ArtMachineStudios: A Fall Semester Report

I have two more classes to teach this semester and I am a little amazed that it is already over. I have loved teaching my little artists. I did not have any full classes this semester.  But I guess for starting off in a new town I think I did pretty well.  In my Little Machines class ( 4-5 yr olds) we had a fantastic time learning about some famous artists. We studied George Seurat, we made pointillism finger paintings, and we learned about mixing colors at the same time. We were introduced to Pablo Picasso.  We had a great time talking about his silly faces.  And we made some crazy face-collages of our very own.

Pablo's

Mine

Marc Chagall taught us about space and we made big dream drawings together.  We also looked at the use of the line in recent art history. We saw images from artists like Dan Flavin, to the well known Piet Mondrian, to the very minimal Fred Sandback, who makes his quiet installations using string.

Dan Flavin at the LACMA retrospective in 2007

Fred Sandback string installation

We explored the world of Van Gogh, reading books about his life, and made wet chalk drawings of a swirly night sky.  We also talked about the way he used color and aggressive marks in his paintings to make them so compelling.

Van Gogh, The Red Vineyard, 1888

At the end of the class I was pleased to hear my four-year old chanting, "George Seurat, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Vincent Van Gogh!" over and over to herself. I bet she's the only one in her pre-school that knows that little ditty.

With my Big Machines (7-10 yrs old) we dove right into mono-prints the first day, squishing paint, spraying water, and smoothing paper with delight. It was so fun to hear the exclamations of: "Wow! I love mine!" and "Awesome, this is so beautiful!" When one of the students said she had decided she was staying with me--for the rest of the night, in my house--when class was over, I knew it had been a success.

Over the course of their classes they tackled a very challenging blind contour drawing lesson, made their own decorative paper using all manner of utensils to apply paint, and created fantastic animal collages in the style of Eric Carle.

Our paper

They also loved learning about Abstract artists like William DeKooning, Jackson Pollock ("Those drips are so cool, this one is my favorite."), Cy Twombly, Alexander Calder ("He looks like a grumpy grandpa."), John Chamberlain, and Robert Motherwell ("Wow, that's a giant splat!").  While we worked we talked about school, what their Halloween costumes would be, and what they love about art. We do lots of laughing, encouraging, and collaborating. Thursday has been my favorite afternoon of the week.

Alexander Calder

Robert Motherwell

John Chamberlain

I have students signing up for next semester which starts mid-January. I can't wait to get started with some new kids, and some who are continuing from this semester. I am dreaming up paper mache sculpture in the style of Claes Oldenburg, Sistine Chapel drawings done lying on our backs under the tables, and more "teaching our eye-balls how to see" drawing lessons. I have just discovered a whole slew of new books to read in class, and I am ordering some art games from Amazon this month. I can't wait until January!

For more information on ArtMachineStudios, or sign your 8 children up, go here. :)

A Pictoral Birthday Report

Well, I am woefully behind on every form of communication these days. Starting your own business a pretty demanding task I tell ya! But, I did have time to have a birthday and it was quite a wonderful one. I felt positively run over by love and cheers and sweet cards and notes and gifts. It was kind of a birthday week as things trickled in, and I relished each day full of its own surprises. A BIG thank you for all my dear friends and family who loved on me. I feel very cared for and supported. Here are some pictures of the birthday festivities.

A gorgeous old book in its new home.

A new favorite piece of art work - A human heart with flowers drawn/painted on quilted fabric! Love!

3 Beautiful new icons. One for the dining room, one for the bedroom, one to live above my desk in the studio.

Some super fun gifts.

Some of my new books! So much to learn and read. I am so excited.

Other pieces of visual wonderfulness to inspire me.

The writing on this card is equal to about $1000 in the bank of phaedra's heart.

Cheery birthday cards!

These packages came wrapped in my favorite color combination.

This is a super creative Korean birthday tradition. I loved it!

This city of mushrooms captured my fancy on a walk with David.

Look at this crazy seed/berry/pod thing!

Assorted Fungi to delight my eye.

These birthday flowers from David lasted until yesterday! They smelled amazing. Looking at them from above was like looking onto some crazy-beautiful planetary landscape.

A fig tart with cardamon frangipane, pomegranates and a graham crust! So amazing!

