Latest Cuff Class Creations !!!!

Teaching this class has become one of my favorite sources of inspiration and excitement!! I am always delighted to see a students creation take on it's own life and absorb the spirit and mood of each artist. The piece always becomes a mirror of it's makers artistic soul!!
I think that Many of you that know my wonderful friend and amazingly talented artist Leslie Brier, would have little trouble identifying this work in progress as Leslie's work!! You are so right!!

Here you see Leslie's incredible collage of found bits and beads all sewn down on to the ulta suede fabric , ready for attachment to the cuff form.

Yes, you Can see various gears, metal battleships from a vintage Monopoly set, an amazing tiny sparkplug charm that was an advertizing give away, way back when, old buttons, all surrounding a wonderful info label from a small motor!! Fantastic!!! Leslie shared that she has been known to buy small motors just to pry the labeling tags from the carcass!!! Brilliant and so LESLIE!!!

This next piece glows with wonderful soft colors and exudes the lovely, calm and beautiful spirit of it's maker , the lovely Liana! I would never have put this combination of colors together, but this cuff is so shimmeringly gorgeous, I sure do wish that I had!!!

You See, I learn so very much from my students!!

The lovely coral colored bits on this cuff were loving pryed from a vintage buckle that had lost several of it's parts. We are not sure if the lilies are real coral or fabulous Bakelite plastic. No matter, they are divine and became the centerpiece for Liana's fabulous work.

The liliies set the bar for a stunning 3 dimensional garden themed display of color and light play and resulted in a stunning cuff of Artistic beauty!!!
Remember, that the vast majority of my students have never done any work like this before and several have never worked with beads before.!! Yet each and every student that has enrolled in this class has departed with an incredibly unique piece of bead embroidered jewelry!!! It really is stunning and it is NOT all due to my teaching- this comes form inside each person who opens themselves up to the artistic possiblities. I pass on tips and a few simple techniques and several well learned pit falls to avoid, but everything else comes from the hand that passes the needle and thread thru the bead and the cloth!!

This is the cuff that I used as my teaching sample and that I finished off as we dove into the challenges of attaching the beaded cuffs to the cuff blanks. It serves as a reminder to always Laugh and to NEVER take ones self too seriously!!! (This cuff is now for sale at Sophia Street Studios in downtown Fredericksburg!!!)

Release your creative spirit and allow yourself to find the artistic well that flows in all of us-where ever you are-

Take A Class !!

New Teaching Venue!

HEre is the delightful space where I will be teaching classes!! This is Sophia Street Studios owned by terrifically talented and generous potter, Trista Chapman.

Last Friday was our First Friday Celebration for March and I worked all week to prep for the reveal of the classes that I hope to teac in the classroom space that Trista will be providing. This is a very exciting turn of events for Fredericksburg as there are very very few venues that have dedicated teaching spaces. Other teachers will be sharing the space with me and we hope to grow this aspect of Sophia Street Studios to provide a dynamic roster of instuction opportunities for the community. Trista was incredibly generous in wanting to sell my work at the studio as well.This is such a wonderful complement and I am so grateful to have my work displayed along with the other wonderful artists work here.

The pottery that you see here is a wonderful example of Trista's delighful and colorful work!!

Sophia Street Studio's ona typical First Friday Night!!! The loft upstairs(at the top of the window) houses the studio's of painter Mirinda Reynolds, Karen Whepley and the pottery studio of Trista Chapman. The classroom space is in back behind the gallery area.

For the launch of the Classes , I set up two tables in the classroom area and displayed class samples of various areas of instruction along with class descriptions. I am gathering names and will start classes as soon as I can arrange convenient times for students. I will be offereing daytime classes during the week and also on the weekends. I am not going to be teaching in the evenings

I hung lots of textile art samples to Art Up the place as well and to show all of the wonderful possibilities for artistic expression.

I included my recent publications with the original pieces. I plan to teach Journal Making and Techniques for Altered Books.
Gelatin Monoprinting and Sun Printing are also on the list.

Making Mark Making Tools and Carving Rubber Stamps will also be on the Class Line-Up.

Trista also asked me to display some of my art work in the Gallery.

If you are in the area, do stop by Sophia Street Studios or contact me directly and we can get some personal art experiences arrainged for you!!!!