When I was in college I studied music.  About a month into my senior year, the tech director for Dever Stage (an on campus theatre) approached me to see if I would be interested in doing an internship with him.  I took a minute to think about it;  I was a music major with a concentration in performance.  Why would I want to do a technical theatre internship?

I said yes anyways.  It was 12 credits to spend time with friends in a theatre I basically lived in, the internship just meant I had to be there and that I got keys.  Keys that meant responsibility and responsibility that meant adulthood.  So with adulthood looming just two semesters away I figured I better get started.

I learned something hugely valuable with that internship.  It wasn't about music, or theatre, or even how to use the recording equipment (which I did learn, even though it terrified me).  What I learned was that you can't make yourself versatile enough.

It isn't enough to have our students be involved with the acting on stage in our productions.  If that is where they are comfortable that is fine, but so many of our students are like me: they don't even know that they would love being involved in a myriad of other aspects of the production too.  Our students have the great opportunity to paint, create, and learn from a team of professionals that include teachers, directors, musicians, artists, and performers.

Today we had a chance to work with the actors involved in our upcoming production of Annie Jr. on how to paint a stage- something that to me has become commonplace and simple task, but after the first child "boxed them self in" with paint I realized just how much they had to be taught! Along with those kids on the stage, we also had a team in the house working on costumes and set design.  They learned about how we organize our costumes on racks and how we select who wears what.  They even helped to design the back drops for our windows with Beth!  She worked with them on how to design the "window scenes" that will changed depending on the setting.

 

 All in all it was an awesome set build and a fun day.  We only left with a few socks painted black and a lot of smiles.

Local sculptor and LCA staff member Pam Golden installed her "Wing Chair" outside the arts center today. It is beautiful! The shimmer of the wings sparkles in the afternoon sun and it is a welcoming piece for our patrons to participate in. And participation is so simple:

Huge thanks to Pam for sharing her work with us and making the LCA a more beautiful place! Please check out her website and the classes she's currently offering with us:

Last Friday night we hosted our monthly Cork&Canvas event, and what a spread we had! We always provide the beverages, but this group really went all out and brought a bunch of snacks to make themselves right at home, which we love so much.  As you can see from that picture of our beautiful table, we were making a painting of a steaming hot mug of a beverage of your choice.  Some had tea, others espresso, and I believe there were a couple Irish Coffees in there too.

It's always such a blast running these events, the evening has such a fun and relaxing pace.  We turn up some music and let everybody get settled and hang out a little as they start to get their supplies prepped.

Once everybody is ready to get going, I start letting people know the logistics of how things are going to roll and then we jump in!

This was a fun painting to watch come along around the classroom.  Different mug colors and swirl patterns were happening all over the place.

Barbara and I talked about the pros and cons of doing black outlines along the red pattern of the table cloth.  She was really feeling the line work and went for it, which I was so glad to see.  A unique touch on this painting for sure.

I love the way the blue in Michele's table cloth pulls in the white in different places.  And don't forget to check out that fancy signature tree of her's in the bottom corner! 

Aside from an excellent display of paintings from a mother/daughter duo, this photo is a great example of the space we were in.  Check out the art on those walls; we held the event in one of our gallery spaces which currently has the photography of Kate Hannon on display.

Here is a sneak peak at the next painting we are going to be doing here at Laura's Center for the Arts on December 13th, "Snow Dusted Park."

Music instructor Tyler Cavanagh teaches the
Pre-Music and Me course at LCA for ages 6-weeks to walking.

Today I read an article that once again proved to me that the arts should not be considered extra-curricular. With all the evidence and research out there on why the arts should be worth our time, here is one more to add to the list: according to "a just-published study, senior citizens who took four to 14 years of music training early in life performed better than non-musicians on a specific brain function that is vital for interpersonal communication..." Basically, music lessons as a child improve brain function as an elderly person. Those piano lessons you took? Or that squeaky violin you reluctantly played? That can mean the difference between having to ask your grandkids to talk slower or being able to keep up with conversation just fine.

Now I'm even more thankful for those four years of piano I took in elementary school.

Here's the brief article summarizing the findings which were recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Thursday I had the pleasure of hosting the Live Y'ers at Larua's Center for the Arts where I gave a presentation on my personal art making.  As an art educator, I am constantly introducing my students to different contemporary artists and talking about the many different ways in which they work.  It was such a treat to have a chance to talk about the process I've personally tailored to fit my artistic goals.

Each artist creates their own method of working, through time spent in the studio, situating things this way or that, to create their work.  Two goals I have found myself working towards are to create a sense of investigation of a semi-familiar scape and to keep the freshness of the drawn line present throughout the piece.

The tables shown in these photos are an organized version of what my studio looks like.  I surround myself with little printed reference photos which primarily come from my photos taken while visiting Yellowstone National Park, a girlfriend's honeymoon photos from Hawaii, and printed images from National Geographic publications. Then, I stitch them together like a puzzle and create a new landscape.

After giving a short presentation on my work using photos from my website and an actual painting in progress that I brought along with me for the day, the Live Y'ers got to work on this puzzle process.

Some amazing pieces were made where interesting connecting lines were found to create a new land.

We later got out some oil pastels to further connect our imagery.

It was such a great feeling to, for the first time, describe my uniquely crafted art making process and watch as people connect with it so quickly and start making art that seemed so natural to the process. These women really picked up on my two main goals, so keep an eye out for painting updates on my website... you just may find some of these compositions in there!