Making Art from Pieces

"I am learning everyday to allow

the space between where I am and where

I want to be

to inspire me and not terrify me."

Traci Ellis Ross

Every morning of our mosaic week at Wildacres, our instructor Pam Brewer put a quote on the board for us to think about during our day's journey.  She knew we had a steep learning curve. But all 10 of us rose to the challenge trying very hard to put aside the terrifying aspect of what we had to do and the time we had before us and, instead, enjoy the act of creating and getting to know each other.

Our mission was to create a mosaic totem...something yard worthy and meaningful (or not) and every single piece had to be constructed.  Totems are an interesting subject in and of themselves and I could have spent hours researching the symbols and their subsequent meanings.  But I decided to choose three B's of gardens: birds, butterflies and bees (and maybe a blossom or two and a garden goddess?)
The above photo is all of us cutting our shapes from insulation board and carving out channels for the pvc pipe to fit through.

These "shapes" got glued together and wrapped in sheetrock mesh tape before coated in fiberous surface bonding mix.  This photo shows my pieces that are double coated and ready to dry and two others where you can see the insulation board.

After everything dried it was time to nip and glue using quickrete to hold the pieces onto the form.

It helped to lay out a design on paper before attempting to assemble.  We needed to have additional shards available and remember that we had a 2" edge to cover along the sides.  The collection of material was wonderful: we brought and shared tiles, broken pottery, intentionally made pottery, thrift store plates and all manner of lost and found objects.  We hoarded, nipped, and shared, repeat, hoard, nip and share!

The base of this "object d' arte" was a work in progress as we had to build on it every day.  With concrete we made a form around pvc pipe which would hold a length of rebar on which everything got stacked.

Did we have fun?!?

one of Pam Brewer's pieces designed for a totem

to be in a pet memorial garden

Then it was on to grouting, cleaning and packing up.  What a lot we accomplished in just a week.  We even had time to learn a bit about mosaic and to visit Pam's wonderful studio for more inspiration.

One of my favorite pieces was this cardinal I made, it happens to be a blue bird on the other side and I think it is full of personality!

Here is my totem in the garden...my sweet husband spent quite a bit of muscle installing it.  Each side is different and colorful and reminds me of a great week of creative pursuit with new friends.  I also love that each symbol holds a very significant meaning for me (this side shows the dragon fly on back of the bee) and many of the shards I used represent different people who gave them to me.  

I'm hoping my fellow nippers will send me photos of their work installed so I can share them with you.  Every single piece was different and there was a lot of creativity buzzing around our room.  I loved making beautiful art from discarded parts and pieces.  Constructing a beautiful whole from broken parts should always be our goal.

IN MANY PIECES,
Cindy

Notes from Elio Camacho

I am often asked how one chooses what workshops to take. 

As a beginner I grabbed every class I could afford and/or get to 

hoping something might just stick.  As your style emerges you begin to

get more discretionary on who you take from.  My painting gang is

always generous in sharing the info culled from a class so here 

is a "share" from Carol Schiff on a wonderful instructor: Elio Camacho.

My friends and I drove to Fernandina Beach, FL to attend a workshop with Elio Camacho, one of my favorite painters and my very favorite instructor.

 We began each day with a beautiful sunrise over the ocean and then got to work.

 This is one of Elio's 36x48" demos painted in just three hours.

Here he met a challenge to paint without darks believing that a painting should 

bring it's own light.  I think this one meets that requirement!

 Another of his larger than life paintings.

This 25 minute demo was done on foam core.  He pushed the color even more

 than usual getting wild and crazy.

His brushwork is very exciting...something I am hoping to bring to my work.

Elio spent a year painting blue studies, then moved on and studied yellows and reds.  He likes to set up still life and challenge his students to render it all in a single color.
He believes red is the most difficult color to paint.  If you can do a red painting, he believes one can really see color.  This is a 20 minute demo he did for us one day.

Here is the last demo, painted in about 15 minutes, out of his head.  I almost cried when he scrapped it off the next morning.

Needless to say, we are excited to return for his next Florida workshop in the spring.  You can find his workshop schedule here.

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Carol Schiff
www.CarolSchiffStudio.blogspot.com

Thanks Carol,   I've put Elio on my "wish" list for future workshops!
Cindy