Tag: art

Posted on

Kids’ Arts Festival from the Perspective of a Docent

KidWorks 2014 at the Holter Museum of Art
KidWorks 2014 at the Holter Museum of Art
A circle of hands is how it felt for me, as I helped with KidWorks! alongside the volunteers, my fellow docents and staff of the Holter Museum of Art. We needed everyone to make it work.

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.

KidWorks 2014 at the Holter Museum of Art

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!

KidWorks 2014 at the Holter Museum of Art

2014 KidWorks Festival of Arts at the Holter Museum of Arts

KidWorks 2014 at the Holter Museum of Art

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.

2014 KidWorks Festival of Arts at the Holter Museum of Arts

KidWorks 2014 at the Holter Museum of Art

KidWorks 2014 at the Holter Museum of Art

KidWorks 2014 at the Holter Museum of Art

2014 KidWorks Festival of Arts at the Holter Museum of Arts

KidWorks 2014 at the Holter Museum of Art

KidWorks 2014 at the Holter Museum of Art

KidWorks 2014 at the Holter Museum of Art

KidWorks 2014 at the Holter Museum of Art

KidWorks 2014 at the Holter Museum of Art

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!

Posted on

Why Nature is So Important to Me

RockyMountainIris

FrontRangeNearAugusta

I grew up in the 50s and 60s. My siblings and I spent every spare moment playing in nature. Our suburban back yard and the meadows, pastures, woods, creeks, oak trees and bramble patches of my childhood are as vivid in my memory as if it happened yesterday.

The moment our school bus dumped us out near our house, we would grab a snack then rush out to play until Mom called us in for dinner. After dinner, in good weather we would head back out until dark, when she would insist we come in and do our chores.

Prairie Gaillardia Bud Opening

Mom taught me the names of all the wildflowers and how to tell the difference between a monocot and a dicot. I learned to value the habitats of hundreds of creatures that lived on the wooded hillsides and creek bottoms near our house.

Slug, salamander, carrion beetle, praying mantis, flying squirrel, cardinal, purple finch, deer, siskin, spring beauty, skunk cabbage, lady slippers, raccoon, possum, badger… their names roll off my mind’s tongue like poetry. 

I would be bereft if our world contained even one less of the thousands of beings I grew to love as a child.

My husband, Tim Carney and I contribute to the Nature Conservancy every year because we believe in the work the conservancy is doing all over this world, especially in our home state of Montana. The Rocky Mountain Front is sacred to us and to the First Nation people. For me, the Front is probably the most spectacular landscape on earth, and it is certainly one of the most ecologically vital habitats for Earth’s creatures. I am thankful to the Conservancy for their work on behalf of the Front.

RockyMountainIris

For 25 years, Tim and I have practiced Huichol shamanism. Integral to Huichol shamanism are daily meditations and seasonal ceremonies that celebrate the heart of Mother Earth … we believe that Nature is sacred; that every entity on earth has a spirit, is literally alive. Mountains and rivers. Stones. Trees. Black bears, wolves, salmon, pine bark beetles and earthworms. Every being deserves our respect.

Deer in Field along the Front Range

Nature is inside us and we live in Nature. The idea that we humans (and everything) contain the dust of ancient stars …. this fits our beliefs perfectly. We are made up of all that surrounds us, all that has come before us. My mind, heart, legs and eyes contain molecules of that juniper tree, of the Yellowstone River, of the garden where I plant beans and corn. And, when I am finished with my body, ideas, breath … my atoms will go forward in time, transforming into other parts of Nature.

three drops of rain on a leaf

My beliefs inform my everyday life, so it makes sense to me to respect and love Nature — it is vital to the health of our world, to our species, to all of life.

When I take my daily walks, I think about stepping gently on my Mother. I think about walking instead of driving. I think about making my ecological footprint as small as possible. This is my meditation as much as praying each morning for healing for myself, family, community and the Earth.

Prairie Forms along the Front Range

I make my living as an artist. The core message I try to express with my art and photography is “connection.” Connection to Nature, to the heart of the Earth. If I can inspire one person to become more deeply connected to the natural world through my artwork, then I know I will have succeeded.

Buds

Both Tim and I have immense appreciation for the Nature Conservancy’s staff and ideals. The work is vitally important to quality of life — ours, yours, our descendants and all of Earth’s creatures. Please consider becoming a donor to the Conservancy and help protect Earth’s heart for future generations.

I originally wrote this article to share on the Nature Conservancy’s Stories site. 

