For The Love Of Table Paper

I am such a fan....make that....obsessed with table paper in an art room. Having paper accessible at all times to sketch, doodle, draw, and design with lines and color is so important to any artist, even the youngest ones. For the past few weeks we have been testing out the best paper to use based on what would last and be durable even through water spills. Newsprint was a big fail and butcher paper was a big win. 

Once the paper has been 'loved on' a good deal, or begins to tear, I change it out and then we begin to rip it up based on colors or patterns. Today, those piles were filled with yummy patterns and designs. This paper creates a wonderful record of what type of lines and styles the kids seem to love, and then we use it to collage with onto canvas. Here is a new piece that I worked on today in the classroom. I love the personality of this piece and it will hang in the administration office (once the flag is corrected, lol). 

Once we start creating with ceramics I might need to adjust the type of paper we are using but for today, the tables are full of yumminess! 

Next week we will be using some of this paper in our art journals as well, can't wait! 

Week Two with Kandinsky and Art Centers!

What an incredible second week of school it has been! My students have amazed me with their willingness to step out of their comfort zones and take some artistic risks, a lesson I wish more of us adults could learn as well. Students explored the 5 types of lines, contour lines and line transfers, patterns, mark making, layering to add artistic variety, and the importance of embracing the weird. We observed Kandinsky's use of line in his non-representational abstracts and will take a journey into painting to music next week. 

6th Grade started to use their sketchbooks and I introduced two of our centers, The Lego Wall of Fame and our Collaborative Art Center. I can't tell you how EXCITED I am about these two projects this year and can't wait to see how the students adapt and learn through the use of freedom of line and the unexpected direction of using Lego bricks to sketch with. 

Students are given a challenge such as "Create a Sketch With Stripes" which they complete using Lego Bricks. 

This is by far my favorite project! All of my art students and visitors to the classroom add marks and painting to our 200 yard collaborative art roll. At the end of the year, we will 'reveal the entire painting on the football field! Can't wait to see that!

Students worked on imaginative portraits during week one, showing emotion, using lines and layers, and embraced the weird  by adding the watercolor hair. I had seen a similar lesson Pinterest and must say, it was a riot of a great time trying this out during our first week. 

There is a ton of great things going on in the art room so far and every day I am blessed to walk through the door I have to say a prayer of gratitude for getting to teach in such an incredible place as St. Paul's! 

I started out the year with a study of line and of Wassily Kandinsky.

Teaching students how to enhance their artwork when they think they are finished is so vital! 

3rd Graders studied Kandinsky's use of various lines and made circular patterns with an individual twist! 

On a personal note, I have a new piece of artwork for the 1 X 4  Analogy show at Spring Hill College this coming month. I participated in the Yellow Show and created a hand painted collage while listening to Stravinsky over the week, so I aptly named this piece, "In Stravinsky's Image." There are four venues for this show, University of South Alabama, Spring Hill College, University of Mobile, and The School of Math and Science.  If you get a chance, put this on your list of must sees this next month. 

"In Stravinsky's Image" 12" by 36" collage on canvas

1 x 4: Analogy One exhibition, four venues. Green, Alabama School of Math and Science; Yellow, Spring Hill College; Neutral, University of Mobile; Blue, University of South Alabama. August 26 - Sept. 20.

Mixed Media Workshop at the Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Arts Center

May 18th is fast approaching and I am psyched to be teaching a mixed media workshop at the Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Arts Center. We will be painting papers, creating glorious textures, and then ripping them up to create a mixed media collage on canvas! Each student will leave with a pile of painted papers and a finished painting, similar to this Pelican or other coastal life theme. If you haven't gotten mom a Mother's Day gift, this class would be a great idea! 

YOU CAN REGISTER HERE! 

Carnival On Bienville Mixed Media Collage

We are in the prime of Mardi Gras season here in Mobile, the actual birthplace of Mardi Gras, and our city is celebrating carnival to the hilt. I attended my first parade in over 15 years the other night  with my dear friends Gayle, Mary Elizabeth, and Lydia, as well as meet some great new friends I am excited to build memories with. We held camp at Art(ology), the gallery which I am a partner in, and it was the perfect hub four us considering it is in the heart of downtown. As we walked to the parade I became captivated by all the colors, patterns, and light between the glowing buildings and the outrageous floats. It was a plethora of ambiance for my eye candy fix and I loved it!

