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}.

Thinking Outside the Box to support our program

Thinking Outside the Box: Advocating for Kids and Families

Silent Art Auction Art Show, March 19 2010

Building on our relationship and experience of the previous year, we approached the artwork dor this auction as a team of artists working together to create veautiful, professional container pieces that could generate a fair amount of monies for the groups involved.

This project included 38 students working for a total of 10 days in March. The students produced 63 pieces of fired ceramic work. We chose 41 pieces to be exhibited in the auction art show. Each piece was sold. The total raised was $625.00

We worked in teams of students to learn about production as a group. One student would paint the interior and another would paint the exterior. One student would draw a scene with a pencil and another student would paint the scene. Then, another student would over-glaze the enire piece. This created a great environment of mutual support, mentoring between students, and allowed us to create more work in a shorter period of time.

We also produced a set of marketing tags, using computer design software to label and explain our artwork.

The response to our items was tremendous!!

I am so proud!!