avad

This week was spent assistant teaching art workshops for children as part of the Parrish Art Museum's spring break events. Really young age group (4-6yrs old). Amazing how something can feel so natural and exhausting at the same time. Sweeeeet kids.(do not eat them)
This feels like an important time...a shift of sorts. I just have to be careful of what I want. I know for the past that teaching took just so much of my energy it was dangerous for my own art and I'm not ready for that. There will be a time in my life when I dedicate myself wholly to teaching...but that is not yet. But I do realize that I have something to give in this way, naturally and enthusiastically (I mean what could be better than getting kids inspired and making art?)...and so I will do it every once in a while. Of course this ties in with Peace Tiles and Center for Children's Happiness and so many other directions converging...:)
It also pays much better than the shop and I desperately need money to invest in materials ASAP (on top of reg bills).

My favorite project was a Louise Nevelson inspired sculpture (one of my early inspirations/favorite artists!)in shoebox lids. Oh the materials we had to play with were wonderful!! I was only sad because I knew these would fall apart after a little time with only glue to hold and how tall they all wanted to build, regardless of warnings;). but they looked so beautiful and the children were delighted with the whole process:)

other projects (designed by the other teacher):
Claude Monet inspired waterlilies (wash and collage, construction paper and tissue paper flowers)
Peter Max inspired flourescent sunrise and outerspace scene (wax resist)
Mary Cassat inspired family block-printed 'quilt' and self-portrait (pastels)

At the museum itself, the entire exhibit is of Student Art and is so overwhelmingly colorful and fantastic...like a visionary environment...


( more pics/see more )

This was fun. For my niece's birthday, instead of buying a card I decided to make one using recycled cardboard and cereal box, origami papers and silliness. I was happy with the 3d pop-up look of the cardboard layers.
scored a whole bunch of hello kitty charms at Salvation Army..and incorporated some which made it into a gift/card.

yikes,I did it. Following what I took to be some serendipitious signs and nudges from the universe...
I've finally invested in a sewing machine of my own.
(!!!!!!!)

I'd been searching online for sewing classes in the area and found none. My 'secret' projects still laying in a box at home...waiting and being put off..again and again...Daily I dream of Missycakeland and CoopaCraft...of the sewing cooperatives around the world...of designs for products, etc.

Then recently, after dropping off an artwork ( read more )

(in progress draft)
art. craft. recycling. cooperatives. sustainable development. artisans. africa. connections. network weaving. diy movement.grassroots.

Crafters all over the world have been interested in creating something beautiful out of found objects, cast off goods...sometimes for the novelty, other times out of pure necessity and often times for varying degrees of both.



At craftyclubhouse this past Sunday we tried our hands at making paper beads out of recycled magazine papers.
I had printed out tutorials from here, here and here but mostly we learned from trial and error. Cutting up teen vogues, trying all different glues from modgepodge to glue sticks and then varnish or clear nailpolish to glaze.... It is a fun activity and one which I hope can bring more awareness to sustainable crafts and design ingenuity.




In Gulu, Uganda this technique is pulling people out of poverty at Life in Africa's WE Center.:
"When you wear Life in Africa's Jungle Beads, you're sharing in a community peace-building story to inspire hope in today's world. And whether you're buying these hand-crafted beauties as a treat for yourself or for others, you're creating a valuable social impact with every purchase you make.
The Jungle Beads story is about an African community climbing out of the jungle of poverty and war by creating something amazing from almost nothing at all. These uniquely beautiful beads are made from recycled paper by Life in Africa members in Kampala and Gulu - over 85% of us are displaced or otherwise directly affected by Northern Uganda's 20 year long war.

Our members in the displaced Acholi Quarter in the outskirts of Kampala have brought this beadmaking technique into our community, after years of making and trying to find markets for this craft that someone from the USA introduced to a small group of women there about 10 years ago. We now help each other learn to create the beads in member led production groups at Life in Africa's WE Centers each week."
Check out the inspiring flickr photo set: Recycling for Peace

I've been brainstorming and interested in a possible cross-over/exchange of more designers and crafters in the US/Europe working with artisan cooperatives in the developing world...through developing a series of CoopaCraft and/or Craftcorps fellowships for volunteer travel funds.......
aims: volunteer training, evolving and diversifying product lines, awareness building in US, fair trade, solidarity/bridges/thread of empathy.

Earlier this year I had purchased this set of beautiful paper beads made by jessprkle in the US off of Etsy.com.

She has worked with high school kids making these and said they loved the activity.
It gets me to thinking again about match-making training and workshop leaders..

How can we best improve the grassroots links between the current DIY craft movement and the green/recycling movement to help bring more awareness to and really push forward the fair trade movement?

related:
DESIGN for the Other 90%
“The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.”
—Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises

In Her Hands: Craftswomen Changing the World

Aid to Artisans

Can we help brainstorm and design more projects using paper beads or similar recycling techniques for our friends around the world? Should we have a contest? What are your thoughts?

Treehugger's Top5 Recycled Paper Products

Two great tastes that taste great together. Complex mathematics and crochet!:)

"Geometry teachers usually try to explain the hyperbolic plane via flat models that wildly distort its geometry—making lines look like semicircles, for instance. How, Taimina wondered, could she give her students a feel for hyperbolic geometry's counterintuitive properties? While attending a workshop, the answer came to her: Crochet a piece of hyperbolic fabric...."

tori, Lorenz manifolds, hyperbolic planes and Yarn? ohmY

(thanks mummimamma)!