2011 Pewaukee School District Barnes and Noble Art Exhibit

These are photos from the 2011 Pewaukee School District-Wide Art exhibit held at the Barnes and Noble. It is a show I coordinate and love as it gives my students the opportunity to exhibit their work to a larger audience. It also give them a chance to be part of the bigger community beyond the high school. It is always an invigorating experience.

Photojournalism and the WI Protests: Is This Art?

There are 3 sets of photo collections on my flickr.com account that illustrate where I have been spending most of my free time lately-MADISON, WI. That's right I've been protesting for my rights as an educator and joining the fray so to speak. It really has all been very peaceful and actually quite empowering and invigorating. So my question to you who read this blog...(anyone?) is this ART?

I used to have aspirations to become a photo journalist, but I decided I wasn't aggressive enough to pursue this career. I still have a great love for photography and a great respect for journalism. I think a photograph can communicate the story so much more vividly than the words attempting to portray it. The point of view of the journalist is less obvious and in some ways more objective. The photographer records what she sees. Through cropping and printing and color choices some of the feelings or viewpoints of the photographer may come through, but the image is primarily an objective representation.

During the protests I have found myself shoving my camera in total strangers' faces and capturing their expressions, moods and signs. To me the signs have been this moving global art exhibit of creative thoughts. Some are well crafted, but most have been very clever in their wording and graphic representation of what their makers believe. So are my photos of these signs and these people art?

I am considering doing more with these images, perhaps creating a quilt of printed imagery on fabric, perhaps printing them as cyanotypes, perhaps developing them into posters, not sure yet. It feels like there is so much raw potential here. Some of the images to me can stand alone as outstanding photographs. We'll see where these go, but let me know what you think. Are these art?

Here are 3 slideshows of my images. I think it is interesting to see the desperation in the images from the Thursday that the bill passed. The images from February seem more carnival like. The images from the tractor rally show the seriousness of people's attitudes, this is less about a party and more about our lives. Let me know what you think...

Big Tractor Rally and More...Welcome Back Fab 14

The Day the Bill Passed


February When All This Started

Impending Deadline of An Art Show

I have an April 2nd deadline coming up for entering work into the MATA Spring Membership exhibit. So here I am on March 9th with not even a glimmer of an idea what I will create. Each night I come home from school around 5:00 and crash on the couch and watch back to back Bones episodes and just stare. I am the ultimate definition of a couch potato.

I could blame this melancholy and lethargy on winter or the budget crisis or my job, but the truth is that I am being just purely lazy. I know that some of it is exhaustion, but as I proved when pursuing a Masters degree in art a few years back there is so much more time in your schedule than you realize. Staying up late to make art is rewarding. Turning the TV off allows one to paint or draw or knit or dream or read. I know this, like I know a lower fat diet and fruits and veggies and exercise are good for me, yet I make poor choices. Claiming to be too, tired. The truth is that many nights as I stare at the TV I fall asleep and wake up an hour later with contact lens crusted to my eyes and the feeling I forgot to do something. Then I go to bed and get up and do it all over again.

So where does the spark, the initiative to make art after the 9-10 hour work day giving your heart and soul to your students come from? How do you avoid being a couch potato? I used to go exercise after school and it made me feel more energetic, but it also meant I got home a lot later and got started on my free time even later. How do you find the energy, the creativity to CREATE.

I know it is discipline, drive, will power... I seem to lack all of these right now. The budget crisis and attack on teachers hasn't helped I know that. The conversation has been so demoralizing and negative. I have really begun to wonder if what I do really matters. It has been hard to say the least.

I think I need to make a loose, expressionistic painting that is therapeutic, non-judgmental and perhaps just for me, not for the art competition. What would be the worse thing that happens? I feel better and make some art. Now where are my canvas and paints?

Vacation and the Act of Creation

I just returned from a wonderful vacation to San Diego, California. It was over the holidays and we stayed with family. Of course some might argue that this is a recipe for disaster with family drama and all the insane over indulgences of the holiday season, but it turned out to be an unexpected time of creation and renewal of my artistic spirit.

Because there were so many people visiting at the same time there were snippets of time that allowed me to slip away and be alone in the warm California sunshine. The locals felt it was cool, but to my blood the 60s and sun were gorgeous and very balmy compared to the 20s back home. I took advantage of these moments and sketched or painted. It's not that anything fabulous was produced, but it was the nurturing of that spirit and that quiet reflective time that was important.

Working as a full time art educator you spend so much time fostering your students flickering flame of creativity. If you're able to go home in the evening and stoke your fire you are lucky and more energetic than I. So this vacation was a chance to spend time with just me and my moleskine sketchbook. I love flowers and gardens and my mother-in-law has a lovely expanse in the back yard next to the pool. I painted the ice plant and the few roses that were blooming. I photographed the lovely liquid amber leaves of the maples and the burnt red berries hanging in clusters over the fence. So much color for an artistic soul who'd just settled into the whites and grays of winter.

