What a Wonderful World

I love that we can integrate art into every subject to make it more engaging and expressive, or even just bring a smile to a class! Last semester when I was doing my practicum I was teaching a unit in light and I have to say - I didn't find it terribly interesting. I know, gasp! School work not interesting? It's not that it wasn't valid information, it just all seemed like common sense. One of the things that I'm challenging my self to think about is that common sense only becomes common sense with some background information....so all this "common sense" teaching is important. Does that make sense? Anyways, I wanted my students to be excited so we did fun hands on stuff and I wanted them to feel encouraged to play with light. Like most classes, we had a projector in ours...and as soon as that thing was on, there was some kid who just had to get up and get something and "accidentally" create a shadow of themselves, a peace sign, a bunny...you know, that common things :) I used this video to introduce light and at the end of the lesson, if they were done their work they were able to come and have at the projector to try to recreate some of the things that they say. Most of them had no idea who Louis Armstrong is so the first part was a little lost on them but I guess that is to be expected. The kids loved it and as it was the first lesson that I taught them...they liked me a little more too! WIN!

Reminders on a Wall

The weather is changing and the air is turning crisp and as it always does this time of year, my mind is wondering down a path that involves all the joys that winter brings. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking forward to the icy roads and the scraping windshields and the days when your body aches after one breath of the chilly air but lets be real, there is beauty in every season! I can't help but think of days spent sledding with all of my brothers and my sister, and now, as an adult, helping my children create those same memories. I think of hot chocolate and cuddling up with a warm blanket and a good book. I think of Christmas of course!!! And...I think of home. I think of the home that I grew up in with loving parents who taught me about love, about faith and about life. When I first started to think of a picture that encompasses these feelings I would have assumed that I would choose a family picture in a winter setting but instead, I couldn't help but think of a few paintings. For quite a few years my parents bought a painting every year at Christmas from an organization called Focus on the Family. In time we built up a collection of works by an artist named G. Harvey. His western paintings have amazing depictions of cowboy life and nature; but it is the turn-of-the-century American and European scenes that play with light and convey heartwarming messages that get me this time of year.

This painting is called "Unto the Least of These" and is my very favourite painting. 

I know when one of the other paintings comes down off of the wall and this one replaces it, that Christmas is officially on its way. I love the play of light in this piece but what gets me is the message. It is a message of giving and such a good reminder in a time of year that so often gets super busy and messages get lost. I don't necessarily think that this piece is the best painting that I've ever seen and it is not even a style of painting that I love. However, I love it! I love the home that it connects me with, the parents that I adore, the siblings that I love, the faith that defines me, the season that I love to celebrate and a message that I want to pass to my children. 

I would love to have this piece in my home. I picture a day that one of my children might curl up on a couch with a blanket made by someone they love. They can have a drink that makes them feel warm and safe and look at this painting and remember that they are blessed. Most of all I hope that they consider that not everyone is blessed in the same way and to remember others during the holiday season.

OK Go!!

I wanted to talk about music today, how it can make you feel and and how amazing it can be, but when I started to think of what piece of music I loved, I thought of this one! So alas, this post will not be about feeling emotions like love and sorrow, it is about a song that makes me smile, and I'll admit, when I first saw it, wonder if it was f'real. Since seeing this video I have fallen in love with OK Go! Ooops, I guess I was wrong, the song did inspire feelings of love. Ok, if you have not seen this video,  watch it now!!! 

Amazing, right???? These guys are so committed to their art and show a creativity that I have never seen before. They inspire me to find music in everything. To stop being annoyed with the person who clicks their pen or taps their desk but to ask myself, can I make a tune in my head that fits this tapping, this clicking? Is there a chance that the person doing that sound already has a song in their head? If so...do I want to hear it? 

I love the part in one of the behind the scene videos that Damian Kulash (singer) says "It's not a question of whether it will work...it's like....how good will it work?" I think that this goes with what I was talking about yesterday about things being "ish". They have a vision and they are going for it. They don't know exactly how it will turn out but are going to do their best - I find that inspiring. It just so happens I don't find it interestingish, or songish, or musicish, I find it completely spectacularish!!!

What kind of "Ish" are you?

