Collaborative Creations: SisterWork

"I can do things you cannot,

you can do things I cannot; together

we can do great things."

Mother Teresa

I am pretty certain that Mother Teresa was not referring to art when she made this statement, but the sentiment applies.  When two creative spirits merge amazing things can happen...especially when we freely recognize our own limitations and honor the abilities of another.  Such was the case when my sister, a potter, mentioned her need for some line images to me, an artist.  She was headed to a "transfer workshop" at the John C. Campbell Folk School and was not content (thank goodness) to work with publicly available "clip art."

 My sister Amy (who possesses a range of talents) remembered this drawing I did many years ago for which she wrote a poem.  In her mind she saw the drawing upon a vase.  Could we go there?

yes!

But the in-between story is one of experiments on both our parts...

I got busy doing some black and white line drawings of a variety of objects.

Some she requested, others I just wanted to do.

She took a pile of these along with a beautiful bounty of cups, bowls and vases she had prepared especially for this workshop.  They were in several stages of completion depending on the technique they would use to move these designs onto them.

Her "homework" waiting to be packed for class

Julie Hearne of Turning Point Pottery in Brasstown, NC planned to teach 4 transfer methods in the 2.5 day workshop but I am only going to share one (and that even briefly) here.  The "water slide decal" method involved a computer, photoshop, a printer with "magnetic ink character recognition" toner, transparencies and a bucket of distilled water.  The general idea is to size the image and print it onto the water slide decal transparency (available from Beldecal for $1.00 per page).  There is iron oxide in the ink toner.  Then you soak the transparency in the distilled water and slide it into place on the pottery.  Fire to cone 04 and.....

if the glaze plays well with the iron oxide....

if you understand photoshop and how to size and how to sharpen and how to whiten whites...

if your initial glaze does not darken too much hiding the image...

if you don't mind black lines in some cases and sepia colored ones on others.....

well then,

VIOLA! and TA-DA!

You will have a beautiful pot with an image permanently embedded.

(The secret to this alchemy is no secret: practice, test, repeat!  But we are full-out, balls to the walls kind of creators and the joy was in forging ahead and taking notes later...if we remembered them!)

Amy made a page of transparencies from a colored drawing I did

I wasn't at the workshop but Amy took enough notes and photos for us to hopefully re-enact the process down the road.  She became intrigued with the possibilities of using script and I can see all kinds of special drawings for use-specific pots.  I don't throw pots and she doesn't draw lines but oh my, imagine the trouble we can get into working together?!

More show and tell:

the image

the water glasses

the drawing made into water slide decals

the bowl interior (they wind around the sides also)

and some pasta bowls....

 I have never imagined my doodles or drawings being used as pottery decoration and now it is hard to get the thought out of my head.  I have painted pots before and become very frustrated as I could not see the true colors beneath the chalky finish of the glazes (admittedly I should have spent more time practicing, testing and repeating).  But this process is a single color effect....and now I want to know: can we layer them, can we combine with texture, can we make strips and chains of a long image to wrap around, can we....I love thinking "can WE..."

Even if you do not have a sister close enough to play with find a 'sister in creativity' and bite off a project, something that involves both of you adding a little something that the other one cannot.  It can be one of you cooking and the other doing the flowers for a dinner, maybe one of you writing the poem and the other one illustrating or typesetting it, one dyeing fabric the other making a bag from it.  The whole idea is to engage two brains...not competing but working together.  I guarantee you will see something emerge that you did not anticipate...the creativity gets dialed up several notches just by throwing ideas around (if you are cooking with brussel sprouts could I also use them as florals?)

I'm a huge fan of collaboration.  Go for it.  Let me know what comes of it.

CREATING COLLECTIVELY,
Cindy

p.s. My sis, AmyH does not have a website (yet) or I would direct you to it.  If you have any questions you need to run by her just send them to me and I will forward to her...as soon as she completes her ocean sail through the Bahamas and Haiti she will reply.

How to Paint BIG in 1/8th Less Time

(If you are in eastern central Florida come see me Saturday and Sunday at ArtWorks in the Eau Gallie Arts District on Highland Avenue.  Booth #114 I will have all new work to share with you.)