There were other stolen moments too, when we took a large communal walk with the 14 cousins, sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, parents and grandparents all present for Christmas morning. It had rained over night, but the sun was shining for the walk and the low dramatic clouds clung to the mountains in the distance. The dramatic lighting made this photographer positively giddy. I brought my camera and while others walked and talked I dawdled behind a bit snapping images along the way.

When we returned home and I uploaded my shots my father-in-law commented "Did you take those on our walk?"
"Yes" I replied.
He said, "I never saw any of that."

I smiled to myself. Isn't that really the artist's calling? To hold a magnifying glass or mirror to those fleeting moments that most don't see or take in. The artist registers the subtle innuendos of light and color. The artist sees the light shifting. The artist notices the shadows. How delightful to be able to see so much. I always tell my students Draw what you see, not what you know. Really see the subject. Take it in. Through artistic observation we see so much more.

My final day in San Diego was spent seeing....looking and interacting with art at the San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park. While I greatly enjoy this Museum I was especially thrilled to see the New Realities exhibit featuring the works of Jerry Uelsmann and Maggie Taylor. I must say I was so filled with emotion walking through this exhibit. I was by myself and my only regret was that there were no other students of art to share my joy and wonder with. If I had an iphone I'd have tweeted endlessly the happiness that filled me as I walked through the exhibit.

I'd studied Mr. Uelsmann's work as a college photography student back in the 80s. He was amongst the "gods of photography" whose actual work I hoped to see someday. He was also amongst the last of my "gods" that I had not ever seen before. Ms Taylor's work is some of my favorite current digital work. She is a goddess of Adobe Photoshop and the use of a scanner. I often show her work to my students to help them understand what is possible, that artistic digital photography goes beyond just shooting an image. There is so much more one can do. There was an excellent digital display that illustrated the step by step screens of how Ms Taylor builds these images, which develop like paintings really. There was also a video featuring Mr. Uelsmann discussing his process. He does his large black and white, surreal juxtapositions by using 8 enlargers in his customized darkroom. No computers are involved. I wish the video had shown a bit more of this step by step.

Overall the exhibit was wonderful. It showcased each artist as individuals, but also paired a number of their photographs together. Uelsmann and Taylor are husband and wife. This partnership was evident in these pairings, but I don't know if they intentionally create imagery that is that closely linked. Several that struck me included the Uelsmann 2008 Untitled piece that featured an archway with a female figure standing silhouetted in the low light and with female faces juxtaposed in the walkway. At the bottom in the foreground there was an open tintype or daguerrotype print with the face of the woman repeated and an old image of a young girl in 19th century dress. Taylor's work next to this one called "Small Storm" 2002 replicated the archway shape, but featured more whimsical imagery of an umbrella and rain falling under the umbrella. There were other pairings that were equally intriguing in their repetition of themes, shapes and compositions. I loved this exhibit and spent nearly an hour wandering through and revisiting sections.

After viewing this I continued to the rest of the Museum and discovered images from some of the greats of photography. It was like bumping into dear old friends. There were Ansel Adams, Ruth Bernhard, Edward Weston, Bill Brandt, Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans to name a few. I was equally as excited as an art educator to view the juried local student exhibit of works called: Reflections: Exploring Cultural Identity. The energy and vision of the students, some as young as third grade, was very inspiring. Having taught in California I was especially happy to see the quality of work being produced in this era of program cuts, which usually gouge the arts right out of schools.

I also took a brief stroll through the San Diego Museum of Art and saw many favorites there. Mostly I just enjoyed the beauty of the rain-drenched Balboa Park walkways as I found my way back to my husband and son at the Aerospace Museum. It was a lovely day even if the rains came down. To me it gave everything a clean wash of light and color. I was awed as one often is in California by the grandeur of nature the enormous banyan trees and eucalyptus and the wondrous palms and flowers; their colors and textures all larger than life.

It is good to be an artist on vacation. I think I saw more than the other people I was with or maybe I just imbued it with my artistic imagination. Either way I face the dull gray winter with a renewed spirit of creativity and will keep the colors and the light in my soul flickering through the long winter.

Robert Redford Speaks Up for Art Education

I have always loved him! What great words for an artist educator to hear. The story at the end is worth listening for. Teachers can make such a difference in the lives of their students. There are so many art students whose only place that they feel safe and accepted is in the art room. We are different and a place that allows us to be different is required. I try so hard to look for the creative way to meet my students half way and to make their experiences worthwhile and maybe even life changing. What a great anecdote and message he leaves us with.

Manifesto on Creativity in Schools

ADE Creative Manifesto from Matt Cauthron on Vimeo.

