January 14, 2012

Winter has arrived in case you hadn’t noticed.  Here is a picture from February 2011.  Look familiar??  Classes at Evanston Art Center have started although mine is not scheduled to start until February 9.  In the meantime I’ve been working on 3 collage pieces using photos I’ve taken, drawings and copies of animals….sort of a “Where’s Waldo” type of thing with the creatures blending into the background…..for the youngest of my grandkids.  Happy New Year!!

August 8, 2011

The show is over, the comments and compliments gratefully received.  It was fun for me to see this new work on display.  Now it’s time to prepare for the altered book/collage 5 day workshop at Evanston Art Center which will be held from August 29 through September 2.  I want the altered books to be an artwork on their own, but also a format for presenting a series of small collages.  Our library had its used book sale this past weekend so I’m prepared with books to alter.  This week however is for Monica.  She’ll be here later today until Friday.  Yay!!

June 23, 2011

This summer has started off with a bang with my 50th class reunion at Lawrence University, Appleton, WI.  (Stayed with my Cousin and his wife, Corry and Jane Azzi), Dr Chaney’s very interesting lecture in Chicago on the Medieval World View (he is a well loved prof. at LU), the summer session of my Collage Class, Preparations for my show at the Arlington Hts, library for the monthe of July and Proposal preparation for our Group 22 artists new show.  Add some knitting and furniture refinishing to top it off.

At the reunion Lou and I “took” classes on Friday. We just chose things we didn’t know, like the gamelan….an assemblage of percussive instruments such as xylophones, metaliphones, gongs, cymbals and drums.  I had the big gong to play, same rhythm over and over again.  Thank goodness I play the big hand bells in our bell ringing group here at home.  You need the strength.  We also took a class titled “Islands in the Clouds”, which was about Ecuador and its orchids, many of which are newly discoved, and often very tiny.  Lee Jost, director of the EcoMinga Foundation gave that lecture.  He also received an outstanding achievement award for his work.  It was great fun reconnecting with old friends, but also making new

If you are in Arlington Heights in July, please stop by the AH Public Library.  An exhibit of my current work will be on display on the entrance exhibit wall.  The show will hang through July with regular library hours, M-S.  My garden provided some excellent material for this show…literally.  Huge dead hosta leaves were washed, pressed and painted with polymer medium and became the ‘paper’ used in several of the collages.  Enjoy.

March 18, 2011

Thursday was the last class for the session.  It really went too fast, but fun.  It’s a wonderful learning situation for me too…for instance, in teaching a technique sometimes a mistake is made which becomes a happy accident and everyone gets excited; or we all find new materials to use or papers to make such as the painted tissue paper Linda made and shared how to make it with us.    I’m looking forward to the next session starting on the 31st.

Tuesday evening was our last opera of the season…”Carmen”.  Second time we’ve seen this opera.  It’s nice to see the difference in interpretation of the characters and “see” things you didn’t catch the first time.   Last Sunday Roberta, Judy and I went to the MCA for the Jim Nutt show.  Excellent!  I really recomment this for all Chicago artists especially……his work is part of our own Chicago art history as is the work of  his wife Gladys Nillson, also one of the Hairy Who.  Nice article about them in the February issue of the Chicago Magazine titled “When Jim Met Gladys”.  We also stopped by the Cultural Center to see the Vivian Maier photography show.  An interesting artist.  Never showed or sold her work.  She died leaving thousands of pictures and negatives stored in boxes.  John Maloof, a writer hoping to find pictures he could use of his subject matter, Portage Park, bought a box of some 30,000  negatives at auction.  He was impressed with the work, but didn’t even know who the artist was.  He worked on solving the mystery going online and on ebay.  He located other boxes of her work and bought them.  Finally, It was an envelope from a photo lab that had a name on it…Vivian Maier.    To read more about it, check out the January issue of The Chicago Magazine.   Twenty two of her pieces are included in the article.

February 23, 2011

Collage class is in session once again.  Three are returning students so we’re spending more time on specific collage projects.  I’ve added additional techniques:  patterned papers, sculpture paper, stamps, shibori type paper dyeing and simple marbling. 

I’ve included pix of artwork using the various papers we design in class.

August 27, 2010

We had a great time at the family reunion.  Forty of us stayed in condos at Mariner’s Landing on Smith Mountain Lake in Huddleston, VA.  There was boating, swimming, water skiing, para sailing, hiking trails, parties at night, lots of conversation around the pool, touring historic Appomatox, shopping, dining out and all the fun things you do when you get together with family.  Here are 3 pictures of Louis doing a back flip.

Anna had her 16th birthday while we were there. Part of her celebration was a day at the spa.  Here are a couple of pix.  Anna being pampered and Jenni, Brenda Anna and I after our spa lunch.

Just a couple more pix.  Jeff and Alec at one of the evening parties and Lou and I enjoying a drink in the resort restaurant.