A beautiful story with equally beautiful illustrations.

Wrapping to delight my eyes.

Dinner at Sitar: lamb korma, vegetable fritters, chicken saag, lentil dosai.

Coffee, mandelhornchen, cards and journaling at Gugelhupf.

Indian deserts at Sitar.

Wow, I ended up with quite a lot of pictures. I had so many lovely things happen I just could not decide which to include. I'm off to plan an art lesson, make some muffins, put a chicken in the oven, and try to ignore the gloomy rainy day . I hope your day is happy!

Heart Sleeves

Heart Sleeves

This piece is titled "Heart Sleeves" and it is mostly about my memories of myself as a child. I drew the girl based on a photograph from my first day of school. We wore gray pinafores, black and yellow striped ties, and white shirts. I am pretty sure the pinafores were awful itchy, and I probably hated wearing them, but I don't remember now. What I do remember is that I was not afraid. This is important because later on I was afraid a lot, and it is good to remember a time when I was only brave. I also remember that walking to school, through the park, I usually found interesting things to entertain myself. One day I remember stopping for a very long time to watch a butterfly open and close its wings. It probably made me late to school, but I don't remember.

With my brother, wearing our uniforms

I remember a long row of coat hooks where we hung up our coats, and put our outside shoes into our shoe bags. We only wore Plimsolls inside the school. Scotland is a muddy place most of the year. The shoe bags were bright neon colors. They had black images of butterflies, or flowers, or cars on the front, along with a place to write your name, so you didn't end up wearing the wrong shoes home. I remember my teacher's name was Miss Rose and she had rosy cheeks. I also have vivid memories of wooden, ladder-type structures attached to the wall of windows in the large gym room. I have no idea what their function was, but I do know we were not allowed to climb on them, ever. It was so terrible being tempted by a whole huge wall of ladders, knowing that real trouble was in store for you if you so much as put a foot on one. It must have been excruciating for the boys.


I remember there was a boy that sat behind me named Andrew, who used to ping eraser bits at me all day. Another boy, whose name might have been Barry, used to talk to me about how spicy American hot-dogs were. One time he made me guess if a lump on his hand was a wart or a blob of dried glue. I guessed glue and I was wrong.


We had hot lunches on real plates, and I think there was usually some sort of wobbly British custard for desert which I avoided. I did lots of playing house in the little scratch of forest at play-time. Outside in the cold we ate our play-pieces (snacks). Mine were usually bags of salt and vinegar, chicken, or prawn-flavored crisps (chips). I remember a girl named Lisa who lived on the hill by the church. Her father was the rector, and I always thought it was strange that she was not afraid to live next to the graveyard. I also remember that she was quiet and kind to everyone. She was really good at drawing people.


It was quite wonderful I think. I know that I enjoyed school, and the other students. I talked a lot, I got in trouble sometimes for it. I liked reading, and learning, and reciting the poetry of Robert Burns. I liked walking to school, lining up to go in, putting my shoes into the bag with my name on the front. All of this is to say, I rather wore all my hearts on my sleeves at that age. Unabashedly soaking up my life, enjoying what was happening around, and as far as I could tell, unafraid. Unfortunately the world beyond that time proved to be a little spiky, just like that Hatpin Sea Urchin in the top corner of the drawing. It was waiting for me, made with poisonous protrusions that could puncture all the soft and vulnerable hearts I wore on the outside of myself.


Between me and the spiky world there must have been something. Something good and true and beautiful. Something that made it okay for me to wear my hearts on the outside, and something that I would not really know until much later. If there had not been anything between me and the looming sharp points, I think that today I would be a cracked and torn version of a human. Today I am not the girl in the picture on her first day of school, but I hope I am still a girl with hearts on her sleeves. Perhaps not as many. I think I might have lost some in the war with the Hatpin Sea Urchin. But I am glad to have retained some of the hearts, and I hope the others will grow back as I learn to be unafraid again.

On Going Goings On

Sand Dunes at #2 beach, Cape Hatteras National Shoreline

Last week my parents came to town and we visited the Outer Banks. It was glorious and calm and beautiful. I collected sea shells, stuffed myself with fresh seafood, and felt like a kid walking with my barefeet in the soft, warm sand.

