Taste of the Arts

Saturday I spent the day helping the Art Council with their yearly "Taste of the Arts" workshops. This is my third year being a part of this creative day.

We always have a good time but it's a lot of work for our fearless leader Christie.  She is the "teacher" and Mary Jane (who is a gourd artist and who I pick blackberries with in the summer) and I are her humble assistants.This year we taught three classes with 15 adults and high school students in each class.

We started with a lot of clean dry gourds.

The students pick one that they like. Christie introduces us and  talks about where gourds come from, how they grow and what we will do with them.
Then the fun begins...

They take a look at the finished gourds we bring (our own) to show what can be done with practice and many different kinds of techniques.

We show them the paint, glue, scissors, beads, feathers, glue guns, and all the embellishments that they will have available to decorate the gourd.
Then we let them be as creative as they want to be. It's so fun to see what they do. I'm convinced that everyone has a creative streak in them.
Some begin cautiously, start slowly and then get into it.

And some jump right into it.

Eventually we find that each person creates their own unique piece of art.
We guide, answer questions, help with the glue guns or hold a gourd steady while they glue something in place. It's so interesting to see how amazingly creative all of these folks can be.

These are some of the finished gourds.

 The beautiful gift from the sea.

 The charming beaded bird house.

This gourd basket, bought at a thrift store, was brought to the class to be "repurposed" and decorated for this lady's collection of crystals and stones.

One person wanted to make a gourd instrument or facsimile with a long gourd, shells and string. It was beautiful when she finished.

We set out some rabbit skins... which were more popular than we had imagined. By the final class, the supply was almost depleted and it looked like a bear attack on the sink..

This man, who came with his whole family, created a wonderful creature using the fur for its hair and a white mustache as well. He and his son had a great time working together on these gourd heads. The fur was flying.

This gourd was my personal favorite. I love a more natural look using nature's embellishments.  It also happen to be a gourd that I had in my living room for a long time. I had a personal attachment to it. The artist did it proud. I was so happy to see what the gourd finally decided to "become." In all the time that it sat in my house, it never told me what it wanted to be but, obviously, it told this lady everything.

There is an old adage in gourd art. It says that the gourd will tell you what it wants to be. This one waited, found the right person and look what happen.

 I'm a little sad that it didn't do this for me, but this woman was so happy with what she created that I felt it was meant to be for her... and the fulfilled gourd.
I think I better start listening more closely to some of the gourds that I have laying around the house.


We thought that all of the gourds were creative and wonderful, but this was our Best of Show...

It went, in our opinion, to a 16 year old with a flair for the Gothic, lord of the darkside ... "with a twist".  He said that the birds were for balance within the split personality. After he was finished, he decided this small gourd "being" needed a hat so he created "Le chapeau" out of two shells. He had a vision and wasn't afraid to express it.
When do we loose this ability to express ourselves so uniquely? When do we lose the ability to be unchecked and free with ideas and creativity? Society and our upbringing tend to put constraints on liberal, (I'm talking about being creative in thought here, not politics.) and original inventiveness. What an injustice we do to creative youngsters. Maybe children (and the resulting adult) would be happier if they were allowed more freedom of observation and creative expression and less of being given established, "safe" choices. Enough Farmlady?
 This young man was so happy about his "creation". Others might not understand his concept, but he did. It was his expression of his ideas.
Someone gave this boy a gift from the start. A gift of being creativity without   "a reason" or "a purpose"... or an in depth explanation of its value. I admire that kind of parenting in some ways. It's a fine line between giving a child some freedom of thought and expression and still maintaining some boundaries.
His gourd art is different... creative... inventive and his own.The ears are buttons. The fur is dyed  rabbit. We thought that this was the most creative gourd art for the day. This young man was really pleased with his work.

I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration.

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)

We had a very creative time.

No, I didn't trip and fall into the Pacific Ocean...

This is quick post to let you all know that I had a WONDERFUL time at The ART IS YOU workshop.
I want to tell you all about the wonderful long weekend of art workshops and fun but it will be a week or so before I have the time to put it all together.
My sister and I had such a great time..

This was the first night Dinner.

Some of the teachers talked about being artists and then there was a question and answer session  after dinner. They talked about the personal process of becoming an artist.... tips on overcoming your inhibitions, thinking outside the artistic box and what their own life experiences as artists were like. 

The next few days were filled with workshops, traveling to town, eating good food, walking, eating good food and DESSERTS.

Eating DESSERTS...

And looking for POTENTIAL places to eat more desserts.

There were wonderful little stores in the downtown part of Petaluma along the river.

There was a grand Flea Market that walked us almost to death.

