As a staff member in the Fine and Performing Arts department at the Emilson Y, I always take pride in the programming we offer, whether I am involved in said program or not. Recently I had the amazing opportunity to participate in a Cork and Canvas event offered by our Fine Arts Coordinator, Beth Gilmore, and I was simply blown away.

Having known Beth for a number of years, and even sharing an office since the opening of Laura's Center for the Arts about a year ago, I knew that Beth was both an accomplished artists and a thoughtful, articulate educator. Having seen her working with the campers, students and community members that participate in our classes and events I thought I knew what it would be like to be on the other side. My expectations were far exceeded.

If you are unfamiliar with our Cork and Canvas events, the basic idea is wine and painting.  The instructor walks the class through recreating an original painting step by step. I do not have any painting ability and I certainly didn't leave with a museum worthy work, but let me tell you, my mother wants in hanging in her living room! 

During our first break to allow the paint to dry!

One of the most amazing things was walking around and seeing the way the other people in the class interpreted the same instruction. There was no pressure to be right, and when that pressure was eliminated it made it easy to sit back, enjoy a glass of wine, and have a blast.  Beth's cheesy jokes and effortlessly casual demeanor made it feel like everyone in the room had known each other for years, providing the perfect environment to allow our muses to mingle.

The finished product

It was amazing to be on the other side of a class, especially with someone who I have spent so much time working and growing with.  We even had a chance to snap a great picture.

It MAY be good enough for a museum...What do you think?

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."

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!

In today's fast paced world it's a challenge to find family time.  Families find themselves running from this game to that birthday, from one class to the next, with the parents on the fringes watching and driving.  It's a beautiful thing to see a family just play.

One of the classes we are currently offering is "Oh the Drama" and I couldn't ask for a better class! We currently have two families who honestly exemplify the power of theatre, in this case the simple act of "playing pretend", to bring people together.  Throughout the fall session I have had the chance to watch this group of youngsters transform into animals, chefs, royalty, and anything else our imaginations could come up with. 

What has been so inspiring is the parents involvement; These parents actively participate in engaging their imaginations as well.  It's easy to get wrapped up in the idea that we have to act a certain way, and pretending to fight a bear that your 3 year old son is imagining looming over you, ready to attack, is rarely seen as the "right" way to be an adult, but that's just what these parents are doing.  They are letting their kids make the decisions, and following along as a character in their story! Whether we are pretending to cook a gourmet meal or protect the throne of the kingdom, this class, these kids, and these parents are a highlight of the week.

The throne created by Prince Tristan and Princess Adriana

This month we had a fabulous group of participants visit Laura's Center for the Arts from the Marshfield Boys & Girls Club.  During the week of the gallery opening we met twice, once at the B&G Club and once at LCA.  During both visits we talked about some of the staples found in most landscapes like foreground, background, middle ground and horizon.  While at LCA we spend some time looking at all of the artwork on display and talking about things we noticed.

Luke LeWand
Roadtrip, 2013
acrylic on panel 

Luke LeWand's "Roadtrip," was one that caught some of our participants eyes.  The fact that there are cars in it was an immediate pull for some, and for another student it was it's more abstract right half that pulled her back to the piece.  Luke has several diptychs which consist of one panel based more in reality and the second panel focused more on mark making and color.  It was in "Roadtrip," that one of the ArtsReach participants made the discovery of the matching color palettes between the two halves of the piece.  It wasn't something that I had thought to point out to the group, so I was really excited when that discovery was made because she was exactly right.  Luke creates the first, more realistic piece, and then with the remaining paint he has mixed, he makes some loose movements which contrast nicely when put next to the tighter original painting.

Luke LeWand
Thanks For the Energy, 2013
acrylic on panel

After spending so much time looking and talking about art we decided to get outside and make some art of our own.  We made a quick pit stop at the stage and danced around a bit before heading out to the LCA lawn with some drawing boards and oil pastels.  The art is a little hard to see here because of the glare but these participants made some amazing things out on that gorgeous afternoon.

I think this picture might make it into the Marshfield Mariner! I'll post the link to our facebook page (link at the top) once I see it.

real time pose

ride back to Boys & Girls Club