Artworks Studio is a one woman studio where I teach art to young people and create my own work. It's a place to hang out and get something done. If you stop in you really never know what you will find.
www.artworksandbeads.com
I won't be open December 25th.
I also won't be open on the 26th or for the rest of the week.
GASP!
Yes I know it's the 2nd biggest shopping day when people go out and spend their Christmas money.
I don't care.
You see, my kids will be home for Christmas. All four of them. At the same time.
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It's been several years since that has happened. And I am going to enjoy it.
The food, the laughter, the stories.
The late night soul searching conversations.
The snarky comments.
The glasses of wine.
The tears.
The hugs.
I love those four people that I brought into this world more than I can ever put into words.
When they were still living at home circumstances were such that I had to divide my time into so many pieces that I felt there was never enough of it to properly go around.
if I could turn back time...
I would read them more stories
I would dance around the living room with them
I would really focus on what they were saying instead of with a distracted ear because there was always so much to do
I will spend the majority of that time in the kitchen- feeding my soul to over flowing because it has to last a long time. Until the next time all four of them will be home again.
At the same time.
When I started on this journey back in 1982 the name of the store was
Carroll Fine Arts Gallery and Supplies and Custom Framing
quite a mouthful and I didn't pick the name out.
In 1982 I left college after 3 years and bought the above named business in my hometown.
I was 20 years old.
No experience.
No business classes.
Just a burning passion for art.
and totally clueless what I was getting myself into.....what I wanted to be when I grew up...
but a $10,000 loan cosigned by my parents and a crash course in business courtesy of the same parents and I was the proud owner of the Carroll Fine Arts Gallery And Supplies and Custom Framing. I represented over 40 regional artists. Along the way my own work got lost in the business of work.
Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life.
I didn't love framing pictures- it was OK.
I didn't love selling other people's art- I enjoyed making art friends and talking art with them.
I didn't love retail - I love working for myself.
Now I am 52 - and still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up
The original concept has changed over the years- because I have changed
I don't frame pictures for people anymore but I have quite a love affair with vintage frames.
I sell original works by myself, my sister and few friends of mine and we get together at least once a year and have an art weekend in my studio.
I love working with kids and I teach 80+ kids during the school year and 490+ in the summers..
I love teaching and I have started an adult painting and wine drinking class.
The name has evolved into it's current name - Artworks Studio - it's a studio because it's where I create, teach, mentor, socialize, consult and spend a lot of time.
A year ago I purchased a scrap booking store. I don't scrap. But I DO love paper! I'm a mixed media artist and I find myself using many of the same supplies scrappers use. I have changed the mix over the past year. Less cutesy papers and stickers and more grungy/vintage. I have added creative kits and blank art journals and really cool disposable cartridge pens and letter press note cards... and everything I sell is something I would buy. I read somewhere that a successful shop is one that reflects the owners personality. Mine says - I am not sure what mine says about me...
Now things are changing again- Because I am a mixed media artist I collect quite a bit of odds and ends. Things like bottle caps and game board pieces. Marbles, broken clocks, keys and hardware. I am changing some of the "gifty" stuff. Keeping the vintage costume jewelry and my hand made jewelry. Closing out the new costume jewelry. Maybe I am making a mistake maybe I am doing the right thing.
One thing I have learned from the moment I signed that loan 32 years ago- you won't know anything unless you take a risk and try.
In my studio I have an art program that runs through the school year ( September-May) and I work with 75+ students Pre K- high school. My summer program begins the first week in June. This June and July I had over 490 students walk through the doors in an age range of 3 to 16.
That is a lot of kids.
And a lot of art.
And a lot of energy.
When August 1st came I had nothing left in my art battery.
Couldn't imagine teaching again.
Couldn't think of new or different projects.
I was on automatic pilot.
I cleaned and rearranged the studio.
Picked up new boxes of crayons and markers.
Got the new art journals ready for the kids.
Made some vague notes in my curriculum notebook.
But none of it was done in anticipation of seeing my students again.
I needed to recharge my art battery- it was dead.
A couple of months ago my sister and I talked about getting together in August. It had been a few years since I went to Chicago. So we found some creative classes to take while I was there.
I just got back to the studio today and my batteries are FULLY charged and ready to go!
On Thursday August 22nd- I spent a rainy afternoon by myself at the Art Institute of Chicago where I saw the special exhibit "Impressionism Fashion and Modernity"
It was so wonderful to see the art work and then to look at actual gowns worn by models in the paintings. Looking at the gowns and accessories made these paintings that I have seen many times even more real. Also- I have read many books over the years where gowns designed by Charles Frederick Worth were considered the height of fashion! To see real gowns actually designed by him almost made me swoon!
Next I made my way to the new modern wing where I spent a few hours looking at the collection. I took pictures...
Max Ernst- basic shapes and simple lines can tell a story!
Kandinsky's use of color and his brushstrokes create the energetic movement of the troika and his simple lines tell a wonderful story and is so spontaneous
Emil Nolde- Red Haired Girl is a portrait that is more about the color, energy and emotion than anything else.
and Joseph Cornell's assemblage pieces were wonderful and curious and so full of little stories....the ideas flew across the pages of my notebook. So much to see. So much inspiration. Who was Suzanne Duchamp? I knew all about Marcel but nothing about Suzanne.
Mondrian's "Farm Near Duivendrecht" - I have been working on a collage of trees and have been stressing that my trees weren't tree enough- his trees are not perfect- yet they capture the lines and movement that only bare branches can. I think I am ready to finish my collage because looking at Mondrian's painting gave me the permission I needed to continue and the affirmation that my trees were just fine.
Max Ernst and Joan Miro- and their simple almost calligraphic lines. I tell my students over and over again- simple basic shapes- everything you look at can be broken down into basic simple shapes. They ( my students) want to make them so complicated!
Surrealist Objects- I had not heard of them before. I knew of Duchamp's Ready Made pieces but not these....these pieces reminded so much of pieces I have created. Pieces I have encouraged my students to work on. Now I have sources to show them museum works.
On Friday I spent the afternoon at Ignite Glass Studio where I learned how to make
a glass paperweight
and a bowl
and now I had reached that endorphin state known as "artist's high"
On Saturday I spent the entire day - from 9AM until 9PM in two workshops with Mary Beth Shaw.
WOW!
From her website:
"Mary Beth Shaw worked in the insurance industry for 18 years before she quit her job in 2000 to re-ignite a childhood love of art. She is now a full time painter and internationally known workshop instructor. Her creative process is largely self taught, spontaneous and joyful. She is author of Flavor for Mixed Media published by F&W and is also a columnist for Somerset Studios Magazine. Her second book, Stencil Girl comes out in the Fall of 2013. "
These are the pieces I created under her tutelage.
Again the ideas filled my head and I filled pages in my notebooks with projects and concepts I want to teach my students this year.
