After nearly 20 years of teaching community clay classes to everyone from 3 years old to 80 years old, I’ve amassed a huge arsenal of project ideas. I thought it would be great to share these ideas with other teachers who want to do clay in their classrooms.
I have been working with the amazingly talented Kathy Barbro of Art Projects for Kids to design a Create with Clay PDF book of classroom tested clay projects and our first one is ready to download.
For $5 you get a PDF download of 5 projects that you can do in your classroom. This first book includes Pinch Pot Ice Cream Bowls, Textured Turtles, Slab Constructed Pencil Holders, Textures Charm Boxes & Hand Bowls. All of the projects show step-by-step photos and descriptions of each project to make it easy for anyone to create with clay.
New Work from the Bone Series will be hitting the online shop soon! If you’d like to see these pieces in person, they are on display at Mulberry Gallery in Aptos Village, swing in and take a look!
The Sculpture IS: exhibit held annually at Sierra Azul Gardens in Watsonville is celebrating it’s 10th Anniversary this year! To commemorate the event, there will be an exhibit in the garden AND at the Pajaro Valley Arts Council Gallery. This is one of my favorite local shows, I’m so excited to share that I will have work in both exhibits this year, so save the date!
Sculpture Is: 2016: In the Gallery
May 4 – June 19 2016
Opening reception May 15, 2-4
With demos and hands-on presentations: 10 -2
Sculpture Is: 2016: In the Garden
June 1 – October 31 2016
Opening reception June 9
The re-post below is from my sister-in-law, painter Kristen O’Neill. She is a fantastic contemporary landscape painter who paints portraits of places in nature. She finds the essence of those spaces and lets you into that world. I’m so lucky to have her paintings in my house and her skilled eye to critique me when I’ve lost my artistic way. The post below is her answer to the question every artist has heard at an exhibit, “How long did it take to make that?” I’ve thought about writing my own answer to this question but I really couldn’t say it any better…
By the way, you can commission or buy a painting from her here: Kristen O’ Neill Art Enjoy!
The most common question I hear at a gallery opening or a festival show is “how long did it take you to paint that?”
It is a fair question. It is also an easy and safe question. People ask this when they are interested in my work and my process. They may possibly be asking in relation to my price (is it really worth $800?).
I want to have an answer for you. But I don’t. Not because I haven’t tracked my hours spent at my easel (because I have). Not because I lost track of how many hours went to that particular painting (I may have, but could rough out an answer because I know my process). The truth lies in the fact that the question is too small for my answer.
Let’s pretend I spent 20 hours on it, in front of the easel time. That is probably the answer I should give, but it is an incomplete answer.
I spent 5 minutes mixing the gray for the rock.
I spent 15 minutes mixing an EXACT copy of that color when I realized I wanted to change the way the edge of that color interacted the next day and no longer had the color mixed on palette.
I spent 20 minutes on clean up (brush cleaning, palette scraping, general clean up tasks) every time I was interrupted for more than a few minutes, or at the end of each painting session. Or when the baby decided she really wasn’t going to take that nap.
I spent a lot more time just looking at it. There is a great scene in the Netflix show “Grace and Frankie” where Lily Tomlin’s character states that she and her painting “aren’t talking right now.” As I write this I am currently casting sidelong looks at an uncooperative painting. Earlier I was trying the silent treatment. The painting always wins these silent wars. I have kept works in progress in my bedroom. I stare at them as I fall asleep, and when I wake up I am looking again for some sort of answer I swear it must have in it. Often I find my answer. Sometimes I find that my answer is that I have a critical error and must start again.
This painting hangs in my bedroom. I’ve spent countless hours staring at it.“Amongst the Redwood Sorrel” from the Henry Cowell series.
My favorite painting is one that I hang in my bedroom in and find no areas that I want to fix.
But if we put what I’ll call “skill development” aside there is still research and inspiration. I am currently working on a series centered around the beautiful Umpqua National Forest. It takes time to drive there, and hike to the spots that I am painting. I took over 850 photos on my last hike. It would have been more, but I ran my battery completely down from a full charge. Sometimes when I take a photo I know I will be painting that scene. Something feels right. Sometimes I spend a couple of hours pouring over the images figuring out which are the closest that show what I felt from the place.I have painted since my first watercolor set in preschool. But lets discount the first 15 years of painting and go with college level and beyond. When I make a painting now, it isn’t a stand alone moment. It is years of practice and learning and experimentation poured into it. It is a slow development of techniques. Hours of practice mixed with hours of research. Hours of time spent in museums, galleries, festivals and fairs looking at art.
More then once I have had to return to the very spot to solve a problem. What does it look like with more sunlight? Was that a far away tree or a close up branch? What happened in that dark spot there? Often the issue is color. The camera decisions and my decisions are not the same. It likes to turn the whole world blue when I’m not looking.