In class we were recently introduced to a wonderful book called "Ish" by Peter Reynolds. I am sure that I will talk more about it later, as I have fallen in love with it and the message in contains. However, it has got me thinking about what art is. There are a few mediums that I use to express myself and I hear the comment all the time, "I would love to be able to do that....but I can't :(" And yes, that is a sad face. The people saying it don't say "colon, parenthesis" they show me their sad face...and I feel bad for them. That they feel they cannot do something is crazy to me. I don't think that I have any talent, I just like to express myself and chose to do it through hobbies. I actually had an art teacher tell me once that when I first started he thought that I had no talent but he saw how committed I was to using the medium (pottery at the time) and practicing like crazy and that I had become one of his most talented students. That, in itself, makes me question the idea of artistic talent. I know that there are people that pick up a paintbrush or a pencil...or any tool, and impress others; but I don't think that there are a lot of people that "wow" others without practice.

So that got me thinking of the different types of "ish" that you can be. What kind of mediums do people use to express themselves and what would happen if they decided to really express themselves through it? If they didn't let the fact bother them that their drawing of a vase of flowers doesn't exactly look like a vase of flowers and decided to be happy that it looks "flower...ish." If we let are expression become more than a replica of what the world expects and more of a showing of what is inside us, waiting to come out.

My favourite form of expression is not through a pencil or a pen, I do it with a rotary cutter and a sewing machine. I love quilting. This love began as wanting to make a quilt, but I quickly discovered that I didn't love making a quilt, I loved quilting. It is not about the end product, it is more about the process. I love thinking of patterns, dissecting how to make them work and taking whole canvases, chopping them into bits and then making them what my vision is. There is a funny thrill that I get from taking a perfect piece of fabric, ironing it 'til it is even more perfect, and then cutting it to bits, knowing that I can make it into something that no one else has ever seen in their heads. Some of my quilts are very plain and some are very complicated.

What started as a hobby has now become a part of me. When I am happy or sad, my sewing room is where I want to be. When the world doesn't make sense, I love knowing that I can have control over something, over my art, over my vision, over a part of me. It is cliche but quilting has become what I do when my world is in pieces. These little pieces going together is the perfect mix of art and math for me!

Those strong emotions of joy and desperation often are related to circumstances involving people we love. Conveniently, quilting is also how I chose to show love to others. I love the fact that through this textile form of art I can go to those I care about, and in their time of special celebration, or in their time of despair, I can give them something that they can wrap around themselves that is my expression. It is a piece of me that they take with them, and I LOVED making it for them.

So my greatest expression isn't necessarily "art" but it sure is "art...ish". And when I do it, it makes me feel like I am creating something great. Not "Sistene" great but surely enough to inspire emotion in the one that I am making it for. So what other kinds of "ish" could we consider art? I am sick of people telling me that they are not artistic when I see them making beautiful things in life. Beautiful woodwork, beautiful gardens, beautiful desserts!!! If you don't consider yourself "artistic" just be "artistic..ish" and rest assured, "ish" is completely beautiful to me!!

A quilt made for a girl I'd never met in a competition. I got to
read a bit about her and her loves (at three years old!) and
then make her a custom quilt. Funnest competition that I have
ever done! See the bottom for another view.

I love taking the interests of the parents and put them into a quilt
for their new little one! This is a quilt for an avid horse lover and
rodeo barrel racer. 

Sometimes a geometrical design is the most beautiful thing.
This quilt wraps my son, Owen, in warmth every night when I tuck
him in. 

A friend of mine adds her art to mine with custom, amazing,
top stitching before I bind my larger quilts. Most of my quilts,
for sure all the baby ones, are backed in soft chenille type fabric
called Minky. It is lovely and cozy and I feel that if you put your
heart and soul into a piece of art, you might as well finish them in
the most cozy way you can think of.

I wasn't sure how "make me a penguin quilt" could be cute when it was
custom ordered but I loved it and it was so neat to see it take shape
before my eyes, much to my surprise.

A doll quilt for the daughter of my son's Kindergarten teacher,
She was an AMAZING teacher, I would lobe to make a whole
series of these quilts (guess the series!) for my own classroom one day.

Lego Princess Leia for my niece, my brother loves Star Wars

This is another view of the first quilt pictured
It is the first quilt that I put hidden shapes in.
I told the recipient that if she ever needed a little
extra love she could hold the quilt up to a window
and find it.