1/19/2019 0 Comments Make it HappenI have an amazing friend who goes through life expecting that what she wants to happen will happen. For the most part it does. School, family, career, you name it; things fall into place to fit the way she wants them too. But it's not wave your wand say a magic word in quasi latin and poof there it is* magic. It takes hustle and planning and work. Sometimes it takes re-adjusting what she wants to fit in with things beyond her control because life often throws us a curve ball here and there to keep us on our toes. She makes it happen. She's magic and I'm forever grateful to have her in my life. Last year when there were a lot of "what ifs" and scary changes being juggled up in the air, I decided that I was going to take a page from her book. I looked, really really looked at what was going on with my career, my art and my family and decided what was important to me, what I wanted to make happen. Then I took up the Mantra; "It's going to all fall into place". Then I started to work for it. I updated my resume**. I researched the options of whereI could do what I love, looked up who to contact at these places and went to work. Things started to fall into place, mostly because of quantum.*** I hustled, I planned and I got to work, with a little help from my friends and family, because noone is an island. With all of that in place, oppurtunities started to present themselves. I took on a temporary teaching gig at Place Des Arts in Coquitlam. I began talks with the Pacific Autism Family Network about a teaching opportunity in a new program (JET) for adults with special needs and I started to hear back from some of the places I'd applied. It's not been super smooth sailing. there have been long periods of waiting, and adjustments and re-adjusting because of those life thrown curve balls. I've kept my mantra going. The thoughts we put out have energy, even if that energy only affects our own point of view. So I'm teaching one day a week so far with the JET program at PAFN with the option to add more days as the program grows. I'm doing an artist in residence two day workshop at a school in West Vancouver, I'm joining the Shadbold Centre in Burnaby to teach in my community for after school programs. I'm offering mini term sessions at Muckabout Gift Gallery and I'm booked for Spring Break camps and Summer Programing at Place Des Arts in Coquitlam. All these activities will be updated in Classes and workshops on this site as registration becomes available. And with all that I'm still hustling because you have to put the work in to make it happen. *Sometimes there's a little bit of that, because who doesn't enjoy a little magic in their life right? ** note to self, keep that sucker updated as you go from now on. trying to remember where and when I taught specific workshops and classes, showed art and volunteered after x number of years teaching, volunteering, and showing art is exhausting. *** I'm a full on believer in quantum.
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6/9/2018 0 Comments It's that time of year againTime gets away from me and before I know it I've missed a whole month of updating. I'm taking some second hand advice and skipping the feeling guilty about the laps and getting back on track with new energy. It's been a slam packed month or so, here's what I've been up to. It's been a haze of loaded to do lists and filled appointment book pages. I"m loving the momentum (in between stopping briefy here and there to catch my breath) and want to keep it going once the school schdule slows down a little. The last three years at Artspace we have put together a large scale Musical Theatre Production. I've put in time for these performances creating sets and costuming and this year is an exciting production. It's an original piece created by the Instructor and the Musical Theatre students. I've included some of the play's set and prop list in my classes this term and last term so that the production features not only the performing arts students but also the visual arts and preschool arts students as well. I'm in the last stages of creating the projected pieces that will be onscreen during the performance next weekend. This year I built a newscamera and laptop, neckties, one eyed alien king, lackey and dog headpieces and robot masks with a campfire costume and the screen projections mentioned above. It's a lot of work and I love to do it. On top of the Musical Theatre tasks I volunteered myself to help out with my two small one's school yearbook. I spent a goodd ten hours working on three class layouts. I've also had school workshops on the schedule with more upcoming in the next two weeks. Add to that extra time at Muckabout during the Bee season (it's new Nuc time and many dozens of new bee colonies arrived at Muckabout's partner business BC Bee Supplies last month. The Bees are out and foraging, new hives and queens have been installed and going in and making sure all is well with my hive has been added to my biweekly schedule. I included some furniture painting in there with an ombre finish sideboard and a nautical themed side table. I began cutting my own stencils for FAT Paint projects and made a handful of new signs with those and have sourced more wood slices for my snarky magnets as they are finding new homes quickly. My class schedules are woefully out of date in the calendar. The lessons have been listed are still in effect and you can contact Muckabout to schedule the specialty classes like Stamp carving and Bookbinding to suit your schedule adding a comment ontheir contact page with the class you are interested in. I am looking at some restructuring and class building in my schedule for the summer and autumn months and will update them here as soon as they are finalized with Artspace and Muckabout. I have two weeks blocked off for summer camps at Artspace and drop in programming at Muckabout and hiping to get in soe much needed time in the studio soon. I'm currently working on a shoe dotting class with the DIY Mandela Tools and have some other stand alone workshops in the planning stages . While I'm in the headspace of class building please let me know in the comments what type of programming you'd like to see me do. 3/3/2018 0 Comments I've been PaintingThis week saw my last full day workshop of the month; a visiting artist workshop at a local school and a whack load of painting with FAT Paint. I've been working on fabric with the FAT Paint to create decorative throw pillows in anticipation of upcoming classes I'll be teaching this month. My independent students got to work on some animal paintings and I pulled out my block printing tools to create printing blocks for bags and pillows. I'll be running an afternoon workshop for this coming very soon. 2/25/2018 0 Comments Teaching and Learning
busy weeks come frequently these days. Last week was one. So busy in fact that one of my classes didn't get documented. The art is truly finished so we can let it slide and I hope to either finish it with the class today or photograph it to share at the least.
