2012 Teaching Schedule Through June

I'll be teaching four classes this spring at Shake Rag Alley. Registrations are now open.

Hope you can join me!

Mixed Media Paint Layering
March 17

Altered Mint Tins
April 29

Bracelet With Handmade Beads
May 19
(Beads and Bangles Weekend)

Junk Drawer Art Charms
May 20
(Beads and Bangles Weekend)

New Class: Junk Drawer Art Charms

The Shake Rag Alley spring schedule is almost final. I'll be teaching four classes in the spring of 2012, including a new class during the Beads and Bangles weekend - Junk Drawer Art Charms. There's a complete description of all the classes I teach on my Mixed Media Workshops page.

I really had a ball making the samples for this class. I made some charms using a couple of my favorite cheapo craft materials, craft foam and vinyl tubing. Also used up some old scraps of collaged watercolor paper which I embellished with brads. But the rest were made from cast-off objects and materials - corrugated cardboard, safety pins, an old wooden ruler, speaker cable, and so on.

I have a pile of other little doodads and a raft of ideas for what to do with them. For the most part I am trying to use the objects as raw material for a design rather than just using the object itself as the charm. It's truly an "anything goes" proposition...and great fun. Hope you can join me!

I will also be teaching Mixed Media Paint Layering. Many people who like my Valentine cards have asked how I get the layered and textured papers that I use. This is it.

My other classes will be Bracelet With Handmade Beads (also on Beads and Bangles weekend) which is first and foremost about making the beads (out of unconventional and inexpensive materials, of course!), and Altered Mint Tins which I have expanded a bit since last time I taught it. There should be enough time to complete a simple assemblage figure or maybe do more than one tin if just decorating the box.

I will update my teaching schedule in the sidebar with links to the Shake Rag class listings when registrations are open. Should be in early December. In the meantime, here's a schedule of dates:

• Mar 17 - Mixed Media Paint Layering 
• Apr 29 - Altered Mint Tins
• May 19 - Bracelet With Handmade Beads
• May 20 - Junk Drawer Art Charms

Memory Wire Bracelets

Fall Art Tour is next weekend (10am - 6pm, Fri-Sun, Oct 14-16)...and I'm almost ready!

If you are in the area I hope you can stop by my studio - click the Fall Art Tour link above for the location of my studio. You can also click the Fall Art Tour tab above for a peek at our basement transformed into the "Lower Level Gallery".

I've got lots of new work this year including my memory wire bracelets.

Used to do five or six loops which was very cool but kind of a lot of bracelet. Then went to a single loop. I liked that look and found it really easy to wear, but also found that a single loop catches on clothing and comes off too easily, so now I'm doing 2 1/2 loops for extra security  - almost lost my favorite bracelet taking off my jacket!

I make many of the beads out of paper, fabric, vinyl tubing, and wire. I combine them with African trade beads, beads from deconstructed old jewelry, and commercial beads (mostly out of natural materials).

There seems to be a lot of glittery, sparkly stuff out there but I've abandoned all that in favor of a more primitive, earthy style. And, of course, being a collage/mixed media, "messy art" kind of person, I naturally go for the random, anything-but-uniform look.

New Figure Drawings

Still going to Monday night figure drawing. Here are a couple recent graphite drawings. The dreadlocks were especially fun to draw - loved the way they cast shadows on his face.

Stop by my studio on Fall Art Tour, Oct 14-16, to see more of my drawings.

Bird Collages

Fall Art Tour is around the corner - October 14-16.

Nothing like a deadline to spur activity! I've been spending more consistent time in the studio...and loving it. I've been concentrating mostly on collages - lots of layers of collage elements and paint and whatever other media seems to work.

Here are a couple pieces in a series of fanciful bird collages.

Fancy Hen

Fancy Hen has earrings made from craft foam, embellished eyes from one of my drawings, and telephone cable wire outlines.

Sandpaper Bird

I call this one Sandpaper Bird because the wings are the back side of some sandpaper I had on my work table.

Mint Tin Figures - Student Work

I taught a class in August making figures from mint tins. Here are some great pieces from students.

Sherri's figure. Gotta love the hair! Cool use of dress pattern  to cover the doll face.

Karla's figure - exterior. She calls it "Sooo Big". Fun piece.

Karla's figure - interior

Di's figure.  Is the "face" on the tin or above it? Hmmm.

Collage Class with the Middle School Kids

I don't usually teach kid's classes but recently had an opportunity to teach a Collage class in the Youth Program at Shake Rag Alley. What a treat!