 But for now, in this moment, I have begun another adventure.
My friend "D" from Montana is here. She drove all the way from Montana to see me and I'm so happy that she is here. There will be lots of talking, walking, photography (she is an addict like me), laughing, playing with dogs, and catching up with life.
I will post when I can. I will catch everyone up on the great workshops and show off some of my artwork.... but for now, I'm enjoying "D"s visit, her dog Wanda.... and the company of this dear friend.

Taking my Leave

I leave you with a beautiful photo of the Mokelumne River... filled to overflow and reflecting clouds in its waters. This was taken from the Middle Bar Bridge at the border of Amador and Calaveras Counties.

I'm leaving this afternoon. I will be gone until Tues or Wednesday of next week. I'm going to the ART-IS-YOU Art Retreat in Petaluma, CA. My sister and I will be there for a long weekend.... and Riki... and Diana... and lot's of other folks.

I CAN NOT WAIT.

There will be food, artists, fun and a wonderful Antique Fair too.
I'm taking a class on Altered Books and one on Nuno Felting. The classes are taught by well known artists and mine are both all day classes. Should be very exciting.

See you next week.

Asilomar II ~ Gifted Hands

These hands are gifted. They belong to the jewelry artist, Nina Bagley. I have been reading her blog, Ornamental, for over a year now. Not only does she make wonderful jewelry, but she is a photographer and writer too. My sister and I had tried a few times to sign up for Nina's workshops but failed to get in because they fill up so fast. So, in September of last year when Sis was visiting for a weekend we were looking for a workshop that Nina might be teaching at and, lo and behold, we found a 3 day class on making a necklace( my sister's favorite thing to do ) and making a collage book( my favorite thing to do )..., so we signed up that night and sent in the deposit. We were finally going to take a class from NINA BAGLEY. Wow!!...,and it would be within driving distance from home and it was in Asilomar. This was a dream come true.

There are not too many things that get me really excited anymore. Guess I'm getting old and..., I don't know, I'm just a farm girl who loves where I live and take life as it comes.
I believe that each day is something to look forward to and I always love the unexpected things that happen...,thing you weren't expecting ..., the beautiful Gray Fox that ran across our road in front of me today when I came home; the King Snake at our entrance yesterday trying to climb a rocky incline and sliding back down, as his beautiful markings moved with his skin to find a firmer grip. These sights and all of nature move me to tears sometimes but travel and events lately have been for others and this time I was going JUST FOR ME. I was really looking forward to this workshop.
When we left my sister's house it was with great trepidation because our mother was not doing well and we had almost decided to stay home, but with Mom's blessing we got into the car on Sunday and drove to Monterey. Both of us were like kids again. Not only were we excited to learn all the new artistic techniques but to meet NINA and see what she was like. Well, she's a dear sweet person who wears her heart on her sleeve. I should have known this from her writing. She is a clear drink of water with a lovely southern drawl and she speaks her mind. The drawl is very charming. It's North Carolinean.
She showed us how to make a necklace with all the right tools. We learned how to make jump rings and how to connect beads.We made p-loops, s-hooks and what we call "Nina knots" (wire that is wrapped around itself) that make each connection look beautiful.We made coils, clasps and toggles until my fingers just wouldn't straighten out without making strange noises. We learned so much the first day that my learning curved brain could hardly eat dinner and go to bed that night.
The next two days were spent building the book. We were given the front and back metal pieces which we tarnished and embellished and then we were to make 8 to 10 collage pages. I got 3 done. But, in my defense, only 2 people out of 19 of us completed the book. We weren't expected to finished everything and the last afternoon I worked on my necklace instead of the book. The necklace is an on-going artistic endeavor. I have enabled myself and invested in a BOOK. It's called Making Wire Jewelry; getting started. This is hard to admit but I think I'm jump ring challenged.

These last photos are some of the class work. I will not tell which ones are mine. When the book is completed I will take some pictures and post it. The necklace will never see the light of day.
My sister's necklace was stunning. She wore it to dinner Wed. night. Everyone that saw it commented on it. ..., next year I think I will take the "demented doll" class.

I talked to Mom this evening. She is doing much better. She sat in her wheel chair for 2 hours today and even sat outside in the sun for a while. She sounds good and was watching TV when I called. The physical therapy person came yesterday and showed her some light exercises she can do to gain strength. They will be coming again to help her. She also has a home health nurse that comes to see her and she says that the ladies that are there at the rest home have been so good to her. They are wonderful people. We are so lucky that she is in such a good place. Here's to all the CNA's at Sunnyvale Care Home. We love you all!

I will continue to post photos of Asilomar tomorrow. Hopefully before 9:00 p.m. at night. I had to go to the doctor today in Sacramento so I got this post going a little late.