED2011.posterous.com and subscribe for updates -- or just check in occasionally to see what's going on.
Pattern Language
As I head into a busy week (aren't we all?) here's a couple of pictures of platters by my friend Mary Lance. Mary also works in fiber, so we get to share techniques and ideas in that media as well. What I love about this new work of hers is the exuberance of pattern.
I think the cross-referencing of ideas from textile to clay is really interesting- I could see these as the inspiration for work in fabric, too.
Love your Inner Artist
How often we forget to feed the hand(s) (and heart) of the inner one who keeps us creating. Our inner artist is the one we hear when we haven't made it to the studio often enough. The one who comes knocking when we forget to slow down and put our hands into our favorite materials. The voice inside our head that starts whining when the well is dry.
Creativity is an activity that happens with intent, with some "new eyes' experiences, with a little bit of adventurous exploring, with some soul food that nourishes the spirit and imagination.
One way to feed your inner artist is with artist dates, as Julia Cameron styles these fill-up times in her book The Artists Way. At least once a week we need to do something intentional, often on-our-own, to bring joy and inspiration to our inner artists. INTENTIONAL is a key word. I'm sometimes tempted to look back on the week and say that sure I had an artist date, remember that movie I went to, or the 30 minutes at the used book store? Well, better than none, but best of all is making an intentional, anticipated date with your inner artist in advance, and then sticking to it. Iam going to see my friend Liz today in Kerrville for some artist inspiration and advice, and on the way I plan to stop in at one of my favorite thrift stores -- the Animal Defense shop in Boerne. Now that's an artist date. And I planned it in advance. And I will give myself a modest allowance of "blow" money so I can even do some shopping or tea sipping.
What's on your artist date calendar this week? I'd love to hear what and how you feed your inner artist and keep her (him) happy.
AND if you are looking for a weekend-long artist date, I hope you will consider signing up for one of my next two El Cielo workshops.
(HEART) YOUR INNER ARTIST
February 11-13
How do you nurture your creative self in a world that doesn’t always honor artists and artful work? This pre-Valentine’s Day workshop will provide that support while you learn more about your individual design strengths with creativity exercises, learn simple yoga and breath work, and make an artist’s altar for your studio.
NATURE-INSPIRED SURFACE DESIGN March 25-27
Find color, shape, form and inspired design for new surface design tools at this spring-is-sprung weekend in the blooming Texas Hill Country. We’ll do sun prints, leaf-inspired thermofaxes and screenprinting with dye, flour paste resist and more.
Sign up early (at least 30 days in advance with a $25 deposit) for a $15 discount on the $175 fee. (Accommodations from free to $30 for both nights) Email me susiemonday@gmail.com for details. First come/first serve -- single bedrooms are in demand! Note that some of the recent workshops have been filling early. Workshops generally start with an optional Friday night potluck and fun activity or two, then continue through 3-4 pm on Sunday afternoon. Most supplies included.
OTHER POSSIBILITIES:
Flying or driving in from afar for one of these weekends? Or just want some solo supported work time in the studio? Add one or two days of instruction in the studio for learning techniques that you are interested in -- dyeing, screen-printing, ink-jet transfer, soy batik and more. Each custom designed workshop and night’s lodging and meals costs $225 per person. Limit, 2 artists per session.
OR Are you interested in a workshop for your guild or other group? Many of Susie’s workshops go on the road! Please write for available dates and fees.
Art Cloth Network Call for Members
If you're a creator of art cloth, consider joining Art Cloth Network. The group, which is limited to 30 members, actively promotes and exhibits art cloth. We will be meeting this fall in Florida (attending the first meeting is required for new members). Here's the official info about applying:
Art Cloth Network Membership Information and Application Process
Thanks for your interest in becoming a member of the Art Cloth Network. Those of us who are members find that the opportunities for community, conversation, sharing of techniques, inspiration and resources benefit our art and creativity. We have recently increased our membership limits to 30 members in good standing, including those on formal leave. When the number falls below 30, we accept new member applications. We currently have openings for up to 6 new members.