Now, to save time on a large piece the big secret is....COLLABORATE!!
Yep, several years ago the Pieces began a study of selected "old masters," researching their lives, studying their techniques and copying selected pieces.

When we decided to do a show based on these works we knew we had to include Gustav Klimt .  Klimt was known for his fantasy paintings of figures using deco design and gold embellishment. We fell in love with his piece "The Kiss" and knew that many other folks loved it as well.

Time was short but 8 minds had a plan: if we each painted a section of the larger piece we could get it all done in 1/8th the time!  Right? Right! And thus the game was on.  Herding cats might have been easier.

Naturally we had to abandon personal styles and closely replicate the Klimt-technique, naturally we had to all finish on deadline and naturally someone (thank you Denette with her eye for fine detail) had to "marry" the edges once they were assembled and glued down.

But here is the result:

Isn't it beautiful? A gorgeous 30" x 24" oil painting exquisitely framed!  The piece sold at auction for $1000 ( to benefit a local charity working with women) and was dearly loved by its owner.

Alas, times change and the owner is downsizing/moving/divesting and needs to sell the piece to a new appreciator.  She says she is willing to part with it for just $300.00. Time to scoop up a bargain.  Contact Ralph at Ralph's Art Supplies, 321- 255-3331, if you are interested or wish to see the piece.  It is truly one of a kind.

Six of the Pieces of 8 gather around the Klimt painting they helped create:
Denette Schweikert, Mary Warnick, Carmen Beecher, Carol Schiff, Donna Vines and Cindy Michaud.

Azule Residency Five Star Experience

OR

Finding how NOT to proceed is as critical as proceeding

The days following a "retreat" are almost more work than the experience itself.  Unpacking your brain of a zillion new ideas, organizing your thoughts into subject files, rehashing pages of notes and drawings, trying to remember that brilliant scheme that came in a dream or was it during a hike?  All of that is much more exhausting and time consuming than actually going through the delightful day to day routine of no-routine and total dedication to your craft.

Such are my musings after returning from a wonderful 4 days spent with my sister and co-collaborator at AZULE located off the beaten path in Grassy Creek, NC just outside of Hot Springs.  

If you closely on the left middle floor you can see the outline of the original

log cabin Camille and her husband homesteaded in.  She continues, in her seventies,

to dream up projects to add onto the "compound."

What did we accomplish during our artistic residency?  Weeeell.  As Edison was fond of saying, "We discovered 99 ways not to make a light bulb."

Our original intent had been to explore our childhood as fodder for a poetry/art collaboration.  We spent many a chuckle-filled hour revisiting those years and playing the "but do you remember...." game.  However after thrashing and hashing our early years, my word-smith sis admitted that nothing grabbed her senses as intense enough to eulogize.  My visuals were equally uninspiring.  So we then morphed into a long discussion about technique and approach: using 'we' or 'I', feelings now or then, calls and answers or just two unrelated bodies of work, large or small, ....see the problems here?  So much more to decide than first meets the eye.

Amy found a comfortable niche by the front door.  Camille made all the stained glass windows

herself after gathering all the glass from a manufacturers dump site.

We hiked, we sweated, we sat and stared, we dabbled in our craft hoping the muse would take over, we revisited every possibility and we took stabs at producing.

I liked the table under the skylight where the old cabin featured a 

porch that eventually was closed in.  The furniture was crafted by the

husband of a board member.

Sister Poet was in a slight Panic.  Sister Artist said "been there done that."  Both sisters stared like deer in headlights when asked to "share" our progress with the crew on site that evening.  Ah, well, advised the elder, we share our conundrum, we throw it out to the universe of willing listeners and see what comes back.

And here is the glory of Azule: they understood.  no judgement, no disappointment.  A discussion of ways the project could go, a few "have you ever's," and much sympathy for the valley we were in.  Along with a huge dose of faith that we would, we could, climb out!

The common room ready for relaxing, discussions, or reading from the

extensive library.  The kitchen is communal and can be seen

behind the alcove with the round cut out.

