Summer Garden Painted Tiles
Just Want to Teach Art-love nd Nature-Love
I just want to teach art-love and nature-love to kids
I don’t want to get
a teaching certificate
I don’t want to go to art school
I don’t want to leave Helena
I just want to teach kids about
art … that they can make beautiful, powerful art
that changes people’s lives
I just want to teach kids about
nature … that they are part of what’s all around them and
help them truly feel that in their hearts
I just want to help them discover
that they have the soul of an artist and
the soul of a tree or a mountain
inside each of them
literally. that everything is inside and they are in everything.That’s all.
Am I asking too much?
Kids are usually just so enthusiastic about whatever it is they are doing. Loud. Silly. Engaged. Adventurous. Brave. Profound. Empathic. Helpful. Wise.
And even when they seem like they are bummed and struggling, as one little girl did this morning … I can usually coax them out of their shell, even if I can’t always do that for my own self.
As with lots of things I commit to doing … sometimes just before it’s time I get the willies — aka known as “cold feet.” I’m just not in the mood. I think. Maybe I’m overthinking it. Because when I make myself go and do it, I usually have a blast. I get energized. I am in my element. I get in the zone, the flow. Of sharing my gifts. Of connecting with young hearts.
And, if I can help them be happy, rounded, confident, generous lovers of all of life, then I have done something good.
So … that’s what I want to do with the rest of my days.
Oh. And make my own art.
And see it hanging on people’s walls.
Love,
Maureen
Budding Artist
Ema Blue spends Wednesday afternoons with me at my studio. She is my unofficial “gallery assistant” and art student. She dusts Tim’s furniture, sweeps the sidewalk, takes Charlie for a walk, fetches me coffee from across the street, and makes lovely sidewalk chalk signs in front of the gallery. Ema is 11 years old.
Ema is meticulous, creative, precise, funny, cheerful, interested, respectful and persistent. I enjoy her company immensely and I truly look forward to Wednesdays.
For the last few weeks, Ema has worked steadily on a mixed-media artwork. Inspired by the image transfers some of my women friends and I made during one of our Girls Art Nights, Ema started with some image transfers onto a canvas, then used water-soluble colored pencils and collage to complete her piece. I’m always impressed when a young person can sustain interest in a project over a period of days or weeks, and she did on this piece. She finished this one yesterday.
I will write another post soon with my thoughts on the image transfer technique we used, and how to enhance the transfers with other media to create something lovely. Hope you enjoyed seeing Ema Blue’s artwork. Please let her know what you think/feel about her painting by leaving a comment below. Thank you!
Kids’ Arts Festival from the Perspective of a Docent
Last Saturday, the Holter Museum of Art held KidWorks! — it’s 23rd annual arts festival for kids. What a blast!! I had an amazing opportunity to help put on this fun event and boy was it alot of work. Yet, when we opened the doors of the museum at 10:00 am, just like Connie, Judy, Sondra and Hannah told me, the festival took care of itself. A gigantic bulldozer of little kids and and their significant adults moved through the museum playing, delighting, learning, appreciating, thoroughly enjoying themselves and getting a messy education in the wonderment of art.
For me — as a docent — it was incredibly fun (I hardly stopped smiling except when I was concentrating,) extremely exhausting (the tables were set to little kid height and my back hurt like hell at the end of the day) but so, so fulfilling to share my enthusiasm about art with this many kids and their peeps.
I absolutely loved witnessing the diversity of approaches. Every child, has a unique way of seeing the world and expressing what they see! As docents, we have to Let Go of Results and Outcomes. Allow Mess. Delight in Oops. Multi-task-yet-Focus. Smile. Laugh. Make Eye Contact. Then. Clean. Up.
Well … it seems at the Holter, “docent” is a fancy word for a volunteer who:
- works really hard
- has lots of fun with peers and with the public
- stays longer than expected to clean up the mess
- knows how to laugh and goof
- loves to share his/her passion for the arts
- gets training to use Visual Thinking Strategy in educational museum tours
- has a lot of energy (enough to keep up with kids of all ages!)
- has an awesome opportunity to guide kids, teens and adults in appreciating art through tours and hands-on activities
- can think on her/his feet, improvising when necessary
- doesn’t mind getting down and messy
- knows that every individual’s experience and ideas are valid
- helps organize and put on the biggest and best kids’ arts festival anywhere around
- then watches the magic happen as our doors open to over 800 participants
that’s alot to pack into one 6-letter word!
The Holter docents I have the privilege to work with, are a diverse group: outgoing, intelligent, friendly and helpful to new members of the team. We are all willing to learn from our mistakes and educate ourselves continuously so we are the best “art guides” the Holter could possibly have. It helps that we have some docents who are great leaders — super organized and experienced. It also helps that the educational staff (Sondra, Aubrey and Hannah) are so enthusiastic about their jobs. I have about half of the skills I need, to be an amazing docent. I’m working on the rest. But boy, was it fun, fun fun to help make KidWorks! happen.
Sorry about the photo-intensive post today. I just couldn’t resist! There were so many sweet moments and precious connections made during KidWorks! that I can’t resist posting these. Below is a gallery with a few more images from the festival.
If you attended KidWorks, or volunteered at the festival, won’t you write a short (or long) comment to say how you experienced it? Thank you!