My painting and drawing students made art based on Jackson John's number series. I hosted a school workshop about West Coast Marine Life on Wednesday. Saturday night I was invited to a local church for a Sunday School Sleep over to teach a painting project. I revisited the Jackson Johns project on canvas instead of paper. This project is so much fun and impactful when finished that I'm adjusting it for an adult audience and will be offering it as a Spirited Paint night at Muckabout; Our version of the very popular Paint and Sip nights. Our nights differ from most others because our participants all leave with with unique paintings or artwork. None are exactly the same! I finished off the week by hosting a Unicorn birthday party. Please share your favourite project of this week in the comments section. 1/13/2018 0 Comments January 13th, 2018In addition to the Winter Term Classes I'm still teaching at Artspace I've got a few other workshops on the horizon at the moment. You can see them in the Calendar section. First on the dock is the Bookbinding class I'm doing this coming Thursday. There are still spaces available but the deadline for registration (so that I can ensure enough supplies and materials are available for each participant) is this coming Thursday registration is CA$40.00 at Muckabout.ca I've been creating sample practice books in anticiaption of the workshop and as part of my artist residency. Next Weekend I am also offering a workshop on one of the most alluring of the elements of art: Colour. We'll create colour wheels and charts while learning about all aspects of colour. I'll be prepping charts and paper for that this week as well. 11/4/2017 0 Comments Moving Right AlongWe're just flying right on through to the end of the year aren't we? Heading into November I'm starting to consider what my art practice might start to look like. With my heavy teaching load becoming lighter, the balance in my personal life is shifting and things are realigning. Rather than let things settle into new organic flow, I'm continuing to stir the pot. It's not a comfortable place to sit; with all that change. Letting things stagnate would be much less comfortable, so I'm letting things stay uncomfortable with the goal of creating a new comfort zone. I spend so much of my work time focused on the lessons I'm teaching, the classes and workshops I'm planning and updating the skills I require to teach all of those things that my own work becomes less focused. With less focus I'm scattered; not sure where I want my focus to be and in an endless loop of dabbling. Getting ready for the LRAH last september and the art exhibit I'm participating in this December has put a spotlight on my need to find my voice as an artist. I'm lucky that I have a serendipitous community of like minded creators in my day to day life. I say serendipitous because these people through one random instance or another have fallen into my social circle and inform my thinking, my creativity and my desire to create. Daily and weekly conversations with these artists and creative people has been a lifeline as well as a navigational tool. I'm taking some time to map out my goals and the direction I'm headed in order to arrive at my destination. Now that I've thouroughly mixed my metaphors it's time to look at what I've been up to this last week. Halloween was a huge success in the costume department. The smallest of my small ones has requested that we keep her wings attached to her dress so she can be a quail in daily life. The Raven costume was elegant and mysterious and I'm happy with how they both reacted and enjoyed their costumes. My students were very much focused on the holiday last week epsecially my painting and drawing students who all came to the class even though there were hoards of trick or treaters streaming past the window at Artspace. They managed to finish off the previous weeks project and we'll be starting something new and exciting next week. My independant students are nearing the completion of weeks long projects and I think looking for new inspiration. I'll be working on finding that for them in the coming days so that we can move on and keep them engaged in their art making. I've been head down and planning for workshops and classes in the new year and I hve a series of lessons I'm quite excited about. They can be taken as a series or as a single workshop. Updates to the claendar with further details and dates will be made soon. Mailing List Members receive updates and news first each month along with special deals and offers. You can sign up on the Home page . 10/28/2017 0 Comments Halloween and Roderigue Animals
10/14/2017 0 Comments and a month went byThose who know me, know that my schedule is crammed full. Those who know me a little bit better also know that I don't have one of those new fangled laptop computers just a desktop jobbie that's a little slow. those that know even better have often hear me curse a blue streak at the inability of my smart phone and tablet to properly post on my webpage. Grr Argh!
In the last few weeks I've participated in a wonderful yearly art event; Living Room Art in the Heights 2017 (if you stopped by to say hello you have big gratitude thoughts headed in your direction.) If you missed it you can stop by the North Burnaby Neighbourhood House to look at some of the art that was displayed at LRAH2017. I've taught my regular classes (and a few extras (hello Pro D camps!) at Artspace and Muckabout. I've created a line of handcrafted witch hat fascinators and a class to go along with it (register at Muckabout for the spirited Witch and Stitch night, or sign your kids up for the young people's version to make your own). I've created a stormy window display at Muckabout Gift Gallery (well have a display the other half is on the way). I've finished a new set of watercolour painting kits. I've cleaned the counters off in my kithchen (this is a huge job. you have no idea. Unless you're one of those people who know me really well) had family photos, taken the bigger of my small ones to her appointments and therapy sessions for her ASD and attended her IEP meeting. Made sure the smallest of my small ones has had clean clothes and enough to eat. AND made time to get some art finished for the upcoming show this december. I should also mention that I've caught a cold. I'm headed into week two of sinus headaches, dry cough and hoarse voice. What I haven't been able to get to is this page; so I've carved out a monent of time before I head into work, drop the smallest of my small ones off at her dance class and get ready for another week. On the docket is the getting together of the halloween costumes for my small ones. this year we are being Doctor Who (newly regenerated into the latest incarnation) and a Quail. Wish me all of the luck. |
Peanut
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