Those crazy mannequins are back!

Today I was Spring cleaning the studio which means taking everything apart and dusting and sweeping and all that lovely stuff. I decided the mannequins needed to come out and play again for summer.  So here they are dancing and drawing and painting and getting into mischief!

summer time! I love Summer time!

OK, in spite of the crummy weather summer will be here sooner than you know. Today the seniors had their last day of school. Then graduation. Then last day for the common students! Then it's SUMMER!

....and I am doing my happy dance!

I love teaching in summer. The kids are more relaxed and focused. I am more relaxed and I can do some pretty in depth projects.

Look at this list of classes I am offering!


Cartoons and Comics (Drawing)
Do you love to doodle and create your own characters? In this class we will look at different cartoon and comic styles for inspiration and then create some of our own. Students will learn how to develop cartoon characters, write a story line and create a cartoon strip and comic book.

Friday Afternoon Club (Crafts)
Friday afternoon and it’s time to get crafty in June. Come join the fun as we make prints using nature’s bounty, paint a ceramic piggy bank, knot some hemp bracelets and emboss a picture frame using metal foil.

Bubble Fun! (crafts)
Summer time is bubble time! Kids will create their own unique bubble wands using wire and beads. We will also make our own bubble solution and each participant will get a booklet of winning bubble recipes.

Kinder Artists
Young artists get to explore paint, glue, paper, markers and COLOR! It’s messy and it’s fun. Join Miss Morgan Gehling and explore the wonderful world of art.

Ultimate Tree House (Architecture)
You have been dreaming of building your own tree house for a long time but don’t have the time, space or resources to build one. This new class is where you think small –really small- as in dollhouse sized staircases and rope swings fit for a fairy. The only requirement for this class is a creative imagination, balsa wood, craft sticks and of course trees.

Altered Books (collage)
Altered book art combines several types of artistic techniques into one unique art form. Starting with a book base, the artist tears away pages and then adds their own creative expressions through rubber stamping, scrapping, image transfer, collage, photo montage, and writing.

Mosaic Art (collage)
Mosaic art goes as far back as 400 B.C. to ancient Greece where geometric patterns and scenes of people and animals were depicted by placing small pieces of different colour materials to create a picture. . You will learn how to create a wall mosaic using a variety of materials including glass gems, pre-cut ceramic tiles, and glass tiles.


Adventures in Art (mixed media/cultures)
One of my favorite activities is learning about other people and cultures. What better way than through art and craft projects. Come travel around the world with me! Each week we will visit places like Mexico, Poland, Japan and France.

Tropical Fish Fun! (Paper mache/painting)

Come under the sea with us as we make paper mache tropical fish. These three dimensional colorful fish will brighten up your summer!

Introduction to Drawing 

This is a basic drawing class where students will learn to draw what they see using methods like blind contour and basic shapes. This is also a good class to take to improve drawing skills. It’s all about drawing with art pencils, charcoal, colored pencils and chalk pastel.

Photo Words! (Photography and computers)
Back by popular demand! Students will learn top look at everyday objects with new eyes as we walk around downtown and look for letters of the alphabet to spell out their name. Using digital photos and Photoshop –images will be transformed and put together into a unique wall piece.

Glass Bead Making (Grades 7 and older) Single session class
Participants will learn to make their own glass beads using a glass torch head with an open flame and special glass rods. You can get as creative as you want making your beads.
 
Paper Dolls! (Single session class)

Paper dolls are making a huge comeback and they are much better than ever before. Using templates, fine art papers, gems, jewels and patterned papers we will create the most wonderful paper dolls complete from hairstyle to foot wear.

Back to School Fashion Plan! (Fiber arts/surface design)

It is time to start thinking about what statement you want to make this year in school. In this class we will make jewelry, transform a pair of Capri’s or jeans into a fashion statement and create a one of a kind t-shirt all for your first day back to school!

Global Art Project for Peace

The Global Art Project is an International Art Exchange for Peace. My students and I participated in the 2010 exchange. We created works of art in many different mediums that expressed our view of global peace and goodwill. This was a good project for many of my students. It sparked numerous discussions about what peace really means.  For my younger students we spent several class periods talking about how each one of us could help create global peace everyday in the way we interact with our friends and classmates and people we meet as we go about our business.  Our work was exchanged with a small starter private school in Tuscon Arizona. The mission of the Global Art Project is to joyously create a culture of peace through art. The Project spreads world peace by promoting tolerance and non-violence. The Global Art Project is an expression of the idea: We Are All One.

On May 21st from 4:00 to 6:30 PM Artworks Studio will host our Annual Art Show. This show is OPEN to anyone in the community. The art work we received from Waldorf School will be on display along with my students work.

Earth Day project

Today in honor of Earth Day I made this journal. Everything you see here was found in my studio as I was making it. I took a photo album I had purchased at the thrift store and took it apart. Then I went through my stash of papers and hand cut papers for pages to fit the book. Some of the pages are half a wide as the regular pages so they can unfold to give you a longer pieces of paper to work with. I was going to just throw away the photo pages but then thought- NO! I will incorporate them into the book and a person could use the pockets for photographs or ticket stubs or even a leaf they found while on a walk. The cover was white fabric  and  it  was very dirty. I painted it black and then used my gel medium ( I LOVE THAT STUFF!) to collage some oriental joss papers on the cover plus images of spring and earth. The entire book is held together by left over hemp from my son's obsessive hemp jewelry making phase. As I was looking through my stuff while making this journal I came across this quote - which is now in the bottom left hand corner of the front of the journal.

"All thinking worthy of the name now must be ecological" Lewis Mumford. Happy Earth Day!

TA! DA!

The summer class schedule is finished and posted on my website and you can register at any time. Class sizes are limited so sign up early to make sure you get the classes you want. Looking forward to summer!