Walking away with $100!

You can imagine the surprise on these two young artists as they came for a nice evening out to see their artwork on the wall and enjoy dinner in Ventura.  Both Syna and her brother Aayan went to the art show and walked away with a ribbon and cash award's!   Now that's encouragement to keep on doing well in art class!  Many of my other students took ribbons as well in pastels and in mixed media.  You can see many of their art pieces and the talented art they are creating.  Thank you to D.A. Davidson Investments in Ventura for making this possible to showcase the art in Ventura County.

Mosaics - Just some broken tile turned into art!

I love working with students to see their ideas become a reality.  This Koi fish mural was done from the design of a Senior named Lucy, at Ventura County Christian School.  Our ideas in our art class were to transform the boring white walls in the cafeteria to a relaxing place for the students to enjoy lunchtime.  It was a great project to show how Interior Design can change a place.

The following tile pieces with the children, were done in a summer camp at my Art N' You studio in Camarillo.  The smiling faces tell the excitement they had to break the tiles and then rearrange them into a work of art.  Our lives are very much like that.  Things happen in life and they don't look the same.  With the help of the Creator, we can rearrange them into beautiful pieces of art.

I have also attached some murals that I have seen at a variety of places and was inspired by.  I love the ocean so I was impressed by these ocean murals.  And of course, I had to include some work by my favorite architect Antonio Gaudi and his famous mosaic lizard at the Park Guell!  Gaudi's work brings joy to the heart.  Amazing what a few pieces of broken tile, glass, and concrete can do for a city!

I have an upcoming Mosaic class July 2 and 3 from 1- 3 pm at my Art N' Studio in Camarillo. $55 includes supplies, students will break their own tile pieces, as well as use, pre-cut pieces to adhere them to either a 12" square or a plywood heart of similar size.  Adults can join if they want to get in touch with their inner child!  Please bring a drink as we will be working outdoors in the garden patio.

Creating with Clay

It always feels like Christmas when you open the kiln after a glaze firing, so much anticipation and sparkle from the colors.  You never know exactly how the pieces will look, if the student added enough glaze coats, or if they added something you didn't quite see them do.

Working with clay is very therapeutic as well as something that is rarely taught anymore because of the "mess".  Most children and adults like to create in 3D, they just need some help to get their imagination come to reality.   I am fortunate to have a large kiln at Mesa Union School to help students create whimsical owls, pinch pot flower bowls, slab dogs, handprints for Kindergarteners, pinch pot sea turtles, and of course I had to make a test coil plaque for my mother for Mother's Day!

This summer I will be teaching a clay class with a friend Terry who has also worked with clay for a number of years.  We have a variety of projects in mind including the crazy boxes that come out unique to each child.  And of course, you need to at least try your hand at coils.  These take some time to get even pressure on the clay snake.

The summer clay class is June 25 - 29th 9:30 am - NOON  $185 includes all supplies and you won't have to worry about the mess!

Creative Venture at Elementary School

I have been working at Mesa Union School this year and at the end of the year we put a together an ocean mural designing a variety of sea creatures out of clay and using mosaics to add three dimensions to the work.  The Principal Dr. Bluestein wanted a variety of marine life found in our local Channel Islands so the students could see what treasures are in our backyard. 

This Tri-typh mural has the Ventura Peir incorporated in the school's bulletin board, stretching out to the Channel Islands and a whimsical sailboat.  Beneath the pier is a crab and sea-star on the rocks.  The next scene is in the kelp bed and has an inquisitive moray eel, prowling leopard shark, and our state fish, a Garabaldi peering out of the kelp.  The last scene is a huge breaking wave with a school of fish, a rainbow jellyfish, and a couple of frolicking dolphins.  I am very happy the students pictured below gave of their summer break to complete the final placement of tiles to make this mural pop!

Mesa Union Elementary School is very supportive of the arts and has a kiln room in addition to the fine art program and has a variety of murals around the campus.  In a time where many of the arts are being cut from the program, the Board of Directors support the Arts!  Hooray, this could not have been accomplished without them.  Come see this in person surrounding the play area.  We are planning a continuation of this mural coming soon in January of 2018!

2017 VC Youth Art Show Winners

The Show goes on till May 19th!

Please take family and friends to see the art pieces at D.A. Davidson & Co., 60 So. California Street, Suite 301, Ventura.  This is a private business so hours are only Monday through Friday 10-4pm.

