heat

Heat in the clasroom in more ways than one! Art Camp with the older kids has been a blast! 18 campers that LOVE art and are pulling information and creativity out of me. Thank God for Hannah Eastburn and Mary Reinharstsen! With out them it would be worse than the monkey house at the zoo! As Hannh said today, "Crazypants!"

Being on the north side of the building is a blessing! The room temp is cool, humidity is like the rest of the world. The kids heat up the room quick, but they are so excited about what they are doing, it doesn't seem to bother them!

I'm looking ahead to next week when I'm on my own. Monday is a get the room back in order day. Lunch and planning for the fall craft fair at World Harvest. Fun! Cell group that night. Fun, different kind, again! A blank slate for the rest of the week. I wonder for how long? :)

Aaron and Marge moved out. Not a sad time! I'm actually happy that he is on his own. Even better is that he is ready. Thank God!

hmmmm

I've been thinking a lot over this past week about teaching and writing and "arting". I think one thing that is standing out is the fearlessness people have until they think they can't do something. The younger the person, the more they seem to experiment because nobody, including themselves, has told them it won't work or they can't do it.

There is a saying I had up in my room the first time around teaching that said, "If you think you can't, you're right." In Proverbs there is a verse that says, "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." Sometimes I really believe that it's not about getting more information, it's about changing the way we think.

I want to have intelligent experimentation for myself and my students. What I mean is knowing where to start with the materials and push the envelope with it. Where to start with an idea and push with that too. Intelligently choose something to solve an artistic "problem", a specific desired outcome.

I also want to help the kids put on the teflon helmet around their minds when it comes to criticism. Maybe not that the good, constructive stuff doesn't stick, but that the negative words that limit and tear down don't. That's what I want for my friends too. I want a lot, but nobody has told me I can't have it, and if they did.....teflon.

Transition

It is transition time from the school year into the summer.  Now I"M the one in school!  I have been able to be at the Bead and Button show in Milwaukee for the last 3 days and have had a great time watching the demonstrators and visiting with all the people that have an interest in clay.  I'm so excited to start working with the new ideas and techniques that I've learned!  There will be more items added to my Artfire store soon!( http://www.artfire.com/users/FesserArts)    

It's so fun to hear the comments about the items we have put out for display that are really just meant to show possibilities!  Several of my pieces aren't even finished, but we wanted people to know how approachable and doable polymer clay really is!  Our fearless leader, Beth Ackley,  http://www.destined2clay.com/  put out her meticulous color mixing chips, and people would buy those in a heartbeat!  Her bowl of cane samples have people ooing and ahhing, and rightly so!  Penny Ellen Adams, http://www.sweetpeakeepsakes.com/

could have sold out of her adorable pens by now if we'd been allowed to sell!  I'm so happy that she gets to see how people react to her charming PEAS!

I have met some of my "heroes" in the poly world and they are so nice and willing to share knowledge and information!  Barbara McGuire, Marla Frankenberg, Lynne Ann, Julie Picarello, Christi Friesen, wow.  Check out their flicker sites, etsy sites, whatever you can find.  They are just a google away!  

Just stuff

Today is a day to wrap my brain around the fact that I'm basically without structure in my day.  (Hence making potato soup for a friend who just had surgery at 7 in the morning!)  I think I understand why kids need it to feel secure!  So...let's see how I stand in the "grown-up" category!  

Speaking of kids, I love how they just flow with the ideas at a young age.  I wonder about the "how and why" of caring what others think of your work.  I want to make my time with them a safe place to experiment.  I do need them to do certain things a certain way sometimes so they can get on to the next level.  I guess it's improving their "data base" so they can have multiple ways of solving a problem or getting a specific outcome for their imaginative vision.  Back to the definition of creativity...

It's the kids that have the courage to swim upstream against the opinions of the others that I really want to nurture and encourage to do more.  The "others" are the ones I want to encourage to change the way they view things and get their minds out of the crayon box!  

End and Beginning

....end of the school year and beginning of summer. I actually think I'll be busier this summer than during the school year! After an amazing set of classes from Lynne Ann Schwarzenberg, a new group of ideas has started brewing! It was great being the student and letting someone share their experience and knowledge with me. What I really appreciated about how Lynne teaches is the WHY. WHY you do something a certain way. That allows me to transfer that to another technique and get better or even different outcomes.

Working with polymer clay is very therapeutic for me. I first started playing with it after we closed a business and moved from a huge house to an apartment less than half the size. It was an art material I could use in a small space, which was important because the entire contents of my work space were in the room my church allowed me to have. When I felt the creative urge, I had to go to my art room at church or pull out the box with all my polymer goodies! 10:30 at night was not the time to head on over to church to launch into a painting! (Not a bad time now that I have my space at my home!)

I have heard "discipline" called "the D word". That's my goal for the summer! Come along on the ride and see how it goes!