Saturday, August 27, 2011

Summer Art Classes 2011


Summer classes sailed smoothly in my cool basement studio. Students fused glass, cut apart plastic bags, sanded wood, used drills and pliers, painted frames, doodled with ink and much more.
"Design a space vs. fill a space" ... "Conceive a theme and sketch a plan"... "Bake the cake before adding icing and sprinkles".   We all love getting into the sweet stuff before it's needed, yet there is a reason --- a sequence, a method to the madness. Lessons on thoughtful creativity abound in this groove den.




 Wish Huts came from blocks of wood retrieved from a barn construction site. Scrap leather was used for roofing and sweet accessory designs.
  The effort to hunt for useful discarded treasures always proves worthy in my mission to introduce repurposing to my students.
Boldly painted chirpy birds and mod vessels were molded from non-sticky cellulose pulp fiber clay.

  Interior timber frames (former shelving planks) were wrapped with collaged and fused plastic bag "fabric".  My crazed free-motion stitching high-lighted student creativity.

Again, my awesome students stepped outside the box to learn how one can make something truly special from nothin' very remarkable.