So when you ask me how long it took, I’ll say 20 hours. But feel free to ask me more because that isn’t the real answer.
Little River at Wolf Creek Trailhead
“Little River at Wolf Creek Trailhead” is an example of my Umpqua National Forest series.
In this painting you can see the smooth yet contoured river bed rocks that are normally under several feet of water. During the drought they became visible and made these interesting and graphic patterns. It was fun to explore them with painterly brushstrokes. I also loved the way the late afternoon sun broke apart as it fell across them. Like it was hopping across the river rock.
If you missed the launch in yesterdays email blast (duh, join the email list), then here’s the link to the newest work coming out of the studio. The Lichen Series, which started as two indoor wall installations has evolved into an In The Field Installation. All the pieces in this series play with ideas of death and regrowth, the power of negative space and the contrast of dark and light. This piece will be part of an exhibition later this spring, details to follow. Here is the link to the In The Field | Lichen Series Portfolio page and you can watch the video of the installation below. Enjoy and feel free to share!
The biggest compliment you can give to an artist is to buy their work directly from them. That way they receive 100% of the sale, as most galleries take 50% of every sale to cover their costs. Artists have work in a variety of price ranges, so chances are you can probably afford something from them.
Think about going to the theater or a concert, you buy a ticket, maybe not front row, but there is always an affordable ticket in your price range. Visual artists let you look for free but that doesn’t mean it didn’t cost them anything to make the work, set up the exhibit and market the event, and you usually get a free glass of wine out of it too! So buying a small item from them helps them recoup their costs and says “Thank you!” for the exhibit (and the free glass of wine).
But of course it is unreasonable to think that every single person walking through an exhibit can or will buy artwork. So, if you are not in a position to buy, how else can you support your favorite artists? photo credit: Nina Hipkins
You may not be able to afford to buy their art, but you probably know 10 people that can. Word of mouth is one of the strongest forms of advertising and rather than recommend that your friend buy that new pair of shoes, how about suggesting your favorite artist to them?
You can also ask the artists for a small stack of postcards or business cards to pass out to your friends. It’s so easy to share artists work on social media, or to forward their email newsletter onto a colleague. And if you really want to go all out, channel your inner Avon-lady and host an exhibit at your home, invite your friends to come and talk with the artist about their work.
Share opportunities with them. Do you know someone opening a restaurant, a new office, or a gallery? Introduce your favorite artists so that they have the opportunity to show their work. Share the art you love with your world and you will be supporting the artists.
I love seeing where my art ends up and hearing why you connect with a piece. If you have some of my work that you’d like to share, please email me! Thanks for sharing! This share is from the Gilson Family, whom I have known my whole life. My parents welcomed them into their new home with a piece from my Nest Series. I love how my abstract, rustic style work still blends so well on the mantle with their ceramic figurines. Here’s what they have to say about this piece…
Jenni,
We are enjoying your sculpture that we received as a house warming present from our very dear friends, your parents. We read on your website that this creation is part of your nest series depicting the balance between protecting and trapping.
We’ve always felt that art can be interpreted so many ways and at times different than how the artist sees it. We’re taking some liberty with our interpretation of this art sculpture to share with you: “when we look at your sculpture we see a new life form beginning in the nest sprouting a vibrant aqua stem which we visualize as the beginning of life and growth which correlates to our new journey involving moving into a new nest sprouting growth and vibrant new beginnings”. Life is a wonderful journey… Thank you for creating such unique art!!!
Just a reminder that my brand new book ‘where art & nature meet’ is available online! You can preview the book and order by clicking the link below. This book catalogs my In The Field installations as well as Gallery, Commercial and Home installations from 2012 – 2015.
This makes a great gift for the art and nature lover in your life! Swing by the studio and I’d be happy to sign a copy for you too!
There are just a few spots left in our kids Spring Clay Workshop – grab them before they’re gone!
This 8 week Spring Workshop is a great way to introduce kids to the wonderfully messy world of clay. Students use hand-building skills to create both functional and sculptural pieces. They are introduced to wheel throwing techniques, are exposed to the major concepts of art such as texture, form and color and still get plenty of free choice time with clay. Open to children ages 7 and up.
March 1 – April 21* 4:30 – 6 Tuesday, Wednesdayor Thursday *If you miss a class, you may make it up on another week
This workshop ends with an exhibition at our Annual Spring Studio Sale on April 30th! Students can show and sell their work at this fun event!
After nearly 20 years of teaching community clay classes to everyone from 3 years old to 80 years old, I’ve amassed a huge arsenal of project ideas. I thought it would be great to share these ideas with other teachers who want to do clay in their classrooms.
photo credit: Nina Hipkins
