Continuing Education of an Aspriring Artist

my altered book, front cover

On 8 May 2013, I spent two lovely hours at the Lancaster Public Library absorbing instruction and inspiration from Mimi Shapiro, a Lancaster collage and altered book artist of world renown.  After seeing one of her exhibits last year, meeting her was one of my goals for 2013.

my altered book, interior spread no. 2

After returning home from her altered book workshop, one thought she shared stuck with me more than any other. Make art every day, because art is important. Everyone needs art.

I had started to feel that my creating was pointless,because so many other activities were demanding my time and energy. I decided now was the time to continue my art education. I finally began working from two books, Collage Lab by Bee Shay and The Collage Workbook by Randel Plowman. Both books offer small assignments to increase my knowledge of materials and challenge me to explore new techniques. Over the past month, I completed several labs and exercises in each, and I already had to step out of my creative comfort zone. Although I try to fit in an assignment a day, sometimes I miss a day or two, then do two or three in one day. These two books are helping me grow my artistic abilities like participating in Pilates and Zumba are beginning to stretch and strengthen my body.

print of a collage by Mimi Shapiro

As I complete labs and assignments and document my progress here, I will once again begin to send some Real Mail. Thank you to all who continued to send art to my mailbox while I stepped away from posting (Real and virtual) to pursue my continuing education in art,
because we all need art!

Postage and Art History

Because I always need (read: want) more beautiful stamps, I dashed off to my local post office yesterday to purchase the new Romare Bearden issue (and mail a package too.) I love to mail my mail art with art stamps! I am grateful for the encouragement the USPS offers me in continuing my art history education. You can read more about Romare Bearden here and the stamps celebrating his art here and here.

Hooray for Mail Art!

My dad sent me mail art!
He painted this watercolor while taking a short vacation
in Ocean City, New Jersey.

I am replying with this fashionably altered vintage card
showing the Pennsylvania Railroad Horse Shoe Curve.
For more railroad fun, check out this amazing video:
Maple Mountain Sunburst Triolian Orchestra - The Age Of Steam

A beautiful drawing of a Xiamen University building from China
via Postcrossing.

My reply to China. The cool of autumn is beginning to creep in,
and I had my first cup of hot tea today!

#5 More Art, Less Craft?

I often have trouble calling my card-making Art, especially when I base the design on someone else's sketch. I recently read an article about this very dilemma, and the author wrote something to the effect that if you make a technique your own, own the work, put your own spin on the design, it is Art. If you are simply following directions or recreating from an example, it is Craft. Even the cards I make completely from my own brain still feel like Craft. I suppose I aspire to be an Artist. Maybe someday I will arrive.

I created this in the past month as a wedding card. It is 5x7 inches, larger than most cards I make. The background is a page from a 1930 play script called "Oh, Promise Me!" Scraps of cardboard, sheet music, mulberry paper, with large button, twig, and linen thread comprise the focal point. Machine stitching and letter beads frame the collage of textures.

Life, Art, and Letters

Life has gotten in the way of keeping up with blog posts and new creative endeavors lately (again.) I am spending my quiet moments these last few days sending Real Mail. I thank those of you whose letters arrived in my mailbox last week. My middle daughter spent three days in the hospital receiving antibiotics for pneumonia, and those letters brought more cheer to me than you could have imagined when you sent them. She is home now and almost back to her old self.

I wanted to share a story of art, love, and letters I enjoyed on NPR this morning.
"Stieglitz and O'Keeffe: Their Love and Life in Letters"
http://www.npr.org/2011/07/21/138467808/stieglitz-and-okeeffe-their-love-and-life-in-letters

May you be startled by unexpected beauty today.