One Hundred Heartbeats. . .

I am reading an {epic} book series by Steven Erikson.  Malazan Book of the Fallen Series. Think a combination of Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones.  No elves. No dwarves.  City life with rules based on commerce and Emperors versus plains people with shamanistic ties to the place they live.  Magic with consequences, to an entire known existance, not just here and now, but over hundreds of thousands of years. This series of books is about war and conflict on personal as well as cultural levels.  Selfish people. Talented people. {People} invested with magic from old Gods to save a world.

I mention it here not for a reveiw (although it is an amazing series) but because I like how time is measured when people are experiencing the stress of decision making.

In {heartbeats}.

20 seconds of {insane} courage.

How many heartbeats is that?

for my heart

Many creative coaches recommend choosing a {word} to represent your work during a certain time frame. This could create a series, or be used when regaining your confidence about your {path}. You chose a word as a goal/guide/reminder of what you have deemed important. Life offers us so much and this allows us to focus when decisions are piled on and {choices} need to be made.

i have chosen this : {Kintsukuroi}

for my heart

for my family as we return to life and appreciate all the beautiful imperfections

to {forgive} and accept

to continue where we left off

to appreciate all the {pieces}

The Stuff I Might Use: Artifacts and Alchemy #4

To Catch Up...
Son ( 14.5) having weird allergy-like reactions every other day.  Hives.  Puffy hands.  Puffy lips.
Son to doctor.  Hmmm.????  Epipen available.
Son to Allergist to figure out what is going on. 
Autoimmune Urticaria.  Okay.  Not life threatening like some werid food allergy.
Son to New York City for 4 day visit.

Back on track...
Diving into my piles of artifacts at school - ArtWorx.
People are very kind and donate a lot of left over paints.
Some useful.  Some we practice with.

Going through the piles and getting rid of dried out, old smelly paint.
25 shelves ...

Mural for ArtWorx

Painting a mural is very similar to painting a huge backdrop for the theater. 

Details and photos posted regularly beginning this week as we start our adventure into mural painting!

The Art of Assemblage and Sharing the Love of It! plus Artifacts and Alchemy #2

My friend Marti Lameti asked me to step into her class and share my {love} of Assemblage sculpture work.  This is dangerous, as I can talk about it for hours and show 10 ways to put any two pieces of seemingly unrelated junk together with the amazing products and processes that are available.

 

 

I only had 2.5 hours and most of that time needed to be spent letting the students build a self portrait sculpture out of a pile of stuff I brought augmented by scraps from the OHS art room, so I elected to be short and sweet with the information, giving plenty of time for the students to work on their own while strolling around the tables giving suggestions on how to get the pile of {precious} stuff to stay together.  Also, Marti asked me to talk about how I got here to assemblage, how I work, and the importance of the "story" and personal connection to the self-portrait.

 

Artifacts and Alchemy was {satisfied} this week by donating artifacts to the cause and the alchemy of interaction with students and sharing of information on what I've {learned}.

 

This was a very focused group and a true pleasure to work with, as they wanted to get right to work, but listened (and asked questions) to my short speech about myself (yikes!) and some suggestions on working with "stuff" as a process.

 

The very first "official" museum recognition of assemblage as an art form in the USA was in 1961.  Before that, even as early as 1913 people who were considered artists were taking everyday materials around them and incorporating them into their art. 

{I believe}, honestly, that people grow in emotional attachments to things and so, I believe that assemblage is part of our human nature, our history, our "way" as humans.  Assemblage has always been an art form.  We "assemble" our living spaces and the clothes we prefer wearing and the little display in the bathroom for our guests to {admire} while they wash their hands.  We serve dinner to guests on the special dishes for guests and they (the dishes) match the tablecloth and include our grandmother's silverware.  We love presentation and delight in textures and recall memories of childhood from the smell of bread, or paint, or lilacs.

We take {comfort} in everyday things and we have always made art out of them. We have buried loved ones with them or passed them on as heirlooms. 

They are alive with energy from being created and used and {loved}.

Artifacts and Alchemy #1 . . . It's official!

Beginnings.

Rid the art room of ceramics, old business files, and stacks of children's books (these were taken downstairs and placed on the book shelf. Imagine!)  Organize items into piles for redistribution, new storage solutions or to give away.  Organize plastic drawer towers for sewing supplies.

Bags of cloth, clothing items and extra sewing notions (shoulder pads????) taken to the Theater costume area for future use in a fabulous production of Cabaret.

 

 

 

 

 

Bring on Spring ArtWorx Project

Everyone is tired of snow and being cold. 
No big suprise as it is the end of February and we've had below freezing temperatures.

One of our teachers picked the theme of "Pink" for this week and this project I originally found on Pinterest and found the easy directions at Alphamom seemed to be just what we all needed to Think Pink - and Spring!  Everyone could do this project with simple one-step directions.

Photos of our supplies and process:

(Please pardon me, I did not remove the labels on all items)                                          



Pink and Black Tempera

                                                                  

                                                                                      

                                    

I cut these down to make them easier for small hands to use them. 

We also used a green bottle with the Mountain Dew label.  

The bottoms of the green ones made the best flowers, so the students waited and shared them.

 

White Kraft Paper

In Progress!

Finished!



 

Photos copyright 2013 Mistie K. Jordan.