Mandala Design

This mandala is created from the inside out, using the oil pastels to create unique shapes of color that fit together adn fill the space, building from the center.

The outer edge of the mandala form provides a guide for the outer most shapes. This sort of building with shapes of color is often attributed to the "design stage" of drawing development.

The design stage typically precedes the representational stage. However, the stages are non-linear and tend to mix and overlap. Here, the artist adds a flower, a representational image.

In the finished image, the flower also becomes part of the design, a sort of hidden picture. The shapes around its form are filled in to add to the overall design.

Exploring Tools in Clay

E began by exploring flattening the clay, pressing it into a slab. She used a stick to create a collection of caterpillars.

A close-up of the caterpillars.

Tracks in the slab from scraping out the pieces of clay to make the caterpillars.

E noticed my camera as I took pictures of her process and improvised a camera of her own.

Working Together in a Studio

In the studio children generally mix colors in a group, sharing discoveries as they watch the magic of stirring colors together. They spread out to have more elbow room when they are ready to paint. Here, is very intent on his work on his painting.

A couple friends come over to see R's work, pointing out parts they notice.

It is delightful to have others come see your work, R tells them it is a city.

The friends now notice more, picking out parts of the city. One of the joys of working in a group in the studio is the opportunity for peer feedback and learning. Sharing artwork, ideas and strategies enriches the experience. As the teacher/observer, it is lovely to stand back and watch conversations develop.

Evening Workshops for Parents and Teachers

Workshops are designed to give parents and teachers a night out to explore their own creativity and to inspire ideas for using materials at home, in the classroom or in a community setting. Here, participants enjoy time in the studio creating hand-made paper.

Evening workshops can also make a nice parent/child outing for older children. We welcome mixed age and multigenerational groups.

We will teach you the basics and the rest is up to you. We enjoy seeing what participants invent; here round pieces of paper are pressed out of the mold on top of each other to create a larger multi-color piece.

Working in a casual group setting inspires collaboration and learning from each other. This piece builds with a variety of sizes and shapes as well as different colors.

Workshops offer a variety of ways to extend and explore with materials. In this picture colorful collage materials were sprinkled in the pulp as it was lifted out of the water.

The nice thing about open-ended materials is they can be used in many different ways. Another artist pressed collage pieces into the wet sheet of pulp, sort of like creating a mosaic on the paper.

It is fun to see where the process leads. In this group, what began as single sheets of handmade paper grew into explorations of shape, color, texture, and composition. This piece was created with several sizes, shapes, and colors of handmade paper along with collaged papers and natural objects.

Inventing Designs with Rollers and Paint

S began by dabbing spots of paint onto her roller with the brush. She noticed the patterns of dots created when she rolled across her paper.

She adds additional dabs of paint along the roller, planning a pattern of different colored dots around different sections of the roller.

Here she discovers that if she dips the end of the roller in the jar, she can create stripes. This is added on top of her original pattern.

One of the fun things about working in a studio is learning from each other. Here, Teresa helps B try the dabbing technique on his painting.

Lines and Hands

K explores pencil drawing by tracing back and forth between her fingers. Here, she lifts her hand, delighted by the resulting lines.

She tries mom's hand too. It is bigger and she is able to go all the way around the fingers.

Mom's hand and K's hand and the lines drawn around them.

Constructing with Clay and Sticks

Working with clay shapes, M discovers she can string them on a stick to connect them together.

The sticks form an armature for her sculpture, holding the clay shapes on top of a sturdy base. She tells mom it is a van.

She adds more sticks, building additional parts with sticks stuck in the clay sculpture.

The van is complete and ready to drive! Placment on a plastic tray makes it easier to slide it around the table and floor.