Playdate with an Artist: Me!

I'm proud to announce that I've been selected to be the artist-in-residence at Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh, working with their "Playdate with an Artist" series. I'll be creating art projects with the kids, caregivers, teachers, and parents who visit Marbles, between February 14 and March 3. It's going to be great fun. We'll be doing a large, collaborative canvas project ( I was inspired by the success of the CMMAG "CanvaSynergy" project last year, which you can read about here.), as well as some smaller ones, including gelatin monoprints using the Gelli Arts Printing Plate. I'm looking forward to seeing how the kids interact with the Gelli plate, and we'll be doing some cards, collages and animal shape prints.
Here's the schedule of events, from the Marbles site: 

Bringing out the artist in the child and the child in the artist.

Featuring Michelle Davis Petelinz

Tuesday, February 14-Saturday, March 3

Get out of the cold and warm up your creative side with local mixed-media artist Michelle Davis Petelinz. Join Michelle as she creates unique pieces of art with you! The Playdate with an Artist series focuses on Marbles' Create | Innovate initiative, giving kids the tools and resources to imagine, invent, experiment and solve.

Schedule

• Tuesday, February 14 | 10am-1pm | Artist Studio
• Saturday, February 18 | 10am-3pm | MonoPrint Workshops
• Sunday, February 19 | 1-3pm | Collaborative
• Tuesday, February 21 | 10am-1pm & 5:30-7:30pm | Artist Studio
• Wednesday, February 22 | 10am-1pm | Artist Studio
• Saturday, February 25 | 10am-3pm | MonoPrint Workshops
• Sunday, February 26 | 1-3pm | Collaborative
• Wednesday, February 29 | 10am-1pm | Artist Studio
• Friday, March 2 | 5:30-7:30pm | Collaborative
• Saturday, March 3 | 10am-3pm | MonoPrint Workshops

Activities
Michelle will be leading a variety of rotating activities - from make-and-take crafts to collaborative activities that will be displayed in the museum. Drop in and take part in the creative activity of the moment or participate in a Saturday MonoPrint Workshop.

Artist Studio (Weekdays)

• Create mini masterpieces using Michelle's unique handmade stamps with ink and paper and design your own stamp to take home.
• From creating the paper to using it in a collage, explore with Michelle to create a treasured piece of artwork from a simple piece of paper.

MonoPrint Workshops (Saturdays)

10am - ages 5 and under

12pm - all ages

2pm - ages 6 and up

• Monoprinting is a form of printmaking where an image can only be printed once. During this workshop, participants will explore this art form using unusual tools to create a one-of-a-kind print. Workshops are on a first-come, first-served basis.

Collaborative (Sundays and during the March First Friday)

• Create a large-scale collaborative piece that will be displayed at the museum March 5 - April 9.

As you can see, I'll be very busy for the next month! Got kids? Please come by and play! No kids? Borrow some, or just come by yourself; there'll be lots of paint, paper, stamps, canvases, and Gelli plates...what could be more fun than that?

See you there!

Paper Plates, Deadline Dates and Other News



Paper Plates: This week one of the new kids' art classes at the Sertoma Art Center.  We've been making paper plate ducks, and geese, clay animals and Matisse-inspired cut paper collages...such is the life of an art teacher (you'd be amazed what you can create with a simple paper plate)!  Next week, it'll be magic marker  monsters, 'smush' paintings, and Aboriginal dot art.  My students are from 18-months to 13 years old, and I have great fun coming up with books for the little ones which will inspire our art projects, and exposing the older ones to the work of famous artists.  I've been teaching at Sertoma for a year now, and have doubled the classes I teach, including one I designed myself:  Spotlight on Famous Artists, for kids between 7 and 13 years old. 