While some of us also make art quilts or mixed media work, the group is focused on art cloth and its specific surface design techniques and approaches. This includes making lengths of cloth, rather than small samples or fat quarters. Please read the information about art cloth on our website and look at examples, to make sure that you are interested in this field. Only those artists who submit examples of art cloth that meet this description will be considered for membership.
We meet as a group every 9 to 10 months in different regions of the United States, usually between August and October. Since these meetings are critical to our growth and vitality, we require attendance at 2 out of 5 consecutive meetings. Membership begins with the first meeting attended. Members bring and discuss their work at these meetings, and we share other professional concerns and opportunities. Previous meetings have been in Texas, Minnesota, Illinois, Florida, California, Georgia, Arizona, and New Jersey. The 2011 meeting will be in Florida.
We also produce a new exhibit annually, with a call for entries each year. Since opportunities for showing art cloth are limited, this is an important membership benefit. Members are required to enter two of five calls for entry in order to maintain their membership status.
Only applicants who can and will attend the next meeting will be accepted into the Art Cloth Network during this membership call period. That meeting will be in or around St. Petersburg, Florida on either October 13-16 or November 10-13, 2011. Full details about the conference and this financial commitment will be mailed to those extended a membership invitation.
The current deadline for membership applications is March 15, 2011, and you can send in your application materials at any time prior to the deadline. You will be notified by April 15, 2011 whether your application has been approved.
Send a request to susiemonday@gmail.com in order to receive the POSTEROUS application site address.
Time Flies
Watch this YouTube video by artist Eilrik Solheim and be reminded how quickly the year flies by. Awareness. (I'm tagging my posts this year, when relevant, with one or more of the three As of Awesome, as proposed by Neil Pasricha writer/blogger)
The back story of how this video was made is here on the artist's page: http://eirikso.com/2010/01/04/one-year-in-90-seconds/
There are also other videos of similar projects with different time frames, zooms, etc, as well as a version made from still images in 2008. This is an interesting example of taking a project from concept to form over an extended length of time. It takes commitment and a willingness to let the process happen over time. Wouldn't it be great to see the evolution of a piece of your fiber art with such a photographic technique!
Trash Bags and Hot Air
You may have already seen this -- it's gone viral rather quickly, but I thought it worth passing along! Just another reminder that art is all around. It needn't take a lot of money to make. That sometimes a passing fancy can add wonder and imagination to everyday life. This guy didn't bother to ask permission or ask someone to pay, he just expressed and idea, took a little whimsey to the streets, and, gee, now something like 2 million people have seen him on YouTube. Makes you think.
Cool Cards, New Year, Good Prayer
If you live anywhere near a Half Price Books, look for these amazing popup cards designed by David A. Carter and published by Random House. The artist's website is at www.clarksonpotter.com.
We used the cards as a little intro on the year at this last weekend's Artist Journal/Aritst Journey workshop at El Cielo. Six of us renewed, rejuved, reconnected with each other and our artist selves during the Friday to Sunday look at the past year, planning for the future, with journaling as a key tool for artist survival.
We also watched a couple of TED Talks, first: Brene Brown's about vulnerability
We also watched The Three As of Awesome from Neil Pasricha’s blog 1000 Awesome Things. Neil savors life’s simple pleasures, from free refills to clean sheets. In this heartfelt talk from TEDxToronto, he reveals the 3 secrets (all starting with A) to leading a life that’s truly awesome. (Recorded at TEDxToronto, September 2010 in Toronto, Canada. Duration: 17:33)
And, also, thanks to a NWV faculty retreat that Linda attended that was facilitated by Parker Palmer, we read and absorbed some wonderful poems. Here is one by Ted Loder from one of his books of prayers (I've already ordered it to add to the collection that I draw from before our El Cielo communal meals):
Thanks for Those Things That Are Yet Possible
At the beginning of this new year
we give thanks for our time
and for those things that are yet possible
and precious in it:
daybreak and beginning again,
midnight and the reassurance of routine,
the taming of demons in the dance of dreams;
a word of forgiveness
and sometimes a song,
For our breathing...and out lives.
