A whirlwind week in the community!
I am just now coming down from last week's hustle and bustle out in the community! As part of Art31, I assisted Artist-in-Action Chris Ware teaching printmaking lessons at a local elementary and middle school. The lessons were part of the Art & History Museums-Maitland art outreach program and it was really fun to be in such energized classrooms! I applaud teachers who educate with passion all year- it's a lot of work!
Just a glimpse of one of the art outreach work stations! Photo credit: Chris Ware
Hye showing us delicate and gorgeous papers from Korea.
Tuesday was the last day of a papermaking class I took with artist Hye Shin at Crealde School of Art. For our final class, Hye invited us to her studio to see where she creates, the process that goes into making her art and we learned a paper collage technique. It was a joy and an honor to see her work space and it inspired me to work on my own studio facelift.
Sharing the artist book love! Photo credit: Rachel Simmons
On Wednesday I had the pleasure of visiting Rachel Simmons' Artist Book class at Rollins College. I brought some of my own books as well as the works of other artists in the hopes of inspiring the students as they embark on their final project. I loved seeing the awe the students experienced as they turned pages and opened boxes filled with artistic treasure. My favorite days in my artist book class in grad school were the days when our professor showed us all the books of previous students. Those days left me overflowing with ideas and motivation. Hopefully Rachel's students left class feeling the same way.
Talking to the audience about steamroller printing while setting up some of my patterned blocks. Photo credit: Art & History Museums-Maitland
The week came to a close with the Art & History Museums-Maitland's monthly Culture Pop! event. This month's theme was Roll, Repeat and it was all about printmaking! Local screenprint, letterpress and design business, Mama's Sauce, live-screenprinted event posters and I was part of the steamroller printing with local artists Whitney Broadaway and Chris Ware. We each brought woodcuts and used an 8-ton steamroller to print our images on paper. It certainly was a spectacle for those came out and we got a lot of questions about printmaking and woodcuts... it always gives me the warm fuzzies to be able to share what I love with others.
Clotheslines of prints! You can see one of my prints on the left... lots of patterned blocks! Photo credit: Michael Lavoie
Trapping our paper to print our 2nd run! Photo credit: Michael Lavoie
Chris Ware, Whitney Broadaway and me with our collaborative print at the end of the night. Photo credit: Chris Ware
It was such an awesome week and I hated to say goodbye to it, but I am looking forward to getting back in the studio this week and you can find me this weekend at the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival teaching children's art projects with the Art and History Museums-Maitland!