MAKING STENCILS

This week we talked about the use of stencils in murals and did a stencil cutting exercise with the Young Artists.

Each artist cut a stencil with their name or personal logo and sponge painted it on the back of their sketchbook.

FIRST DAY OF MURAL PROJECT

Today the Young Artists soaked up some January sun and got to know each other by playing improv games outside.

This session the YAS will be painting a mural on the wall of their classroom.

We looked at the murals painted on the outside of the Center for Visual Arts and talked about color, scale and meaning.

Let’s take a look at what goes on in the Young Artist Studio watercolor workshop.

Session #1: Fresh start! New exhibition and new faces, with some returning, ones of course. First things first we enter the new exhibition and after everyone creates an identity card they will be put on the Faceboard in the studio. With this we have created a community!

Session #2: We want to start introducing the primary medium we will be using for this workshop which is watercolor! To do this we made stencils that we brought to life through the application of watercolor. This promotes experimentation and provides ideas of the prior knowledge everyone has with the medium. We created creatures for the stencils and we got some promising critters!

Session #3:  We are getting into prime time! Everyone is still working hard on their stencils. What will we do with these beautiful creatures you may ask? We are participating in Art Drop Day! The stencils we finish we will drop around the Santa Fe Art District!

Session #4: This is the first week we start our gallery encounters. We will walk through the gallery to inquire about a specific artist, Natascha Seideneck. Students took time to examine her artwork. Then we will have a group discussions that includes questions, concerns, and thoughts! In the studio we will start to get into some watercolor magic. Together we will learn different techniques of how to apply water color! For example wet on wet,dry on dry, variegated wash and many more. Each person will then use at least two of their absolute favorite techniques in one page in their sketchbook.

Session #5: Today we will be looking at Anna Mckee! Individually we will observe the piece and then collectively discuss our thoughts and questions. As we return to the studio, the next technique we are going to dive into is creating value! How can we use water color to our advantage? We will also play with the blending of one color with another to make a “color wheel” but each student make the shape their own!

Session #6: The Artist of the day is Vibha Galhotra. As usual we dive into the artist and their work! As we got back into the gears of art making we start to learn about resistance. We experiment with the different ways we can get watercolor to resist, we use salt, oil pastels, and tape. Each student then uses one resistance technique to make an image! 

Session #7: The artist of the day is Cannupa Hanska Luger, and we do our regular routine when visiting an artist in the gallery!We will focus on bservation of objects. We use watercolors to translate the objects form, we change the original color of the object so see value of color better.  

Session #8: The artist we looked at today is Aurora Robson, as we go out into the gallery, we do our regular routine. As we head back to the studio we pick back up with our observation! After we complete our observations we will do a 2 minute thought experiment. For two minutes write about: “How do you effect water? and how does water affect you?”

Session #9: Today is the day we start our ideation for the final project for the workshop! We will use the whole session for sketching and exploring ideas in response the Session #8 ideation.

Session #10: Today we continue on with exploring and creating ideas for the project. Some have even started on their projects.

Session 11#: Now here we are! Working hard on our projects! Working together to try and get the our visions realized!

Session #12: As we get closer to the end of our watercolor sessions everyone one is working hard on trying to finish their pieces! New Ideas and approaches for compositions are starting to be developed!

Session #13: Work! Work! Work! We continue working on our pieces as the final day gets closer and closer.

Session #14: In our final days everyone is very far into their projects and are approaching the finish line! As we get closer to our deadline we start to think about titles an artist statement! We define what an artist statement looks. How can we as artist let the viewer know whats going on in our pieces and the thinking that goes into our work?

Session #15: LAST WORK DAY! Everyones putting their final touches on their works and everything’s looking great! Some finish their pieces and start to dig into their artist statements and titles! We are all very excited to see each others work!

Session #16: Critique Day! we are finally here after all or our hard work! A few people get 30 minute before critique to start or finish their artist statements and final touches on their work. After that we set up all of our pieces around the class room! After we all have a discussion about each others work. What do we think the artist intentions were? What types of techniques or approaches did the artist explore? The artist then shares their thinking behind their work.

Inside Critique!! 

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Everyone did an amazing job during this workshop! We all got to learn a lot from each other and the exhibition! We got to see some great work done by our peers, and we have created a great community! Heres all the work done during the workshop!

For the last day of Inktober the word is Mask! Lets see what you guys can uncover!

For todays Inktober the word of the day is… BLIND. Lets see what you guys can come up with!

