Oil and Cold Wax: Abstracted Play

I just completed teaching a three-week class, Oil and Cold Wax: Abstracted Play at The Art Department in downtown Salem. This was a new class for me to teach and I had six students who were willing to experiment along with me. Our first night I handed out packets with information and resources . . . .

. . . . all of our work spaces were so neat and tidy and filled with such promise and anticipation.

And then everyone got down to work - that's when the real fun began.

Some of the pieces in varied stages of completion by the end of our three weeks together.

It was agreed that the next time I offer this class that it be four weeks in length AND that homework be given in between our sessions. I can do that.

The Artist's Way - Week Eleven: Recovering a Sense of Autonomy

Week Eleven. One more week before our Creative Cluster comes to an end. For our creative project on Tuesday night the ladies created personalized art dolls. We went to the basement where I had put out glitter, yarn, ribbons, paint, jewels, feathers, and wings. The ladies set to work and created five beautiful, individual dolls.

Tuesday night was the last night for two of our six so they presented their Omega Projects (a final project of their choosing). One of the ladies zentangled rocks and brought them as our centerpiece, and invited everyone to take a rock home (see the first photo above). The other woman did two projects: one was a mini altar using all of the items taken from the centerpiece over the past eleven weeks and the other was an assemblage honoring books (and has been submitted to a book arts show for consideration).

200 Rocks, 100 Students, 25 Dolls

Doing art projects with 2nd and 3rd graders is exhausting! Especially when you do four classes back-to-back. Last Friday I travelled to Tacoma, Washington to do art projects at the school where my daughter Melissa teaches. She arranged to have a friend there to help (here's Emma, a bright star throughout the day).

In the first three classes we had the students paint and embellish smooth river rocks. It was controlled chaos.

Then, after a quick lunch break, we ventured into Melissa's third grade classroom where the kids painted and embellished bendi dolls. As I was helping the students with their project, I overheard several of the kids say, "This is really fun." Mission accomplished.

The Artist's Way - Week Ten: Recovering a Sense of Self-Protection

We mixed things up a bit this week. One of the ladies in my group wanted to share the project she has been working on so she invited us to take our group on the road and meet at her house. We all agreed and it was well worth the change in location. Not only was the project fascinating, she lives in the country with a fabulous view of the region.

I brought a portable creative project for us to do since we weren't meeting at our regular location. We made some simple collages on small cards and then did some storytelling using the cards. The stories were pretty fantastical and we did a lot of laughing, but I don't think I'll share the stories . . . .