History, Healing, and Hope art workshop created intergenerational memories

I had the honor of facilitating and collaborating with Legacies of War on a History, Healing, and Hope Community Workshop at ArtXchange Gallery in Seattle.
I led a workshop exploring how art can be a powerful force in expressing history and personal experiences. Legacies of War is a non-profit that uses art, culture, education, community organizing [...]

minimal art by preschoolers

I love the shape placement and simplicity of these collages done by 3 and 4 year old artists in my preschool class. It doesn’t take a lot of expensive materials for kids to come up with terrific art – cut up colored paper , glue sticks, and colored pens. I provided them with already cut [...]

Colorful valentine kids’ project

Maybe this would be a perfect Valentine Day project to do with your kids today. I came across this lesson “Heart Rubbings” on this wonderful site, everything preschool.
First I scrounged up a piece of recycled cardboard and cut it into boards about 7 x 10″. Then I hot glue gunned bunches of hearts on each [...]

Little footprint art

I often see kid hand print art, so I thought, why not footprints? I traced around each preschool child’s shoe and they decorated them. Some wanted the print to look like their shoe tread, others the top of their shoe. Some did their favorite colors. I drew along with the kids and some [...]

Elders create eco mandalas

I enjoy facilitating an Elders’ art class in San Francisco every Friday. For the past 6 weeks we have been focusing on mandalas. I discussed the sacredness of the circle symbol in many cultures, in nature, and in religion. We designed rose window mandalas based on the cathedral stained glass windows of Europe. We made [...]

Thousands of clay figures in Aptos cemetery memorialize dead Americans and Iraqis

Standing in a sandbox on the lawn of the cemetery at Resurrection Catholic Community in Aptos are thousands of figurines representing Americans and Iraqis killed during the war that began in March 2003.
The 4,190 small white clay figures, each holding a U.S. flag, represent dead American soldiers. The 92,000 dark clay figures, behind the Americans [...]

Mended teddy

Jessica Thistlethwaite made this little guy out of band aids. Hmmm, got me pondering about what other interesting materials are around me everyday I can make art out of! Check out her other cool creations at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jblthistle/

Food and flower power Sunday

What a lovely Sunday afternoon art soirée hosted by Chris Ridgeway! I had so much fun just thinking about nature’s colors and shapes. If the slideshow stops, click on the black x in the upper right corner.

Doris and Mary doll

I brought my mom (Doris) a present on my last visit to Reno. My friend and artist Judy Johnson-Williams made these wonderful family dolls for me in response to a family tree assemblage piece I did. I decided to bring one of the dolls to my mother who has Alzheimer’s and is in a full [...]

In Vitro Purse

One of my latest art pieces is the In Vitro Purse. The 3rd Wave Art Collaborative concentrated on the theme of fertility and power last week. The group has chosen to use the purse as the starting point for this series of work.
My art is a story piece about going through the IVF process. I [...]