Wow, it was so wonderful to see so many of my students at this fabulous Reception/ Exhibit on March 23, who created such beautiful artwork! They all deserve a round of applause, not just those who won.  This sure had to be difficult to select the best for awards! Not all took a prize, so they should not be discouraged.  I will blog on what makes a good art piece later this month. It was such a joy to meet many of your families at the event.  And of course these happy faces are priceless!  Overall, it takes practice and work to succeed, at art and other areas in our life.

This year there were so much more younger participants and they also were quite happy to get gifts as a "Budding Artist!".  I was happy to see that those who were about ready to give up on a piece put in more time and it PAID OFF!

Ventura's Youth Art Show winners in 2016

This art show sponsored by Crowell Weeden & Co. in Ventura gave gift prizes and cash awards to many of my private tutors.  In every elementary group category, my students and parents were pleasantly surprised to see how their children performed on a county level.  Students won cash, art supplies, and a whole lot of confidence!  Not only do they see other art pieces from various students, but going to their first reception is quite an honor.  It was held at the offices of Crowell Weeden in Ventura with a special reception for all participants.

This year's show is held by D. A. Davidson & Co. in Ventura  The deadline is March 7 at 4:00 pm to bring in work.  The address is 60 So. California St., Suite 301, in Ventura above the Lure Restaurant.  If you are interested in entering go to the Art N' You/sign up page and click on the form to download and fill it out.  This year's show goes from March 13 to May 19th.  Good Luck! 

Cultural Art Programs Enriching Lives

Children's Celebration of the Arts has just celebrated their 25th year of bringing art into the classrooms across Ventura City and hosted an art show at The Olivas Adobe. One piece of artwork is selected from each classroom to be represented at the show. To celebrate our 25th year, CAPS made a video of our program. To sign up for this program, teachers are given a brochure and can select from a variety of visual and kinetic art forms taught by professional artists who share their passion with the children. The variety of the classes are not limited to visual arts, but will even show dance, drumming, and harp playing for the students. For $40, all supplies and teaching materials are brought to the classroom and a complete history and art lesson is given to the students. This beneficial program is made possible by a grant endowment from the city of San Buenaventura. To find out more you can go to:

 http://www.cityofventura.net/cs/events/kids/childrens-celebration-arts

Over the last 6 years, I have taught several cultural projects including Mexican Tin Art, or "Jolata", Russian lacquer boxes, African Adrinka placemats, Spanish Crests, and Italian Mosaics. It is such a joy to share my love of art with children. I am hoping on my trip to Israel, to present a cultural art project to bring awareness of how many religions here in Israel are working together - those of the Jewish, Islamic, and Christian faiths.

Learning to see Value in Objects

In this exercise, I had the students focus on the value of objects and really notice the shadows and highlights in  various objects. I helped them shoot black and white pictures of their still-life subjects to notice where the darkest values were without the confusion of colors. This helps the students with their future colored pieces. It also helps them to use the entire gradation scale and not just the middle values as many do. I think they did a great job, wouldn't you agree?!

Zentangle Owls

I had the opportunity to teach a group of Girl Scouts a drawing and painting class. Here are some examples of our Zentangle owls. Zentangle is a new type of art, it reminds me very much of the doodling I did many years ago. I was quite happy to see how each of these owls have their own personality. Not every girl finished with the ink pens, but all had a great time. I also tried this with a group of seniors at Alma Via Senior Center and they liked it too!

2015 Summer Camps at Camarillo Art Center

Not only do art camps expose students to art in general, they also allow the students to hone their artistic talent: whether it be in drawing, architecture, fashion design, painting, or fantasy art.

Lorrie Milton taught an Animal Adventure class where they drew a variety of animals, Ashley Goodman-Konzmann taught a small group how to paint and see value in their work, and I taught Fashion Design and Fantasy art.  Next week we will cover a variety of media including sculpting.

Each day, these art students learned how to draw fantasy art and then they chose how they wanted to complete their pieces. Students were able to choose between watercolors, markers, colored pencils, art Stix, or chalk pastels. Andrea, the youngest, brought in glitter and it added a sparkle to our unicorns! Never would have thought of that! I love their creative touches — loved this week! ☺

Ventura County 2nd Annual Juried Youth Art Exhibit

19 of my students are participating in the Ventura County 2nd Annual Juried Youth Art Exhibit. What an exciting opportunity to shine in art and have a chance to win one of many great prizes! There are $3,600 in gifts and cash awards this year. Last year, many of my students won prizes and scholarships for art lessons! Crowell, Weedon, and Co. in Ventura are sponsoring this event to promote the arts in Ventura County. (Pictured our 2014 winners)

Join us at the reception & Awards May 19th from 4-7pm.  5740 Ralston, Suite 301, Ventura.