Good Art Fosters Good Connections
Wild Horses and our Naturally Wild Souls
Last night at our first monthly Girls Art Night at 1+1=1 Gallery (Brown Bird Studio) we were inspired by Ann Wood’s creative exercise to make these absolutely delightful horses. We were a small group — just the perfect size, though as we continue to do these art-nights I hope other women will join us.
Shayna, Jaime, Cari and I gave some of our horses to Whitney, who is ready to give birth any day now. Her little boy will be born in the Year of the Horse. He will have a herd of wild horses to remind him of his naturally wild joy. With a mama like Whitney we know he’ll grow up snorting with laughter, jumping with glee and letting his wildness out into the world. (*See bottom of this post for some interesting predictions about this baby — and other babies born in this year of the horse.)
“Last night was like a symbolic circling of all the mares … lending the strength of those who have gone before, to the one ready to walk through that door that you never, ever can cross back through … the becoming of motherhood and the strength and grace of sisterhood … so special to me” — Jaime Terry
We made horses. We laughed. She contracted. We played. Relaxed. Listened to her talk about the baby, the baby’s name, the nest she is preparing. Talked about lack of sleep and future lack of sleep and hope for sleep. And about other things. And nothing at all.
Our hands busy with scissors and paint and buttons. Good food. Good wine. Good company. It’s what women do. We nurture each other with food and listening and love and open arms. A circling of the mares.
We decided to do this every month. Something artsy. Something to connect us. To each other. To our souls. To the Earth.
Please join us at our next Girls Art Night with Brown Bird Studio on the last Thursday of each month. Like our gallery’s facebook page or sign up for updates from 1+1=1 Gallery, and we’ll remind you a few days in advance. Put Girls Art Night on your calendar for March 27th at 6:30 pm. 335 North Last Chance Gulch, Helena.
Our evening gatherings are all about being relaxed and nurturing our inner artistic souls.
Whether you consider yourself artsy or “crafty” or not, I promise you will have a good time. And don’t forget we’ll share food, music and laughter too. The cost is free or minimal, depending on the materials we use.
LINKS:
- A perfect horoscope prediction for Whitney’s baby (knowing Whit …): People born in the year of the horse are said to be a bit like horses: animated, active and energetic – they love being in a crowd. They are quick to learn independence – foals can walk minutes after birth – and they have a straightforward and positive attitude towards life. They are known for their communication skills and are exceedingly witty. — from The Guardian (UK) “8 Things You Probably Didn’t Know about the Year of the Horse.”
- Here’s another one with more information about Chinese astrology: What is the Meaning of the Year of the Horse?
Love Dogs? How about Sled Dogs?
Tweet this: what do you know about dogs’ personalities? want to know more?
If you missed the opening reception of All Things Sled Dog (and Dog) at 1+1=1, you can still see the photos at the gallery through March 2nd, 2014. We are located at 335 North Last Chance Gulch in Helena, Montana.
There are two exhibits by Maureen Shaughnessy at the gallery this month: Ancient Bond, an exhibit of sled dogs portraits emphasizing the dogs’ personalities and the bond with their handlers and mushers… and Charlie’s Closet, select portraits of Charlie putting up with being dressed up in human clothes.
Our Friday night reception was well attended. I began with a talk about how I shoot portraits of dogs, and try to build connections between the dogs (the photos) and viewers. Mark Ibsen followed with a humorous talk about mushing, using my photos to enlighten the audience about what the dogs might be feeling or thinking. He had the guests (and me) laughing and smiling. Dave Armstrong and several other old-time mushers attended and we even got Dave to give us some history about the Race to the Sky and the antique sled displayed at the gallery this month.
We had a mix of mushers and mushing-fans along with other dog lovers and a handful of photo buffs. I promised a couple of guests that I would post my talk, along with the 19 tips for photographing dogs, so I’ll do that in the next day or so. Check back later this week.
Thank you to my dear friends, Jaime for helping me hang the show and to Ema and Adia for your help with the food during the reception. Thank you especially to Tim Carney, who mounted the utility panels on the gallery walls and helped me serve wine and finance the exhibit. Plus you are always my greatest fan and helpmate. You’re awesome!
Please enjoy the opening night photos. If you see yourself in the crowd and want to comment, please do. Or comment even if you weren’t there.
- All of Maureen’s photos are for sale.
- The size of most of the signed photos is 18 inches x 12 inches.
- The photos are digitally printed on archival Silver Rag Gloss (more of a luster finish) paper.
- These are the highest quality digital prints I can find, made for me in South Carolina: the colors and black and white tones are rich and the paper feels like a traditional cotton fiber based paper.
- Unframed prints are $100 each.
- Ready-to-Hang prints mounted on Baltic Birch gallery panels are $200 each.
- I will have a gallery of prints available from this exhibit in a separate post. Please let me know by email if you want to purchase one or more prints from this exhibit. [email protected]
Here’s where you can purchase the prints.
Artist Talks and Reception at 1+1=1 Gallery
Please be our guest at Helena’s unique 1+1=1 gallery this coming Friday night. Maureen and Tim will answer questions and talk about their inspirations and art media beginning at 6:30. Reception follows the talks, around 7:00 pm. Please enjoy wine, sushi and Thai appetizers after the talks.
The gallery will be closed Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving. We will open the gallery doors at 6:15 Friday evening. We’d love to see you there!