I haven't written in awhile because it seems the part-time artist has had to be a full time teacher lately.  Quite honestly, lately I have been an overworked full time teacher!  12 hour days 6 days a week has finally beaten me down I must admit.  So today during my prep I spent some time trying to refill my cup a bit.  I have a lot of papers to grade, projects to look at, but today I surfed the web and looked at people who inspire me.  This can be a bit dangerous when you're feeling low.  You can sink into the realm of "gee everybody else is so much better than me, look what they have all accomplished with their students."  But really if you fight that urge the goal is to allow yourself to be re-inspired and amazed.

One of the teachers who I greatly admire is Matt Cauthron.  I have never met Matt in person, but I have met via the http://arted20.ning.com  that I participate in.  I have learned so much through the posts that Matt shares, the comments he makes and visiting the various websites he keeps that house his students' work.  It is my guess that Matt must work 24/7 on his teaching job!  The accomplishments of his students and the level of quality is astonishing.  I also wonder when he finds the time to learn all he's learned and to continue expanding and growing.  I believe Matt earned the Apple Distinguished Educator distinction last year and the above manifesto was created during his summer workshop.  Check out some of the projects that Matt shared recently in Tweets on Twitter.  http://data-di.wikispaces.com/Type+Art  and http://data-di.wikispaces.com/Butterfly+Effect and http://data-di.wikispaces.com/Scanner+Art   Thanks Matt for helping me become re-inspired today.

Hidden River Art Festival in Brookfield, WI

I am so excited to get to the weekend. I have decided to devote my weekend to art.  It is challenging to be a part-time artist, especially once that part-timer goes back to full time teaching duties.  The beginning of the school year is extremely challenging as we retrain and re-tool our efforts to become even better educators.  Each year I have a slightly new or changed teaching assignment and by mid-to-late September I am exhausted from my 12 -14 hour days spent trying to make everything perfect and functioning for my classes. We are usually also asked by the administration to take on one or two new initiatives as well.  This year's focus is on literacy across all curricular areas including hands on subjects like art.  Trying to creatively incorporate reading and writing into a hands-on-make-art-class has been especially challenging and so the long hours and lack of personal time.   Usually the cycle ends with a  weekend like this where as the Italians say: "basta", enough....I've had it.  Time for some me time.  So this weekend I am devoting to art.

This will mark the start of the Hidden River Art Festival in Brookfield.  It is at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center there.  I feel especially proud of this  festival because I used to be a volunteer at the center when they were in their formative stages.  One of the things we worked to do was make a stronger link to the Visual Arts community.  The center had a lot of performing arts opportunities, but not nearly as many visual arts opps, so this festival is just one of the ways they've connected and reached out.  The list of artists who will be exhibiting is quite fabulous.  See the link below.  Many are local Wisconsin artists.  Some are quite young and that inspires me greatly.  I tell my students about their youth and say " this could be some of you in just a few years."  I checked out the list of exhibitors and many are the same as year's past.  Rather think "oh it will be the same show" I am looking forward to renewing acquaintances.

Talking and getting to know the artists is just one of the many pleasures of the festival.  There is a casual atmosphere in what I hope will be warm, golden September sunshine.  The festival highlights some other gems besides art.  Many local eateries offer lunch and snacks including coffee and cookies and many other goodies.  There is also a silent auction of works of art that have been donated by many of the exhibit participants.  Then of course there is the center itself.  If you've never been, you should go.  It is a beautiful facility that celebrates the natural wildness of the surrounding fields and wetlands.  The soaring fireplace, sculpted tree trunk stools outside, the sculptures in front and even the ceramic pieces in the bathroom all exude a creative spirit that celebrates the arts and the natural world.  Then there is the natural world itself.  Strolling about the tented grounds of the Wilson Center for the exhibit you may forget to look at all the natural beauty around you.  This is the area where I usually go on my bike rides.  It is splendid, adrift with wildflowers, hues of violet and gold, flitting butterflies and tiny yellow canaries.  The winding Fox River and the twisted trees and grasses all make for an inspiring setting to enjoy art.

Lastly, there are the artists.  As I mentioned it is really great to chat with them and enjoy their works.  Two of my favorites are:  Joann Engelhart and Katie Musolff.  There is great variety in the show with painters, photographers, sculptors, jewelers and fiber artists.  I had never met Joann Engelhart before and last year I started talking to her and we quite literally chatted for almost 2 hours.  She is a wonderful woman and a very inspiring artist.  Her story is inspiring too.  She went back to school to get her MFA late in life.  She teaches part-time at UW-Milwaukee and is a great example that it is never to late to follow your passion.  Joann   will also have a solo exhibit later this year at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center.  Katie is one of the young artists who is amazing, friendly talented and really just so good at the paintings she produces.  I met her while taking a watercolor class a few years back.  At that time she was a student at MIAD, but now she is a successful fine artist. 

Make sure you make time to get to the exhibit.  Here is a list of all the artists participating.  Hope to see you there. 



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