Wake up Alice!
I am thrilled to have this piece in the current exhibit now in the Lewis Gallery at the Portland Public Library, Wake Up Alice! I love adding collage bits, and photographed cards for inserting into my drawing done with charcoal pencil and pastel on cut paper. I’m pleased to see my fierce little Alice hanging among such esteemed company! To the right, my former MECA student, Declan McCarthy, created a corner chock full of the entire adventure told in comic vignettes he drew on the wall. Here he is before his arm fell off. To my Alice’s left is MECA faculty Judy Labrasca’s...
Read MoreIllustration Research Symposium
The 6th Annual Illustration Research Symposium hosted by the Illustration Research Network and Rhode Island School of Design was a total blast of ideas and great presentations. Thanks to Maine College of Art for sending Illustration Department Chair Mary Anne Lloyd and me to this international gathering of illustration academics. I filled my MECA sketchbook and more. Thursday evening upon arrival at the RISD ISB Gallery, we were warmly greeted by Susan Doyle, Department Head of RISD Illustration at the opening of the conference exhibition, Little Pieces, Big Ideas. It was a delicious entry...
Read MoreSketchbooks on Peaks Island
On Saturday I partnered once again with MECA colleague Judy Labrasca to lead a Peaks Island Sketchbooks Workshop through Maine College of Art’s Continuing Studies Program. Every year the weather’s a little different, the day unfolds at an organic pace, and I meet the best artists with whom to spend a day drawing. Judy meets students at Casco Bay Lines and I greet them on island, where we make introductions and discuss materials for making books. Judy brings such bounty! I brought pre-cut pastel papers. We share the philosophy that sketchbooks are not precious, but vehicles for...
Read MoreDraw Off & Draw On
When Scott Nash challenged me to a Draw Off, I didn’t know what I was in for. But I wasn’t gonna say no to my fearless leader in the Illustration Department at Maine College of Art. It was a foggy morning at the Fifth Maine Museum but the crowd was eager for action. Scott has done these several times, and takes requests from the crowd, kids first. Our first challenge: draw your opponent! Another: draw yourself as your dog: We got a few requests involving chickens; this one about drawing yourself as a cat: The entertainment was enhanced by accordion music by Peaks Island’s...
Read MoreDrawing with Color at TEIA
Last week, I headed down the hill to the TEIA, also know as “the club” to lead a 2 day class in Drawing With Color for kids aged 8 – 12. The last two summers, I’ve done this class with adults. Kids’ turn this time. We began a discussion of terms with a color wheel I inherited from my Uncle Roley. It’s one thing to talk color, it’s even better to draw. This is Mia’s curvaceous color wheel. I brought my stash of Color Aid paper so everyone could try their hand at a classic demonstration of the relative nature of color: Josef Albers’ ...
Read MoreEpic Side x Side report
A week ago today, I found myself happily in the mix of buzzing teachers at the Portland Museum of Art for the first annual Side x Side Summer Arts Institute. Side x Side is an arts organization whose mission is bringing arts integration into public schools in Maine. They were awarded an Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination (AEMDD) grant of $1.9 million from the U.S. Department of Education, marking the significance of collaborative work between educators and their creative communities. Side x Side was formed in 2013 by Beth Wilbur Van Mierlo and Annette Kraus, and partners...
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