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Residencies

Stevenson Elementary Art Residency

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At the end of November, 2018, I spent a week in Grandview Heights, Ohio doing an art residency at Stevenson Elementary School. The residency was part of their 5 Columns project. The 5 Columns are physical columns located on the school’s front lawn. Throughout the year, various artists visit and work with Stevenson students to create art that interacts with the columns in some way.

The plan was for me to help four classes of Stevenson first graders (about 80 total students) construct individual fabric figures that would be seated on risers among the columns. The figures would be on display outdoors for two months, so we would use fabrics and sewing to make them sufficiently durable.

I began the week by showing the children my own figures and talking about the ways that I incorporated found fabrics and depicted emotions or memories. After that, the children began to construct their own fabric people.

Quite a few of the first graders said that they had sewn before, but many were learning a new skill. They learned how to control their needles and how to make stitches that would successfully join two pieces of fabric together. From the start, the entire group was very enthusiastic about sewing. They had a lot of fun and took pride in their work. I had hoped that they would enjoy it, but was blown away by their energy.

The first step was to learn to sew as they created the solid head and body that would form the core of each sculpture. Once that was complete, the students added arms and legs. They chose the fabrics that they would use and used their own creativity to decide what the arms and legs would look like. Next, we added faces using iron-on fabric. Last came hair and additional accessories and clothing.

Sewing the head and body to make a strong base.
Lots of fabrics to choose from!
Using iron-on fabric to create a face.
A couple characters nearing completion.

 

There was plenty of room for individual creativity and interpretation within the scope of the project. The students insisted that these were not “dolls” when one classroom visitor mistakenly identified them as such. Every morning I was excitedly asked multiple times whether we were going to get to sew again. Teachers and parents reported that the students were talking about the project at home and in their classrooms.

A grouping of one class’ figures.

One real character
Another character

As we wrapped up the week, it became apparent that the first graders had connected with their fabric creations. They had given them names and personalities. They gave their fabric figures hugs as they carried their artwork around their classrooms. The students were very upset by the thought of sending their creations outdoors to be displayed on the 5 Columns for two months.

Fearing many tears and some artwork snuck home in backpacks, we changed course and asked the children to make “Wanted” or “Missing” posters for their sculptures. The posters would be stand-ins for the artwork, which would now be missing from the 5 Columns because it was at home with the children. I thought it was a wonderful solution, and I liked the fact that it turned the project into a piece of conceptual art.

A student’s work brainstorming a wanted poster.
One student creating a wanted poster for her creation.
An example of a Wanted poster. It was up to the students to determine if their figure was “wanted” or “missing”. The forms with their writing prompts were provided by the first grade teachers.
A view of the 5 Columns with one Wanted poster attached. Note the empty risers where the artwork was supposed to have gone.
A closer view of the Wanted poster attached to one of the 5 Columns.

 

You can read more about the residency and the children’s “uprising,” plus watch a video of one of the young artists discussing his work by clicking here to read a story in the local newspaper.

Residencies

Granville Senior Center

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I recently completed a two-week art residency that was sponsored by the Ohio Arts Council’s Artful Aging Ohio program that is “committed to enhancing the quality of life for seniors through meaningful experiences in the arts”.

I was based at the Granville Senior Center in Granville, Ohio, but also taught in two assisted living centers. Below is a gallery of photos from the residency and some quotes from my students. I enjoyed getting to know them all and I enjoyed providing them with an art experience that they found meaningful and different than the activities they normally encounter.

“You don’t know what it will be or what it will look like—just start making something!” –Don

“You don’t even know how much I’ve enjoyed this. And I’m shocked to have enjoyed it so much.” –Beulah

“This was different than anything they would have done with us here.” –Millie

“I enjoyed you doing this. It was great to have you here to do this.” –Lois

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Finished pieces

Earthen Vessels

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Guilt and Love

Loss and Healing

I just finished a week sharing my art and my process with the children at Patchwork Central, where most of the time the children see me as the Co-Director and camera lady.

It was fun to share my sculpture with them, and it was very fun to see the art that they created. It was also great to work again with my friend and fellow artist Jane Case Vickers. I started my career in community art almost 18 years ago by teaching art as Jane’s assistant in Patchwork’s Arts & Smarts Children’s Program.

I was very glad to get to teach with Jane again–I think she’s a great artist and a great teacher. We’ve always been attracted to similar materials and have similar artistic inspirations. We’ve done several projects and exhibits together.

One of these collaborative projects was called “Earthen Vessels”. We each created a series of female figures that explored the human form as a container for emotions and experiences. Each figure expressed an individual emotion or memory using  found fabrics and found objects that we felt were symbolic of the theme.

The images above show my work paired with Jane’s. The first shows Jane’s depiction of Guilt (titled “Guilt: She’s Got a Belly Full of Walnuts”) and my depiction of Love. The second shows my depiction of Loss and Jane’s depiction of Healing. They range from 64″ tall to 40″ tall.

When we took these photos, we intentionally paired a more positive emotion with a more negative one to highlight the interaction between the two.

 

Residencies

Student Art from the Jasper Show

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Student art: a bundle

As part of our show in Jasper, Jane and I led a workshop for a group of local high schoolers.  We talked about our art some and they looked at the show. Then we went to the workspace downstairs and made some art.

We all constructed bundles of objects with the thought that they would be hung from a tree outside to weather.  It was an idea that Jane and I had tried out earlier. I thought the kids came up with some great ideas and interesting construction techniques. In a way, we were manufacturing the kinds of objects that Jane and I collect from the street and other interesting places.

We provided a lot of odds and ends–fabric, paper, markers, thread, yarn, feathers, old toys, bolts, washers, pop cans, magazines, old Starbucks gift cards–even a Girl Scout cookie. They were asked to bring some object that they found around where they lived, and some did.

Above is one: a bundle of bundles. There was also one that made wings out of the Starbucks cards so it would spin. Several others got innovative with markers. Some even pulled the felt out of the inside of the markers and hid them at the center of their bundles with the thought that in the rain, the dye would seep out.

The teachers said they’d hang the art up outdoors at the school. I hope they did and that Jane and I can see it when we go back to take the show down.

Finished pieces

Things to Remember

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Five Things I Want to Remember

Here’s a piece that will be part of my upcoming art show. I thought I’d call it Five Things I Want to Remember. It’s made with fabric trim that was given to me in a giant container of cast off odds and ends, wooden spools of thread that came in other big bins of cast offs, beads, and gold leaf.

A couple years ago, I got a whole bunch of gold leaf as part of yet another big box of cast off art supplies. I’ve enjoyed incorporating the gold into my found object art since then. I like the visual metaphor of gold leafed trash. I like thinking of the layer of gold like the layers of meaning that we all give everyday objects. They’re unremarkable objects, yet we handle them and they become precious to us. This can be good and bad.

The gold leaf can also suggest the practice of searching for joy and beauty in the everyday things around us. The gold adds significance and calls attention to details such as the way that thread wraps itself around the spool or the subtle undulations of a roll of trim as it unrolls itself.