Summer "Nana art camp"

Family time is precious. With this in mind, I made the decision to
spend this  summer enjoying children, their spouses, and our 7
grandchildren rather than travelling to outdoor art shows.   One
daughter and her family live in Ecuador now, but came up for the
summer. We came together in New York, Virginia and
Massachusetts enjoying each other, including cuddling
two new grandbabies.

Here in Boston while our 8 year old grandson was at Taekwondo
camp, his 5 year old sister, Eliana, who tells everyone she is an
artist, requested "Nana art camp". Their parents were busy
launching a  new non-profit library and literacy project. (Stay
tuned for more of  that in future blog posts.)
Here are images and descriptions of some Nana art camp
activities.  We covered lots  of  media and took field trips
for extra inspiration.

Clay - experimenting with textures, balls, and making coil pots

After firing...we opted for painting with acrylics, rather than glazing:

One finished tall coil pot:

Mixed media sculpture - a walk around the neighborhood, and
search in my  studio resulted in this stone/wire/bead creature:

Two field trips to the Museum of Fine arts provided lots of
inspiration.  Eliana's brother joined us for the trip to see the
Samurai armor exhibit: http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/samurai
to see  incredible craftsmanship in leather, wood and bronze.
The dragon mask below was made to be  worn by a horse.

Eliana and I checked out the Hippie Chic exhibit:

.http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/hippie-chic Eliana
imagined her Nana wearing some of the outfits. (Somehow
some of the  outfits  didn't seem too far off today's garb.)
Though I have to admit I never felt quite as stylish in
the 60's as the models looked and didn't have white hair.

Eliana spent a long time looking at shapes and sketching

dress designs, and choosing her favorites. She finished

the design below back at home:

Looks like one I might have worn...or might now.

We stitched up a new "work" dress for her doll.

Every artist needs a place to store things. A painted plastic box
was perfect to keep a few items found in my studio to take back
to Ecuador to continue to working there.

Learning about promotion is important for aspiring  artists
so I encouraged  Eliana to design and decorate her own
business cards:

Then she decided she needed a  leather card holder.

 Well...yes it did look like the ones I make. She saw me working
and asked me to show her hot to make them.As you can  see in the
photo above with the cards..she added her own style and color to
the finished holder. I was sorry this skillful apprentice couldn't
stay around to help with my inventory this Fall.

Another field trip to a neighborhood site  which was filled with
large paintings and sculpture this summer offered further
 inspiration:  http://bartlettevents.org/  You never know what
awesome art might be just around the corner!


We pulled in Grandpa and brother, Joaquin, for some of the fun there:

Back in the studio...creatures roamed

and emerged . "Alice, the dragon" came to life

with Alice's story, of course:

It was a wonderful summer....

Now back to a usual Fall schedule...and catching up on some

of my overdue business orders....including the creation of

a standing mystical storyteller....Next post I'll share some

process photos of him.  He's been patient this summer...

evolving slowly, but ready to be finished now...

Then Roxbury Open Studios, Paradise City Northampton,

and the American Fine Craft Show NYC...all in October!!

I hope you all had wonderful summers....

Adventure on.  Wendy

HYCC kids explore greenhouses

Another Spring - another fun project with kids at
Hawthorne Youth and Community Center's after
school program. Last year's project was Green
architecture, this year's focus was  greenhouses.
With a grant from the Boston Foundation for Architecture
we helped the kids learn about different types of
greenhouses, their construction and uses. Then had
them visualize, plan and make a model of their "own"
greenhouse.

During  initial discussions of greenhouses, we looked
at pictures of different styles (super fancy to simple),
locations (urban to rural) , and elements (glass, plastic,
metal or wood construction etc. ) Next we took a field
trip to the nearby working greenhouse on the top
of the Roxbury Community College. Ms. Nasreen
Latif,  in charge of programs using the greenhouse,
showed us the seedlings growing there.

 The kids took lots of photos inside and outside and

and checked out the solar collectors on the roof  as well.

Back at the center, the kids began exploring ideas
of how they might design a greenhouse.
They drew designs, thought what they would
like to grow inside, then turned to construction
ideas. The youngest kids (K1-1st grade) worked
on their ideas via blocks.

