Artist in Residence Completion and Summer Plans

I delivered the commissioned Happiness = Our Nature Playground artwork to the Montessori School of Lake Forest last Friday. I met with the students of the families who commissioned the artwork and they helped me finalize the artwork which included:

  • nailing down the staples I used to attach the artwork to the stretched canvas frame
  • nailling on the mat board to cover the back of the stretched canvas
  • nailling on a sawtooth hanger
  • putting double-sided tape on the label to put onto the back of the artwork on the mat board
  • helping me put double-sided foam tape on the wall label so it can adhere to the wall next to the artwork.

I got to show them how to use a hammer in a gentle way to not warp the canvas frame. Pretty cool. I wanted them to know that artwork is not just about the painting or the sewing in my case. To finalize artwork it takes many more steps before you present it to the client.

Happiness = Our Nature Playground, May 2018. Commissioned by three families at Montessori School of Lake Forest as a donation to the school.

Lastly, we wrapped the artwork in butcher paper with blue and white bakery twine. We presented the art to my friend Julia who works at the school. As we were about to unwrap the artwork outside, we saw a great blue heron fly right by us over the grassland next to their property. Yet another special moment spent in their nature playground.

The major elements of this custom artwork are the two tall trees with the diagonal yellow line for their tree swing on the left, the creek and frog pond in the middle, the grey fort leaning against the tree on the right with the horizon line of grasses and trees topped with a sunrise. The best part was when each child explained to Julia their favorite section of the artwork. One student loves bright colors and explained the sunrise colors with the brown of the tree line and the tan for the grasses at the horizon. Another student loved the brown of the trees where they kick off to go higher on their swing which is shown with the yellow diagonal line as if they were ready to swing back into the artwork frame. One student showed Julia the grey triangle fort with its stash of redwood sticks at the bottom. Another student showed the creek and the frog pond running through the property because that is what he made for his torn construction paper project. One student was not able to be there for the last part but she loved running in the playground on the trails. The students hit all the major elements of the artwork without me even discussing the major elements we should tell Julia about.

I felt a big sense of accomplishment presenting the artwork to the staff. At first, getting input from 5 children seemed intimidating to me at the beginning of the project. Little did I know that they would bring me into their world and help me see their playground through their eyes. All the information I learned from interviewing the students was included in an EcoMemory report for the school and parents along with photos of their torn construction paper artwork, my color palette and my design decisions for the final artwork.

This whole Artist in Residence experience has been a joy. I am grateful to every one who made it possible. The staff has been so open-minded and creative in starting an Artist in Residence program for their students.  I love being surrounded by smart people who think outside of the box to be creative and try new ideas. That is what this Montessori School of Lake Forest is all about. You can read more about the entire Artist in Residence process HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE.

As for me in the studio, I am currently working on two more EcoMemory commissions over the summer. But I do have openings for commissions starting this Fall. If you are interested and would like some more information about the process, just send me an email and we can talk.  

I am doing something different this summer with my Studio Notes blog and Instagram. Since I have 2.5 years of weekly articles, I decided to delve into my archive files and revisit some of my favorite articles and add in some written updates. Similarly, on Instagram I am posting some of my Favorite Daily Squares from the Every Day Project correlating to the weekly Studio Notes theme. Hope you enjoy them!

Happiness = Our Nature Playground

I am back in the studio after a month break. My current project is an EcoMemory artwork commissioned by three families for a local Montessori school. This EcoMemory project was offered as a fundraising opportunity for families to donate money to the school and purchase a custom piece of art that will remain in the school. The subject matter of this EcoMemory project is to capture these 5 children’s favorite places in their nature playground. This school is fortunate enough to have a wooded area, a creek, wetlands and a prairie area. This is the last phase of my Artist-in-Residence at this same local Montessori school. You can read more about it HERE and HERE. It has been a great adventure working with the staff and students at the school.

Phase 1 of this EcoMemory project was to meet the five children whose families bought the commission. It was truly a magical visit because they took me on a tour of their nature playground favorite places and shared fabulous details of what it’s like to be a child at recess at the school. I got to see it through their eyes. I felt like I was 10 years old again.

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Revisiting Lessons from a Kitten

So our cat Koa is now two years old. As an update to my article Lessons from a Kitten, I can add another lesson, letting go of perfectionism. There are many sweet things about our two cats. But there are some annoying things too. I can handle these imperfections because of all the good they bring to our family. I can focus on the good qualities. It is ok that they are not perfectly behaved cats. Here is the original article.