And what an interesting difference from adult classes. This was essentially the same class I have done many times with adults - lots of collaging and paint layering and pattern making. Adults usually fuss and fuss and rarely complete more than one piece in a two hour period but the kids just charged ahead with complete abandon...so much so that I had a hard time keeping up with them. Oh, to still have that energy and lack of self editing!

Here are some of the collages they came up with. I think they are wonderful.

Monday Night Figure Drawing

Every Monday night a group us get together for figure drawing at Green Lantern Studios. An exhibit of our drawings will be up at Green Lantern through the end of the month. Artists are me, Richard Moninski, Charlie Baker, Linda Kelen, Jack Ford, and Kate McQuade.

Each week we do a half dozen short poses for warm up then launch into a single two and a half hour pose. Everybody works in the medium of their choice. Even though I repeatedly swear I am going to branch out and try something new, so far I seem totally stuck on graphite.

Here are a few partial images of drawings I have done on Monday nights...the originals are too big for my scanner. One of these days I'll have to get around to photographing them full frame.

Until Richard suggested this show I had not spread out my drawings and looked at them as a group - an interesting exercise indeed!

The show is a treat. Quite fascinating to see how differently each artist interprets the very same subject (albeit from slightly different angles)...and how remarkably consistent our styles are.

Thank you to Richard for giving us the opportunity to show our drawings!

A Wonderful Gift

About a week ago I received a surprise package from Ron Sachse, a student in my March Altered Mint Tin class. When I opened the package I was blown away to find two gorgeous altered mint tins decorated with pages from the Shake Rag catalog!

The catalog listing for the Altered Mint Tin class is on the bottom inside of the larger tin and his class name tag is on the inside cover...both beautifully aged. 

I have to admit I am the most reluctant of teachers having been sort of cajoled into it. I often doubt myself, thinking I have nothing to share and wondering if I should stop. Well, I'm hooked now! This is the most wonderful of gifts. I absolutely love these tins and they are now among my most cherished possessions.

Thank you Ron!

Summer and Fall Mixed Media Workshops

The Shake Rag Alley summer and fall classes are now up on the website. I'll be teaching a couple of new classes, Tin Man (or Woman) and Image Transfers. I've posted the full class listings in the Mixed Media Workshops tab above. Direct links to the Shake Rag class registration pages are in the Teaching Schedule at Shake Rag listing in left column.

Mineral Point WRAP Show

Judge Pamela Callahan with "Marilyn" by Karla Vogel

Fifteen WRAP artists braved wintry weather to exhibit in the 2011 WRAP show sponsored by Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts and held in the Shake Rag Alley Cabinet Shop. It was a small but impressive show with a nice variety of work.

Pamela Callahan served as workshop presenter and judge of the show. Pamela is a painter and former assistant director of Woman Made Gallery in Chicago. Her studio, Otter Creek Arts Studio, is located in the country between Dodgeville and Highland. Pam showed slides of her work and explained her recent progression from doing figurative work to doing mostly abstract (which she told us she NEVER thought she would do). In the last half of the workshop participants had an opportunity to try their hand at non-intentional mark making as a springboard to creating artwork. Pam handed out a list of exercises designed to help get your judgmental mind out of the way, from doodling to use of templates, and shared a wide variety of art materials she had brought in.

State Awards went to Jack Dennis for “Pre-Owned Trucks for Sale” (Acrylic on gessoboard), Tom Fjelstad for “Untitled Abstract” (Oil on paper), Susan Hunt for“The White Pony 2” (Pastel), Chris Morton for “Heading West” (Acrylic), and Karla Vogel for “Marilyn” (Mixed Media).

Bruce Braun (“Western Aspens in Autumn”, Acrylic on canvas), Terry Doeler (“Sunshine's Palette”, Acrylic), Brett Hermanson (“Untitled 1” , Photograph), Mary Lou Lindroth  ("Empty Handed”, Watercolor), and Sharon Stauffer (“Text Messenger”, Assemblage) received Honorable Mentions.

Congratulations to all of the participating artists and thank you for sharing your work!   

ArtsBuild Annual 2011

Yeah! I got a work accepted in the ArtsBuild Annual 2011 exhibit at the Nohr Gallery in Platteville.

It's a piece I did in Alisa Burke's "Larger Than Life" workshop at the Cloth Paper Scissors Create Retreat in Chicago last August. It's acrylic and collage on unstretched canvas and about 5 ft by 2 1/2 ft - quite a departure from my usual MO of working way too small. It was great fun. I see that she's going to repeat the class at the next CPS Create Retreat in Costa Mesa in May. Wish I could be there, looks like an amazing line-up of workshops. But I'll probably wait for the next CPS retreat in Chicago.