Deadline Dates:  Dates for submission of applications for upcoming shows are quickly approaching.  I've submitted a piece for consideration by the jury for the North Carolina Museum of Art's Art of the Auction again this year.  I decided to donate a bamboo wall hanging this year, since I gave an ancestress shadow box last year.  I'm hopeful it will be accepted; I'm going to love seeing in on a wall in the Museum!  Acceptance notifications will be sent in about 3 weeks. Fingers crossed.
Also on my agenda:  applying to Festival for the Eno. Because the tradition is to hold the show on July 4th (which they've done for 32 years),  this is the "weird" schedule year; the show will be held on Wednesday, July 4, Saturday July 7, and Sunday, July 8.  Yes, that's right.  We'll set up on Tuesday, do day one of the show on Wednesday, leave everything set up for two days, and return on the weekend to do the weekend days.  The last time this was the schedule, sales were way down from previous years.  We're hoping this won't be the case this summer.  Fingers crossed again.

And, in other news, I'll soon have an announcement about what very cool, kids' art-related things I'll be doing next month.  Hint:  it's local, fun, and there'll be Gelli Arts Printing Plates involved!

Stay tuned.ncartmuseum.org/auction

The Sketchbook: Revealed!

As I posted earlier in the month, I am participating in this year's The Sketchbook Project, presented by the Art House Co-op.  Sixteen of my fellow CMMAG members are doing it too.  Last night was the grand reveal of completed books, and I was proud to be among those whose books were actually finished! 
Before turning it in, I photographed the whole book, and below are some of my favorite spreads. True to my book publishing roots, I included a title page, introduction and acknowledgements page. And, despite the fact that it took me a very long time to decide what to do with this project, I really enjoyed it.  In fact, I think I miss my book already!  My book, along with thousands of others, will travel across the country,  to England and to Australia, beginning in April, then be permanently catalogued and displayed at the Brooklyn Art Library.  How cool is that?  The Guild is considering a roadtrip to see the exhibit when it gets to Atlanta, GA in late August, which would be great fun. I'm definitely glad I did this project; it was another 'out of my comfort zone' endeavor which turned out well.
Thanks to my Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate, I was able to achieve patterns and textures reminiscent of African fabrics...I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  it's a GREAT product!  If you haven't tried it out yet, you should.  But when you do, remember I said it's addictive; you'll want to make monoprints all the time!

So, here are some spreads from "Travel With Me, a Sketchbook by Michelle Davis Petelinz".  Enjoy.

Happy 2012: "The Pillar of the World is Hope"

Best wishes for a fantastic, creative, prosperous New Year, filled with love, laughter and fun.  That's what I hope 2012 will bring for me and my family, too.

Since mid-December, I've been busy working on my entry for The Sketchbook Project, which is due at the end of the month.  Our Guild has several members participating, and we'll do the big reveal of our individual sketchbooks at our January 12th meeting.  My theme is "Travel with Me," and after much consideration, I decided to focus on what inspires my work; the colors, textures, patterns and masks of Africa.  Since I've never been (the closest I've gotten is the Rock of Gibraltar, where I saw the African coast in the distance across the bay), my sketchbook is full of mask images, African proverbs, my own work, and cut paper collage of patterns and textures inspired by various tribal groups.  I've incorporated many pages done with my Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate; one of my favorite tools for creating collage papers.  I have about 12 pages to go, and I'm finally enjoying the process (there was quite a long period during the journey where I questioned my decision to do this project at all!).  I almost don't want to let it go.  But, it will be exciting to know that my work will be seen by many others, and will become part of this permanent exhibition in Brooklyn Art Library, in New York.

Since the big reveal is next week, I'll show only a 'sneak peek' here:

The proverb for this page is:  "The pillar of the world is hope," from the Kanuri people of Nigeria; a lovely image for the beginning of the New Year, I think.

Happy 2012 to you and yours.

Holiday Gift Open Studio

Next weekend, just in time for holiday shopping, I will host what promises to be a fun event, with my friend, the spectacularly talented artist, Larry "Poncho" Brown. 

We've titled it a Holidy Gift Open Studio, which basically means you come, see something you like on my walls, and buy it for yourself, or for someone you love.