Lessons from a Kitten

We got a new Siberian kitten last Saturday. He is 11 weeks old and, of course, absolutely adorable. His name is Koa. We named him after the native Hawaiian wood Koa because he's an orange tabby and looks like the Koa wood's grain pattern. Needless to say, I have been spending a lot of time with him because he pretty much needs constant attention and supervision unless he is sleeping.

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Why Is Creativity so Fascinating?

Partridge Point in Lake Superior, 2017.

My geology professor from college, Dr Palmquist (who I have written about before HERE) signed up as a subscriber to my weekly Studio Notes after I gave him one of my first EcoMemory prototypes as a gift. My EcoMemory is based on a rocky island in Lake Superior where I did field work with Dr. Palmquist for my senior project.  

He recently emailed me saying, "How did this interest in creativity start?"

The rocks on Partridge Point. How cool are they?!

It got me thinking because when he knew me as a college student, I was all about the math and science. I wanted to be an environmentalist and geology, the study of the earth, seemed to be the closest major I could find. Later I realized I like knowing how things were formed. That’s what a lot of geology is about; how the earth formed, how rocks were formed.  You tell a story based on the available science at the time of what happened, just like the volcanic action going on in Hawaii right now. Every geological event tells the story of what is happening in the earth.

What I really like the most about geology are the minerals, the colors and the shapes of igneous rocks and metamorphic rocks. It really was the starting point of me noticing color and shapes. I had told myself I wasn’t creative because I was a scientist and good at math. My creative friends were the real artists who could draw. Now I know this is a ridiculous statement. Everyone is creative in their own way. The definition of what creativity looks like is expanding. I am not the only one fascinated by creativity. More and more people are seeing themselves as creative. Even though I was fascinated by colors and shapes and would spend hours looking at the mineralogy specimens in our large drawers at my college and local rock shop and gem store, I didn’t put it all together until much later.

I started quilting 10 years after college as it was an activity that needed precise measurements and accurate sewing. It seems like a natural fit for me. Once I learned the basics, I started doing my own thing using color and shapes. This progressed to my current custom EcoMemory process where I help people reconnect to how they feel in nature through my art. To learn more, click HERE.

Like a lot of things that people become super interested in, my interest in creativity was a nagging feeling of trying to answer a question I have been pondering for years, "Why did I think I wasn’t creative when I was younger? Why did I think I needed to go to art school to be an artist?" So I decided I would just teach myself about creativity and it never ceases to fascinate me still 20 years later.

I’ve had the good fortune to be living in a time when other people are just as fascinated in creativity. Lessons about creativity are not specific to one media. This was the biggest surprise to me. I have learned from authors, painters and musicians. There are many books, TED Talks, and podcasts to listen to. I recently found a new book I just started to read. The book is called Creative Quest and is written by Questlove, the band director for the Roots band on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. I already read the first chapter and can't wait to read the rest.

Why do I continue to learn about creativity? Creativity can be elusive. The more you try to force it, the more it skitters away from you just out of reach. It can be a mental minefield out there looking for creative inspiration and deciding which lead to follow. Learning from other generous souls who have written about their experiences makes you realize you are not alone. These writers/speakers provide markers on the trail of where to go and how to navigate the hazards along the trail. I am grateful for the support and keep reading/listening to people who are fascinated with creativity in all its forms. 

Lazy Sundays

For the first time in many months (sometimes it feels like years), my family and I had a Lazy Sunday this week. We woke up whenever we wanted to. We had no commitments. We did not need to be someplace at a certain time. We decided to go to our local Botanic Garden and see the blooming Corpse flower. This has been a big event at our Botanic Garden in Chicago when these things bloom because they are very rare, very weird-looking and very smelly. Hence the name Corpse flower. Then we just walked around to see some of the Bulb garden which was filled with daffodils. We had a leisurely lunch. It was fantastic. My goal for years has been to have a day like this once a week, a Lazy Sunday. For families sometimes this is impossible especially if the children are in sports. Coaches do not care about rest and relaxation. Our culture does not seem to value relaxation anymore. I’m not quite sure why because I think it is one of the most important things you can do to boost your creativity.

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