Crew of Columbus

Today, down at Art(ology), I watched the streets fill with folks and the excitement build in anticipation of all the parades and it all inspired my spirit to paint. Lately, I have been combing my love of collage with mixed media layers and graphite, which sends me over the moon! I think it is the mark making that connects me with my primal, artistic roots or something, and when I start to layer, I go totally zen.

Capturing the life, the spirit, the excitement of Mardi Gras was my goal for this piece, not in a realistic sense but in an abstract explosion of color and line. My collage pieces set the tone and I worked at recalling the myriad of emotions my city, friends, and carnival brings to me.

Here is "Carnival on Bienville" 20" by 20" on board,  and I think I nailed it with my intent for this piece of artwork. If you have never attended Mardi Gras before, I highly encourage you to make a date for next year in Mobile. It is not as congested as New Orleans and we catch and eat Moon Pies here, who can beat that?

First Layers

"Carnival on Bienville" 20" by 20" mixed media collage on board

Gulf Coast Abstractions - Mixed Media Collages

Some of my fondest memories of my childhood are from growing up on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico at our family beach house on Fort Morgan. We spent summers there, running the dunes, casting the nets, floundering, and digging for periwinkles. The sand was so hot that you either had to run like the wind or wait until the day cooled off to get from the house to the shore. Our family ate together, played together, worshiped there together and built the memories of a lifetime for us and I think I can still get sand out of my ears if I tried really hard. 

One of my first memories of meeting my husband was driving up to the west end of Dauphin Island and viewing the kids and Bill shoveling oyster shells for the driveway. Anytime it stormed the ocean would wash the sand over the drive and the shells would have to be re-sifted. Bright Waters faced the Gulf of Mexico and the memories we  shared there are still bitter sweet to this day. Hurricane Ivan took the house and Hurricane Katrina took the lot and I miss Dauphin Island, the call of the ocean, the taste of salt in my mouth, and the incredible sunset so much. There are days I look to the sky, close my eyes, and imagine that I am still there, listening to the draw of the ocean's song. Living along the Gulf Coast is like no other place and no matter how far I drift from here it always calls to me, always reminds me of being home. 

When I thought about what type of work I wanted to create for a mixed media show coming up this month the idea of celebrating the beauty of the coast was the perfect choice. There are lines, colors, patterns, and textures that I carry with me in tiny spaces of my mind, all from the memories of childhood and those I hold dear from Dauphin Island. For those of us lucky enough to grow up along the coast it becomes part of us, our spirit, our way of life, and the impressions last a lifetime. 

Mixing multiple elements in a piece has been a challenge of mine and I have grown quite fond of using graphite, acrylic, and collage using transparent papers. The pieces used to create the myriad of colors and landscapes were made using papers that would have ended up in the trash. I repurposed table paper from our art center, hand painted them, and incorporated them into the framework for each piece. Graphite was used not only as a sketch tool but I also wanted to write through the inspiration for each piece with a painting of words as well as paint and paper. 

The images here are the beginning of this series. My intent will be to build a body of work that encompasses the impressions of the coast from my childhood to present day, celebrating our way of life here from the ocean to the small town life that we all know and love. I start with that of abstract landscape and gulf front, as these colors and structure are what my psyche echoes of days long past. 

If you are a lover of the coast, I do hope my words and images will connect with you in a unique way, as the coast has to me. 

Text written on canvas: 
To live by the coast is to live with the knowing that even though the air be salty, the waves be ever moving, and the sand be always at our feet, serenity comes from being in sync with call of the ocean against the longing of our hearts. It shall always call us home. 
"Reflections of Bright Waters 8" by 16" collage on canvas

Text Written on the canvas:

What is the call of the ocean on our hearts? Is it the ebb and flow of the spirit between love and connection? Is it the fluidity of the movement between coming forth and drawing back? For so many the ocean calls out to us, touching a place deep within, grounding us by water, life, and the beauty bound not only by its surface but also its depths. When one experiences the call of the deep along the coast we become part of it in a way that is difficult to pen. It is who we become, our way of life, our knowing between the land and the sea. Our families are shaped by it, contained by it, and impacted by it, as it was meant to be. May our longing for the coast remain in our hearts, be protected by our actions, and may we be the stewards of the tide. May we forever love and honor its beauty and the gifts it offers us.
" The Call of the Sea" 22" by 28" collage on canvas

Text written on canvas: 
"Sunsets are God's way of painting our hearts into being."
"The Green Flash" 16" by 20" collage on canvas