Poncho will be visiting Raleigh for the last time this year, showing his exciting giclees, originals and Poncho Artwear.  Take a look at his website to see his work, and get a taste of what you'll see on Saturday. 

Our studios and the rest of our house will be on display too; I'm serious about having people buy things off our walls!  Stan's work and mine is hung throughout, and it's a great way to imagine how a piece will actually look on your wall once you get it home.  I'm excited to have this opportunity to share my work in my own space.  So if you're in the area, or planning to be, plan to stop by between 2:00 and 7:00 pm. 

See you then!

Recent Creative Pursuits: I'm a Fashion Designer?!

Fancy pants, in progress



Fancy outfit:  complete!

No, I haven't actually changed focus, but I have been nudged outside my comfort zone in terms of substrate as a result of another Carolina Mixed Media Art Guild project (funny how the Guild seems to be at the root of most of my non-comfort zone forays, isn't it?!).  Earlier this year, Penny Arrowood and I were invited to a meeting of Arts for Life, which is a local 501-C non-profit organization "dedicated to providing artistic education and emotional well-being to children across the state."  Their staff members and artists provide art programs for children at Duke Children's Hospital.  As we saw a video presentation showing the kids and their work, and listened to stories about the impact these creative art activities have on the critically ill patients, we knew the Guild had to become involved in some way with this effort. 

Of course I had to have
matching fancy earrings!

At the very least, we knew we'd want to join Arts for Life during their annual fundraiser called the "Fancy Pants Dance," where attendees show off their fanciest, and I'm told, most outrageous pants.  There's also a silent auction of donated art items (I've donated a 12-inch bamboo wall hanging from the 'Leaf Dance' series), dinner and information about the great work Arts for Life has done at the hospital during the past year.  So naturally, I had to have fancy pants!  And, of course, not just any pants would do:  I had to paint my own.  I found some at a fantastic local consignment shop called Passage, decided upon a design, and got to work.  Once I finished them though, I realized I needed an equally fancy top to go with them...so, I got a plain, brown long-sleeved shirt, and got to work.  Once I finished it, though, I realized I needed equally fancy earrings to go with the pants and the shirt (is this starting to sound like If You Give a Moose a Muffin?!), so, I made some, out of paper.  Fashion designer I'm not, but it was a fun project to do.  Here are the results...the dance is tonight, so photos of me in my finery, along with my CMMAG pals to come.

We also collaborated with Arts for Life on a wonderful project which will make its debut tonight, and at Art of the Carolinas, but that deserves its own, special post.  Stay tuned.



Recent Creative Pursuits: CanvaSynergy

My lists, color palette, map, design plan and guidelines
for CanvaSynergy 2011

Our Carolina Mixed Media Art Guild often takes on creative challenges, and I set one for the group in August, called CanvaSynergy.  I'd seen a collaborative piece done by a group of painters, and thought we could add another dimension (literally!) to this idea.  So, with canvases and paint donated by our favorite art supply store, Jerry's Artarama, 25 member artists were given a 12"x12" canvas, one tube each of Soho Acrylic mineral blue, cadmium red medium hue, cadmium orange hue and burnt sienna, and a list of guidelines I'd prepared.  The guidelines included permission to use black and white in addition to the four colors of paint, and the encouragement to "showcase our mixed media marvelousness".  I'd drawn out a design on all 25 canvases--unfortunately, or fortunately, whichever way you want to look at it, there are no photos of the gyrations I performed to do this, at first on the floor (a bad idea, given how un-limber I am!), then on my dining room table (much easier on the knees!). Once the design was on all canvases, I assigned one canvas to each artist, and the challenge was on.  Members brought their finished canvases to our October meeting, and there was great excitement when they all came together.  The public, big reveal won't take place until next week at Art of the Carolinas.  Stan is building a framework which will house and display them all, and the finished collaborative piece will, we hope, be donated to a children's hospital.  My canvas is below, but you'll have to come to Art of the Carolinas next week to see the rest, or stay tuned--I'll post photos of the grand reveal after November 13th.