At the end of the week Jenny, Jeff, James, John and Jodie, Lou and I all took off for Dayton Ohio and a day at the Air Force Museum before heading home.  Great week!!

July 14, 2010

 

I’ve enjoyed reading friends comments and responded to Jan that I am off to Huddleston VA  for our family reunion this Friday.  Today I’ve been gathering “stuff” for our kids project.  This is becoming a “tradition” that all the kids get together and make something together.  Tomorrow, I decide on my own art stuff.  With all my plans, I may not actually see much of Huddleston!  But anyway…what I do see I will take photos of to share with you all…..of this and of the work I just finished.

July 6, 2010

 

Hope the 4th was good for one and all.  We did the  American thing grilling steaks with corn on the cob.  Then took our folding chairs to the park and watched the fireworks coming from the race track.  Gorgeous night!! 

I’m working on one large oil piece and two photo collage pieces.  The photos had been printed on my ink jet printer which I conveniently forgot, so when I, oh so gently, took a damp cloth to a spot of glue it caused the color to rub off.  So I purposely rubbed at much of the color for some interesting color mixes.  Then, since I didn’t like all I’d done, I added tea bags over the whole piece.  They become very transparent when the polymer medium is put on them, and simply tone the papers under neath.  I have to tell you that mistakes can result in pieces that are much more interesting than if they had not been made.  I’ll add photos to the blog later when I’m finished with the work.

July 2, 2010

Had a voice class today….working on 4 pieces from the musical Jekyl and Hyde….Lesson is usually an hour, but amounted to 20 minutes because of all the talk about the trip to Anita’s place in Sturgeon Bay.  Roberta and I share interest in both music and art.  She has taught me music and decoupage, I have taught her book making and collage.  We get together for bead working and to see art exhibits and music performances. 

But this post is about books.  Roberta and I had seen wonderful collage work at the Art Chicago Show at the Merchandise Mart.  I had written the name Lance Letscher ona scrap of paper…forgotten who he was or why I had written it down.  Thanks to the internet and google, I was able to refresh my lousy memory…and ended up buying a terrific book, “Lance Letscher Collage”.  If you are at all interested in collage, his work is an excellent example, especially of found object art…..he is a dumpster diver supreme who uses wall paper paste for his adhesive and any kind of old papers cut and pasted.  Quite wonderful.

The second book I recommend  is “April Blood” by Lauro Martines.  I’m on my second reading of the book it is so good.  The subject is Florence, Italy and the plot against the Medici, Lorenzo “the Magnicent” and his brother Giuliano.  Well written, it grabs you and holds you.  Maybe I’m overstating it, having been to Florence a few years ago, and fascinated by its history, but it gives you a wonderful sense of the people and politics during the Italian Renaissance. 

A third book is Barbara Tuchman’s “The March of Folly”.  I’m on the second reading of that also, but finding it especially good reading along with April Blood because the “March of Folly’ includes a section on the Renaissance Popes……Pope Sixtus IV played a powerful role during the time of the Medici.  Enjoy.

June 29, 2010

Ah…home again…but what a terrific week away.  How much more perfect can you get than being with good friends, art friends, in a beautiful setting and a week to enjoy it and playing with different art techniques.  Ruthe came equipped with books, instruction sheets and samples she had completed of two non adhesive book types and a pop-up flag book.  We worked every day for at least part of the day.  We returned to the Garden Gate, master garden, visited the Crossroads (mostly closed at the time) and added a wonderful stop at the Overbeck Gardens.

Anita in her studio

Kathy at the Crossroads

The Garden Gate

Twig fence and blue bottle tree at Garden Gate

Karin Overbeck and her late husband had bought an old schoolhouse on 2 acres.  She works in stained glass and mosaics, he was a master carver.  They added additional rooms to the schoolhouse for their living area.

Overbeck school house

Between them they created a variety of gardens incorporating old iron wagon wheels scrap iron sheets cut and welded, chandeliers and many mosaic sculptures and pathway stones to give the garden structure and added interest.  The property was filled with enormous rocks which were incorporated into the gardens including one large area designated the “rock garden”.  Surrounding this garden they created a large twig fence.  Twigs and vines were also used to make a throne nearby on the edge of the woods that surround the property.

Overbeck garden with iron wagon wheel structure

Bench and fire pit with stars

The rock garden at Overbeck

The Twig Throne at Overbeck

My favorite spot in the living area was the school house because of its high ceilings, and tall windows with abundant light.  This room is now used for weddings, but if it were mine I’d spend most of my time there.  The basement of the schoolhouse is the glass working studio where classes for young and old are held.  Can you tell I enjoyed that place?!!

Another special event was added this year when we went to see the Peninsula PLayers in a production of “Heroes” in their new building.  Excellent.  We arrived in a timely fashion, suddenly the sky opened up, we headed for our dry seats, the electricity blew…but briefly..and the show went on.

Jan, Ruthe and Anita enjoying wine from a blue bottle which will be a blue bottle tree someday.