The older kids (2nd to 6th grade) used leggos:

We combined elements to come up with
a collaborative design and talked about scale.

A  small group went on  a special tour of the

greenhouse at the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum,

Ms. Johnetta Tinker showed us around and
explained how the staging greenhouse in the
new wing is used to hold plantings used
elsewhere in the museum, as well as used
for art activities.  The kids took notes, photos,
and reported back to be able to report back
to the entire group. They explained how
they saw some of the nasturtiums which hang in the
courtyard in the Spring, talked about the flooring,
metal mesh tables and ventilation.

Then the serious model making began. ...Working on a
1"= 1 foot scale we created a 20" x 28" model on a
plywood base.  Colorful duct tape made a border, and
vinyl tiles the flooring - the kids wanted to be sure it
looked waterproof. Using model magic, self drying clay,
and other materials the kids created flowers, benches,
fountains,planting  beds etc.

 
Dowels up from wood kneewalls, wood cross supports,
wire curved roof beams...and the basic structure took
shape with liberal use of hot glue.

The kids had observed fans and watering systems in
the greenhouses, so made fans from popsicle sticks
and linked straws which stretched across and down the
walls offered the illusion of a sprinkler system.

Our finished walls were of heavy duty plastic stapled
to our structure.

The final model was displayed in the Isabella Gardner
Museum greenhouse as our contribution to the
Community Creations celebration. It's always
exciting and a real affirmation for the kids to see
their work exhibited, especially at a museum.
The model will be there through all June and
July for everyone to enjoy.

 Later we will take it to the Dudley Library to put on
display for additional viewing.

This spring the kids planted their own garden
plot behind HYCC and helped plant raised beds in the
lot next to HYCC. Maybe HYCC can have its
own full sized greenhouse someday. It's such
fun seeing kids excited in the presence of nature.

For now, I'm turning to working in our garden
and spending the summer  with our grandchildren.
Although, I hope to finish up a commission or
two as well.. I'll try to get up some process
photos.

My best to everyone for a wonderful
action filled summer.

Adventure on,  Wendy

Sculpture and inspiration in Northampton at Paradise City Arts Festival

Is it really worth setting up at fine craft shows when 
price of participation keeps going up, and profit margins can be
questionable?  Friends and colleagues ask.  True, it takes
energy and money, neither limitless at this point in my life. And,
for all of us, figuring how to balance family, work and community
is a challenge.  Then I participate in an event like the Spring
Paradise City Arts Festival in Northampton over Memorial Day
weekend and am reminded just how important participation is to me.

At times, Matt Evald Johnson's sculpture pictured above seems
a metaphor for the effort and futility involved. But more often, I
see the dance:


Or the challenge  - how about pulling this stone into the abyss
and seeing where  it lands - or where you fly with it?


As I have mentioned in previous blogs, it's about being
in the presence of artistic synergy...and fun.  Walking
by the creatures of Chris Williams

Wishing we had a back yard to accommodate this guy:

or pond for an octopus or two:


Equally important is seeing artists willing to take risks.

Constance Talbot, an amazing potter whose dinner
service I have been collecting for a while, decided to
"go for it" and present her elegant sculpture this year:

Connie reported the conversations the sculpture stimulated were
worth the show.

Talk was lively in my booth as well. I had some long conversations
with a few Northampton writers and illustrators, even talked of
possible collaboration.  Stay tuned for more on that front.

Often attendees become friends as well as customers. Inspiration
can come from those relationships. I was invited to see the new
project of a now long term friend found through the show.  At 79
years young, she is building a dream - a passive solar house and
attached glass studio not far from Northampton.
 
We sipped hot tea by the 89 foot pond she has created:

How can one not return home more inspired, energized and ready
to take some risk?  You never know what may be lurking around
the next corner.

Adventure on!    Wendy

Boston Memorials, Light and Metaphor

 
 
  It’s taken a while to be able to put my thoughts
and reactions to the bombing at the  Boston marathon
into words.  Neither I nor my family nor close friends
were at the site, but we certainly could have been. Any
of us could have been.  Images - dramatic, horrifying
and inspiring have filled the airwaves, as have the
stories. We grasp to understand the how and why of
what happened, appreciate the heroism demonstrated,
marvel at the excellence of medical care available, but
recognize the long painful road of recovery which lies
ahead.