The ArtsBuild exhibit runs from February 14 thru March 11.

More Valentines

This valentine heart is edged using one of Beryl Taylor's inventive techniques - hot glue painted with gold leafing pen. I am a huge fan of her work and highly recommend her book, Mixed Media Explorations.

My friend and Shake Rag cohort, Cheryl Smeja, is a retired leather crafter with a myriad of skills in a wide variety of arts and crafts, among them fiber. She gave me a pile of paper towels she had used to clean up after doing some fabric dyeing. Vibrant, rich colors...the perfect background for these two valentines:

Another paper towel background, this time with a heart cut from freezer paper palette.

Two fabric paper hearts on more palette paper with other collaged papers:

Valentines

Been having a blast making valentines for the annual Shake Rag Sweetheart Art & Valentine Sale coming up at the end of the month. No idea why valentines are so much fun to make but they are.

The heart on this one is made from craft foam impressed with a rubber stamp. The original heart was one of those stick-on precut shapes sold in craft sections...no doubt meant for kid's crafts. It was bright pink so did a wash of black acrylic, then highlighted the raised parts with a metallic rub-ons and coated it with acrylic varnish so the rub-ons wouldn't rub off (which they like to do). I love these stamped craft foam things - they actually do look like metal. The background is paper I made using a technique from the DVD Collage - Paper, Pattern & Glazing by the amazing Anne Bagby. I "aged" it a bit around the edges with black and brown watercolor pencil.

I call this one my "grunge" valentine. The background is a piece of used palette paper. I use freezer paper to protect my work table and as a paint palette. After lots of use, this work surface often turns out to be really interesting so I started saving them. Sometimes I scan them and print them to use as collage papers. I wish I had done that with this one. I really like the black. The valentine almost looks like a painting...which I guess it kind of is since that is actually globby paint in the background. The heart is cut from some fabric paper.

WRAP Exhibit & Workshop at Shake Rag Alley

I'm really delighted to announce that we are going to have another WRAP show at Shake Rag! And that Pam Callahan will be the show judge and workshop presenter. Pam is a painter, co-owner of Otter Creek Arts Studio in Highland, WI, and former associate director of Woman Made Gallery in Chicago. The workshop topic will focus on Pam's recent transition from entirely figurative work to explorations with abstract painting and will include hands-on exercises for experimenting with abstraction. 


WRAP exhibits are co-sponsored by a local arts organization and UW-Madison Dept of Liberal Studies and the Arst.

• In the Cabinet Shop at Shake Rag Alley.
• Open for public viewing Mon, Feb 21 thru Sat, Feb 26. 
• Workshop on Sun, Feb 27 for participating artists.
• Entry forms due Feb 14 (limit 2 works).

Complete announcement & guidelines here.
Entry form here.

Mixed Media Workshops, Spring 2011

Check out my Workshops page for descriptions of classes I'll be teaching at Shake Rag Alley this spring. I'm scheduled for four workshops. Teaching schedule in the left panel with links to register.

Mixed Media Paint Layering

Handmade Bead Bracelet

Altered Mint Tins

Rusty Stuff





Cloth Paper Scissors Reader Challenge - Mother Earth Doll

In celebration of Earth Day, Cloth Paper Scissors challenged readers to create their own interpretation of Mother Earth in the form of a Mother Earth Doll.

While I do not consider myself a doll artist, I thought that perhaps one of my figurative assemblages could be used to interpret the theme of this challenge...and I was right! My piece was one of the nine finalists selected to appear in the March/April 2010 issue of the magazine.

Mother Earth Doll

 If a challenge should push you out of your comfort zone then this project definitely succeeded with me. When I make assemblage sculptures from disparate objects I rely on layers of acrylic paint to pull it all together. But I thought Mother Earth should have a more organic look. So I put my acrylic paints away and instead tea stained the cheesecloth robe and incorporated some natural elements. The face is a detail from one of my drawings that seemed to capture Mother Earth’s kindly spirit. But I also gave her a metal breastplate because while she may be nurturing, I suspect that sometimes Mother Earth has to do battle and could use a little armor.  

Welcome to my blog

Hi! You've found my blog.

I'm totally new to this worldwide soapbox thing so I'm inching my way along and still trying to figure the whole thing out. So if this looks a little sparse...or possibly a little wonky... please consider this blog under construction and return later when I'll hopefully have it a little more together.