Which is the pervasive attitude around Azule: it can and will be done.  We were surrounded by interesting unfinished projects just waiting for the right crafts person to show up.  Camille proudly showed us the difference in the work done by a "finish carpenter" who made amazing fits of things into odd places with an elegance befitting a five star hotel and then turned to contrast that with a woodworker who loved raw edges and did much interior siding which left the bark exposed with a rippled edge.  Both gorgeous and somehow both appropriate side by side here.

Here you can get a sense of the creativity and whimsy of the place.  Camille asked that this '47 Chevy be thrown in when they finally bought the place.  She envisioned it as you see it now warding off any bad "ju ju" blowing in from "Troublesome Gap" off to the left.  

She laughs that some large estates have magnificent rearing horse sculptures to do

the same thing but so far the Chevy has worked fine for Azule.

Camille is an inspirational jewel but she has gathered together an incredibly hard working and dedicated board of directors. We met several while there and they displayed no end of creative ingenuity in progressing the ideals of a gathering place for artists to nurture themselves and each other.  The day before we departed a hearty group of Davidson University students were on site to learn the craft of stone walling.  This eager bunch of laborers were not only building a retention wall for a camping site but they were learning how to move 60 and 80 pound boulders and lift them into place while chipping the smaller pieces to fit inside.  Of course the stone mason was a friend of Azules who fed his hogs with the recycled food scraps saved from our kitchen.  And who, BTW, will be teaching a fall class on how to slaughter, butcher and put up the hog. See how this works?

I hope this is not my last experience with Azule...it is nearly impossible to explain all it has to offer.  Yes, the accommodations are "basic" and yes, you cook your own meals.  But what a small price to pay for a lifetime of inspiration.  Just email me your questions or go on-line if this tempts you in the least.  I can assure you they would love to have you come be a part of what they are building.

Oh...and with a little bit of time and luck I hope to be sharing some fruits of our labors in the not too distance future!

Art Fully Yours,

Cindy

The Road to Collaboration

This is a work in progress...(taking a photo really helps to pick out the spots that need attention).  I share it because of the road...I love photographing and painting roads and I am certain there is something very revealing about my personality in that.  Most of the roads I paint head off in some windy direction to who knows where?  Yep, that is a great description of the path I am on these days...following the road, to...who knows where.

Here's the latest jaunt.  After one too many glasses of wine my sister and I made a commitment to do a collaborative project; she would write her fabulous poetry and I would paint.  Well, we both like to travel so why not get a trip out of it....one thing lead to another and we landed a residency at "Azule" just outside of Hot Springs, NC.  Please check out their site but most of all give yourself a ten minute treat and watch this video about the place.

Now of course we had to have a creative proposal to present to the selection board so I tossed out the idea of childhood memories and my multi-talented sis ran with it.  In beautiful lawyer language she explained how we would be working from the: 13 pieces that constitute Robert Schumann's Kinderszenen for piano (Scenes from Childhood), Op. 15 (1838) which showcase their creator's musical imagination at the peak of its poetic clarity.  

You can listen to Kinderszenen here played by Horowitz.

Each movement has a title such as "An Important Event," "Pleading Child," "Dreaming," and "Almost Too Serious."  We will somehow end up with 13 creative pieces, 6 from her, 6 by me and one we do together...I believe.  I have been trying not to think about the proposal so that my approach will be fresh and off the cuff and not over-thought as I am wont to do.  Actually, I am a bit timid to even go back to my childhood and reveal for all the world to see what a crummy older sister I was.  Ahem....

Anyhoo. she mesmerized the committee and this Monday we leave for 4 days away from the world to listen to the music (did I mention that my sister will be playing the movements on the piano they have in the listening/dancing room?).  We will recall our shared past while looking for visual and poetic threads with which to weave a collaborative project.  Somehow it seems more daunting in the light of day than when we first noodled around with the idea!

So I will be following that yellow brick road once again with absolutely no idea where it will lead the two of us.  I anticipate a lot of fun (like I said, watch the video!!) as we work our way around the "compound" finding the perfect mix of solitude, inspiration, networking and creation.  I'll look forward to sharing the results with you...

Meanwhile, look out for new and interesting paths....

ART Fully yours,

Cindy