We give thanks
for the honesty that marks friends
and makes laughter;
for fierce gentleness
that dares to speak the truth in love
and tugs us to join in the long march toward peace:
for the sudden gust of grace
that rise unexpectedly in our wending from dawn to dawn:
for children unabashed,
wind rippling a rain puddle,
a mockingbird in the darkness,
a colleague and a cup of coffee:
for music and silence,
for wrens and Orion,
for everything that moves us to tears,
to touching
to dreams
to prayers.
We give thanks for work
that engages us in an internal debate
between reward and responsibility;
for our longings,
our callings,
our lives.
T. Loder, Guerrillas for Grace
Loder is a retired United Methodist minister, and,
true to the wonderful ways of the web, I found his blog -- though he appears s to have quit posting in
October of 2010..
Gifts in Order
Just in time for holiday giving, so says QA on the web today:
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‘QATV’ Series 600—This season we explore soy wax and flour paste resists, screen- and gelatin-printing techniques, and so much more!
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Blessed ...
And after that, perhaps we also need this:
- Blessed are those who are willing to enter into the process of being healed, for they will become healers.
- Blessed are those who recognize their own inner violence, for they will come to know nonviolence.
- Blessed are those who can forgive self, for they will become forgivers.
- Blessed are those who are willing to let go of selfishness and self-centredness, for they will become a healing presence.
- Blessed are those who listen with compassion, for they will become compassionate.
- Blessed are those who are willing to enter into conflict, for they will find transformation.
- Blessed are those who know their interdependence with all of creation, for they will become unifiers.
- Blessed are those who live a contemplative life stance, for they will find God in all things.
- Blessed are those who strive to live these beatitudes, for they will be reconcilers.
~ Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia
Mindfeed -- Thought for the Day
Courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada.
As artists, we need to feed our minds and imaginations. This site is one of my new favorite mind meals. This piece on exponential growth is sobering and challenging as I think about my role as an educator for teachers in third world countries. On the film board site are numerous good films, documentaries and interactive media pieces -- I've barely scratched the surface! So bring on dessert now.
Text on the Surface at SWSchool
Coming this spring to a school in SA:
Intermediate/Advanced
2560 | Text on the Surface
Susie Monday
Learn to embed text messages into the surface of your art cloth or art quilts, with the form holding as much importance (and as much of the “message”) as any literary element. The words might disappear, remain legible, or become a surface texture; find ways to add letters and text with innovative materials. Some techniques to be explored include soy wax scrafitto, stitched paper cloth with word collages, direct printing on fabric with an inkjet printer, sun printing with letters and words using dye and paint, and making your own stamps and thermofaxes with words, collages and favorite quotations. The course includes handouts and other resources. A supply list will be posted on the SSA website.
Mon, Jan 31 – Feb 28 | 1:00 – 4:00P
Surface Design Studio | Navarro Campus
Tuition: $170 (Members: $155) | 5 weeks
Frugal Art Supply and Me
Here's what Jenn Mason, editor of Cloth Paper Scissors, had to say this morning. Check out the frugal art supply post here or on the magazine site archives at this page link.
What do you get when you have the opportunity to witness artists in their natural habitat? The secrets to their art! This is what I discovered today while watching the intro chapters to three of our Cloth Paper Scissors Workshop DVDs. All three artists, Linda Blinn (Make it Graphic), Susie Monday (Mixed-media Textile Art), and Julie Fei-Fan Balzer (Collage Fast & Furious) made a point of talking about using their drop cloths and cloth rags in their art.
Beneath the Surface
Quilts, Inc. has posted the online version of the Beneath the Surface exhibit, curated by Leslie Jenison and Jamie Fingal. Here's the link:
http://www.quilts.com/fqf10/enVivo/SpecialExhibits/Beneath/
And here are some more photos and information about the exhibit on the curator' blogs.
http://dinnerateightartists.blogspot.com/
Other pictures on Leslie's blog http://leslietuckerjenison.blogspot.com/ and Jamie's blog http://jamiefingaldesigns.blogspot.com/