The focus of this studio space is to create an environment for myself and others to continue developing artistic practices through group projects, workshops displaying in physical and on-line spaces.
Summer’s here and we are having a blast every Tuesday night in June and August from 6-8 making projects in the RiNo Art Park. Each evening has been a sweet and mellow creative exploration, from making our own stuffed animal monsters from thrift store cast offs to teaching kids how to design tattoos.
Combining on-line classes and in person events, this year’s CRUSH Graffiti festival took deep dives into urban and street art mediums including wheat paste, yarn bombing and vinyl toy painting.
This workshop hosted at ReCreative Denver is a series of activities where visual and verbal ideas play off one and other based on color samples of paints from the hardware store. One of the concepts we considered was the origin of these names- companies of use a familiar object from nature combined with an iconic color
By rearranging our objects their specific usefulness takes on a more reverental meaning giving us an opportunity to reflect on their design beyond just utility. I’’l be inviting participants to rearrange things that might otherwise be only common and necessary holding space to reflect on both our daily work and the relationships that we have with the tools that define us.
Summer’s here and we are having a blast every Tuesday night in June and August from 6-8 making projects in the RiNo Art Park. Each evening has been a sweet and mellow creative exploration, from making our own stuffed animal monsters from thrift store cast offs to teaching kids how to design tattoos.
In late July this summer I asked my friends, “what was your breaking point” then added their words and images to custom made plates and shipped them around the country. My friends were tasked with breaking the china, returning it to me and adding their own documentation. I repaired these to the best of my ability, with the visible mends declaring, “by our actions, we are transformed”.
In this virtual “correspondence course of correspondence” we’ll look at ways to embellish letters and envelopes with original art and collage pieces, discuss formats for writing personal letters that make them sincere and whimsical. Along the way you’ll have handouts to print, cut and color, links to great letters through history, resources for crafting stationary and art, recommended books to order from local shops still doing mail order and a host of places to send thank you notes and other letter exchanges.
Over the course of the month we transformed linen scraps into award pins and brooches, refreshed vintage china plates with clip art and waterslide decals, embellished fabric crowns with antique jewelry and crafted accordion fold scrapbooks from wood engraved at InventHQ the City of Broomfield’s maker space.
This workshop is a hands-on exploration of creative text design. Students make a stylized graffiti piece using collage techniques and new font skills. Where possible, maker space tools are integrated into the lesson plan utilizing Cricut and Silhouette machines and stencils.
Skills developed during workshop include visual and verbal literacy, kenesthetic learning, color theory, stem and steam skills and best practices for utilizing library resources including internet tools, and books from collection. Workshop also explores history of typography from printing press to modern advertising giving a background on the evolution of graffiti -from alley walls to curated museum work. Handouts are provided including links to articles about Colorado artists and where to see examples of street art locally.
No special tools for this workshop are needed though many participating venues have added the Crayola Air Marker Sprayer to their supply closet. This tool uses washable markers in the same way a professional artist might use an air brush or paint can. It is super durable and gives outstanding results, giving students a chance to try new skills with huge success rate and limited mess. I do bring my own sprayer to workshops but they are also inexpensive and can be found on-line for $8-24.
This workshop can run from one hour to two, giving participants more time to develop a personal font style or dig deeper into the epistemology of words. We look at the context of where we see words and how word choices affect our interpretations of language and art. At the Anythink Wright Farm Library this workshop was expanded into five sessions where we practiced our graffiti art skills on large altered canvasses and skateboard decks.
The activities in this workshop are ideal for pop up and festival booths as well, with collaborative and make and take elements which participants can take home or wear. Because the tools are easy to use this workshop is suitable for all ages and lessons can be adapted for even the youngest students.
This workshop hosted at ReCreative Denver is a series of activities where visual and verbal ideas play off one and other based on color samples of paints from the hardware store. One of the concepts we considered was the origin of these names- companies of use a familiar object from nature combined with an iconic color
Transforming hard cover books into spell journals and secret boxes is an outstanding craft project with a high WOW factor where gilded wax and dime store toys provide a creepy antique effect. Suitable for ages six through adult this workshop takes about 90 minutes and can be themed around Harry Potter, Lovecraft’s Necronomicon or just something sooky for Halloween
During my 2016 residency and workshops at the Denver Public Library’s IdeaLAB I discovered and utilized a whole host of resources both on line as well as out in the real world along with some very helpful books. The first workshop I hosted had really been intended as a game building session but I quickly realized that the people who’d come to the event already had fleshed out games of their own and were looking for other tools to test drive, refine and market games.
More and more frequently museums are including programming where art isn’t just presented but interacted with and guests are encouraged to make their own art, learn a new skill or just play around in an unfamiliar medium. As a guest presenter, I adore sitting down one on one with someone and letting them see how ordinary things can be admired objects or talking to a room full of kids about how art no matter how far away or unfamiliar can speak to all of us.