    I’ve thought about how people respond to trauma
and how I chose to respond. The night after the
bombing, most churches in the Back Bay area of
Boston were closed because they were within the
“crime scene”. The church we attend, Arlington Street
Church was three blocks from the finish line, just one
block from the closed area. The night after the bombing,
there was a interfaith vigil for healing held at ASC.
Predictably it was filled to the rafters. It felt good to
gather together, sing, reflect, hug. Many runners were
there as well as some injured. One of the songs we
sang was "I Am Willing" by Holly Near.


   My husband went to our garden and picked forsythia
and cherry blossoms to bring to the service.  His response:
look for new growth and nature’s renewal. I spent Tues.
and Wed. with neighborhood children. It  was vacation
week. My response: be with children, try to offer a little
normalcy. Listen. 

   During that incredibly compact week of news, discovery
and final resolution, events happened elsewhere in Boston.
In our neighborhood of Roxbury, there were seven shooting
incidents unrelated to the bombing,  leaving two dead.  In
Malden, a town just North of Boston, a young mother
was walking with her 9 month old.  She was hatefully
attacked because she was wearing a head scarf.
The town  came  together in an interfaith service for
peace offering support and giving a clear message:
"This is not what our city stands for". The woman
 who had been attacked spoke out boldly and
eloquently to all present including a number of us from
Boston.


 And  of course many tragedies happened across the
country and  worldwide...as they do every day.


Finally on Saturday, I went to the memorial which had
been set up and was increasing daily at the foot of
Bolyston and Berkeley. I couldn’t bring myself to go
before then....couldn’t let myself go where I knew it would
take me. It was eerie to see Bolyston St. empty of people
and civilian vehicles.

As I stood there, I watched young children leave flowers
by the image of Martin Richard (the age of one of
our grandchildren) ...saw the running shoes, the affirmative
comments and banners of resilience, Boston Strong...saw
people pet the dog helpers who were there for anyone
who needed them. I also thought about  the memorials which
show up on the street corners of our neighborhood and so
many others much too often...in memory of deaths, not so
publicized, but no less tragic.
 The next day I walked to the street  memorial of the
22 year old shot and killed several blocks from our house
the day after the marathon.


 I talked to a young
man sitting on the stoop
by the memorial He had
been just down the street
when the shooting
occurred. This murder
will most likely remain
unsolved.

This past weekend was “Boston Shine” - an annual
citywide spring cleaning event.  In our neighborhood
a group of us helped clean and improve the
empty lot next to Hawthorne Youth and Community
where I work.  We made major progress, clearing
 

built raised beds,

planted flowers...
 
and reveled as children “discovered” creatures, like
this little snake:

Afterwards, we went inside, ate pizza, and made decorations
and musical instruments for the Wake up the Earth Parade
next weekend. 

 It felt good to gather in community.

On Sunday Clementina Chery of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute
spoke at our church.  For the last 19 years since Tina’s son
was killed, she has directed her energies into making a
difference through the Institute.  It supports survivors
of homicide victims and shares peace curriculum in area
schools. One of their major fund raisers is a Peace walk on
Mother’s Day. I’ve walked in it  for a number of years.
One of the parents from Newtown CT will speak at the
rally before the walk this year.  I can't be there in person
this year, but will definitely be there in spirit.

Finally, a last thought and image to hold. At the end of
the ASC service on April 16, we lit each others candles
while in the pews... then at our minister’s suggestion,
we  filed out into the night, crossed the street to the
Boston Public Garden and stood lining the lagoon there.
The clergy stood on the bridge looking at all of us.  We
sang. It was a beautiful scene (one captured by the 
Washington Post). But the significance for me was less
the beauty of the moment than the experience. There was
a light breeze that eve so it wasn’t easy to keep the candles
lit.  The flames kept going out, requiring us to help each
other relight them. Besides adding a bit of levity to a somber
time, I thought of it in terms of a metaphor.  It’s not an easy
task to keep the light of hope lit... and really the only way
possibleis by helping each other...and gathering in community. 

Times like these remind us to savor every moment of life’s
adventure and to support each other.

Adventure on!.....Wendy