A Pier in Nags Head

The clean, long Nags Head Beach

Right before the visit, David and I flew to Texas to attend the wedding of a dear friend. It was fun and strange to be in Texas. We ate Tex-Mex three times, played with some of our nieces and nephews, had mad, fast, catch-up conversations with family, and hugged a lot of lovely people that we miss.

Ready for take-off

Now we are back, and life is swirling. A big thanks to all of you who suggested names for my art classes. I have decided to go with ArtMachine Studios (thanks Leslie!) It's simple, and memorable, and playful. The new website can be found at: www.artmachinestudios.net. Right now I just have a temporary page up, but early next week it will be filled out with class information, fun links, my ideas on teaching, and lots more. David wrote a fun and very kind blog about it here. If you know anyone in the Durham or Chapel Hill area that would be interested, please feel free to tell them all about it. I can't wait to meet my new students!

My flickr page has also been updated with images of my new series. I am posting two blogs tonight. This little update, and a blog about a piece in the new series. I always love learning about what is going on inside an artist's mind when they are making work; it helps me enter in to their world. Hopefully this next blog will help you enter into mine. I really enjoyed making these new pieces, so I hope you enjoy hearing about them.

Have a lovely week!

Dunes

Inspiration Tuesday!

Good morning!

These delightful pieces are by Toshiyuki Fukuda. I just found this illustrator/artist through another fun blog (Majeak Ann) and I must say I am quite smitten. I love his whimsical, textured, colorful, clean pieces. I would own them all. I wish I could figure out how to get my hands on some of his postcards. I think I might have to go to Japan to find them, but I have been wanting to go to Japan anyway. :)

I am posting lots of images for you to enjoy and swoon over. You can find many more at his website here.

Enjoy! Be inspired! Make art!

Oh my! Don't you just feel giddy?

Laser wounds...

This is a very brief post dedicated to my brother. When we were younger he would run through the house with his toast eaten into the shape of a gun. His toast gun always made a "pew" sound because I guess that's what it sounds like when you get shot with dry toast. Some humor for your Sunday evening. :)

St. Francis meets his match

"Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness..." (Keats)

For me it is a new kind of September. We are beginning to see the edges of the trees change color and the morning temperatures merit a sweater. Not having ever lived in a place where the trees change in the autumn, I keep thinking "oh no, that tree is dying". I still have to remind myself that I am not in Texas anymore!

Oh! come October!

Today it is cloudy and grey in Durham. This is great for my nasturtium seedlings, but not great for feeling zippy and getting lots of things done. I certainly need that zippy feeling as I have lots of things to accomplish. Now that we are unpacked, and life has pretty much settled into a good rhythm, it is time for me to work. On my studio bulletin board I have three to-do lists. The first list is for my art making projects, it is full of things like: "color correct photos", "write blog about new pieces", and "work on commission". I also have a general to-do list, which is populated by things as varied as: "make jazz c.d for grandparents", "set up Skype", and "finish thank you cards".

The other list I have posted is the one I am most excited about. It is titled: "To-do list for art classes". Yes! I have been working hard to start my own little business teaching art classes for children. I have a terrific space, some interested families, and a brain full of ideas I can't wait to put into action. My days are full of making slide shows of art works sorted by color to use to teach color and art history together. I have been finding children's books about famous artists, working on my teaching philosophy, and writing answers to questions like "Why should a 4 year old take art?" It is so much fun and so much work. I am very excited to begin.

Here is where you come in: I need your help brainstorming a name for my classes. I would like to use "Art Machine" as part of the name. That way all my art related endeavors are connected. My plan is to add something to make it attractive to kids and families. All kinds of silly things rhyme with art machine, but I don't think I want to name my business: "Green Bean Art Machine". Do you have any ideas? I would love to hear your thoughts. If you wish you can leave me a comment with your suggestions. Thank you!

The classes are due to start mid October and I have a lot of work to do between now and then.

I will eventually get to the line item on my art to-do list that is: "write blog about new pieces". In the mean time here are a few more pictures to tide you over. I am off to write a lesson plan on the color blue. Enjoy your day!

Heart Sleeves (6x14)- Watercolor, colored pencil, paint pen

Stavanger: Birth (6x10)- Watercolor, colored pencil, paint pen