Beginning the Journey 

New Exhibition, New Cognition

WaterLine is a new exhibition that inspires discussions about water issue in a exciting visual way. The Young Artist Studio has taken on the available resources of the artists in WaterLine and has started to analyze the concepts the artist have presented. Alongside the conceptual aspect of the program we have gone in depth into the complex nature of watercolor and the powers it posses. As a community we learn and experience different techniques in an attempt to get more articulate with the medium. Our objective for the beginning sessions of the workshop are to:

• Start a conversation about the exhibition and its purpose
• Dive into individual artists and their approaches
• Learn new and exciting watercolor methods, and encourage experimentation

We are excited to start this new journey of exploration, experimentation and conversation surrounding WaterLine.

For today’s Inktober the word of the day is *drumroll* GIGANTIC! let’s see something big!

For today’s Inktober, the word of the day is long, draw anything that relates to the word! (try and make it spooky!)

A new tool.

Our work evolves in the Young Artist Studio. Our strategies adapt, our exhibitions change, our staff is often in flux. Throughout the years our teaching team has worked to communicate to one another, sharing tips and tools, etc. I would like to use this platform to track the lessons that we are developing as well as to learn from each of you what you are learning as you evolve as a teacher. Continue reading →

In the afternoon the Interns visit the Denver Museum of Nature and Science where they explore the current exhibit. After, the Interns get a closer look at how the Museum is managed! They spoke with many creative professionals involved with creating the exhibits and promotional materials. We all learned a little more about the work that lies behind those exhibits and the process of preparing for upcoming projects. The creative professional also provide a walk through their space so the interns get an in depth look at their workspace.

Today is the first day of the Creative Internship program! Everyone became aquatinted with each through an activity called My Art. Each person draws something in their personal artistic style and we introduced ourselves while showing our art! Later in the day the interns explored a community experiment called: At the Corner of Main and Your Street. We all shared our visions on how we would actively create an inclusive community on neighborhood streets.

It was a exciting day filled with new friendships!

Please make a list of the following:

3 favorite flavors

3 favorite smells

a secret place you like to visit

a family place

2 great family members

2 artists you love

a word to describe you’re the smell of your favorite art material

your favorite art material

a detail about one of your ancestors

an early memory

a family trait

a natural environment that you love

an urban environment that you love

2 objects that are important to you

a family name

a spiritual or religious element that is important to you

another memory

a family food

your favorite article of clothing

your favorite book

a person you admire (whether you know them personally or not)

Literary Portraits

The Young Artist Studio photo manipulation project began exploring the boundaries of portraiture in the exhibition and through poetry. Our literary portraiture inspiration was found in the poem by George Ella Lyon:

Where I’m From

I am from clothespins,
from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.
I am from the dirt under the back porch.
(Black, glistening,
it tasted like beets.)
I am from the forsythia bush
the Dutch elm
whose long-gone limbs I remember
as if they were my own.

I’m from fudge and eyeglasses,
from Imogene and Alafair.
I’m from the know-it-alls
and the pass-it-ons,
from Perk up! and Pipe down!
I’m from He restoreth my soul
with a cottonball lamb
and ten verses I can say myself.

I’m from Artemus and Billie’s Branch,
fried corn and strong coffee.
From the finger my grandfather lost
to the auger,
the eye my father shut to keep his sight.

Under my bed was a dress box
spilling old pictures,
a sift of lost faces
to drift beneath my dreams.
I am from those moments–
snapped before I budded —
leaf-fall from the family tree.

Learn more about Presence: Reflections on the Middle East

The photo manipulation workshop in the YAS will focus on the incredible new exhibition at the Center for Visual Art. To learn more check out this website with information about the exhibition, the artists and events!

Presence: Reflections on the Middle East

This exhibition of more than 60 photo-based works reflect the tension inherent in the presence, or absence, of people in a place, whether in their native land or abroad. Organized by the CVA, Presence: Reflections on the Middle East features 12 artists living in the U.S. and abroad. This map might help you locate the homes countries of some of those artists.

Draw you and someone in your life (parent, sibling, friend or teacher) having a presidential debate.

Be Creative!

Please pick a piece in the gallery.
Make a simple, small sketch in the section of one page.
Then…
Add an environment around your sketch to place the work in a new setting.

In the Gallery:

A water, sea and land machine for moving 7 tons of dynamite – or – your best friend’s collection of Japanese ceramic dolls.

close your eyes:

1. grab a marker of your choice
2.close your eyes
3.draw! for 15 seconds
4. what do you see?
5.share! 

Grab your sketchbook and a pencil and head out the the gallery! Theres lots of great stuff to see! Once you find a piece of art work you like draw yourself with that piece! Be creative! Do something crazy, draw yourself interacting with the piece, have fun!

We started with a bang! See you next week!