 

Posted on

Wild Horses and our Naturally Wild Souls

paper horse

paper horses

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.

paper horse

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.)

Whitney's Horse

paper horses wild horses

“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

paper horse

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.

paper horse

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.

GirlsArtNightWildHorses18

We decided to do this every month. Something artsy. Something to connect us. To each other. To our souls. To the Earth.

paper horse

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.

paper horses art night

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.

GirlsArtNightWildHorses15

LINKS:

 

Posted on

Selected Sled Dog Portraits Available

sled dog in a close embrace with musher

I promised to post a gallery of the sled dog photos included in the exhibit, Ancient Bond. So here it is. Each of these is available for purchase as a signed, archival print. (See details below the gallery) Click on the photos to enlarge them. Watermarks are not on the prints.

Posted on

The Color of Zero Degrees Cold

Ice Crystals Growing on a Frozen Lake Surface

or: Snow is Not White

or: How Many Shades of Blue is Winter?

Ice Fishermen

Helena, Montana is closing in on a record February snowfall. The winter of 1936 set that record. I’m not sure how much snow we’ve had so far this month (usually our driest month of the winter) but, since last Friday, at least 18 inches of snow has fallen outside our house.

Snow is good. The mountains need snow. The soil, the prairies and farms and trees and fish, the rivers and air and people. We all need this moisture and I will be glad of it in summer when the grasses are crisping and crackling. When wildfires do their roaring, racing, burning thing…

Cold Mountains behind Snow Field

The older I get, the less patient I am with the inconveniences of Montana winters. But the colors! Those colors keep me interested!

I go on at least one walk a day, but I get so cold in my bones that it’s just not as much fun as it was when I was younger and (ahem… ummmm) hotter.

hay bales along ridgeline

it takes a day like today:
wide open skies
not a single cloud
an almost
(imperceptible)
mist hanging close
to the frozen earth

it takes this kind of day
to remember
how many different blues are inside the cold

… how many
different
colors belong to white

Layers of Icy Air

Snow.
Is not.
White.

You knew that.

Steam

So … I hope these images inspire you to take some time and get out into the cold. Bundle up. Stay out until just before the sun goes down so you can grab a little of that incredible light into your soul.

And look. Really look at the colors that surround you!

Those colors will still be inside you on a summer day that tops 100F. When all you want to do is stick your head in a freezer. When you are wishing for some of that of zero-degrees-cold.

Posted on

Fun Art Project with Kids: Wild Horses

Herd of Painted Horses

It’s Wednesday, the day Ema comes to assist me at 1+1=1 Gallery. Well, today was early release day from school, so I spent the afternoon with not one — but two — of my favorite young ladies, Ema and Adia. They are always up for an art project after we have our snack and catch up with each other: what’s new in school, what was the most fun you had so far today, what do you think about gardening together this summer, blah blah blah.

Today we made a small herd of wild horses patterned after Ann Wood’s beautiful stampede of horses. She provides a downloadable template for the horses, and a great tutorial so I’m not going to duplicate her wonderful instructions here. This awesome project took us about an hour and a half, including set-up and clean-up.

The horses are pretty easy, but not something I’d recommend for toddlers or really little ones (see adaptation ideas in list below.)

WildHorseHerd03-imp

Painted Wild Horse

Herd of Painted Wild Horses

Ideas to Adapt this activity for younger children:

  • pre-cut the shapes and have the children paint them. Then an older child or adult may assemble the horses
  • use scrapbook papers that are already decorated. Cut the shapes and let children glue the legs on instead of having them be articulated legs
  • use bendable brads instead of buttons and wire
  • Cut the shapes out of colorful card stock and have younger children brush glue on and sprinkle glitter

Ways to use/display the horses:

  • mount with tacky glue, double-sided tape or sticky-mounting-squares onto a foam core or poster board. 
  • display directly on a wall using mounting putty.
  • the horses don’t all have to be facing the same way.
  • arrange the horses on whatever background you are using, so they look energetic and dynamic
  • make a mobile of horses using fishing line to hang them.
  • use one horse, mounted with re-positionable double sticky tape, to make a greeting card. The receiver of the card can take the horse off to play with.

LINKS:

Here are a few more photos of what the girls and I made today:

Posted on

Love Dogs? How about Sled Dogs?

Old Black Sled Dog Waiting

Mark Ibsen and Dave Armstrong During Mushing Talk

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.

Artist During Gallery Talk

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.

Mark Ibsen During Mushing Talk

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.

Gallery Reception and Artist Talk

Guests at 1+1=1 Gallery

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.