Keeping you up to date

  A time line of photos showing the awesomeness that has been happening in the studio.  I continue to be inspired and love the challenge of creating thought provoking curriculum.

 Created with Kindergarten students.  Forest houses!  This project will also become a part of our Outdoor Art Camp.  Pinch pot tops, with slabbed bottom structure.  Bottom part of the mushroom houses were leatherhard so that the students could carve and detail without it collapsing. 

 Lots of art workshops even through the summer!  For Teens and adults.  The work that is created in these mini sessions are fun yet produce work that is very professional and will inspire you to keep creating.  Taught by working, professional artists.  Wheel throwing, Book making, Screen printing for t-shirts, and Zine making. 

 This was created by one of our adult drawing students.  Our adult classes are very flexible to fit into busy schedules.  8 card class passes are good for an entire year.  She has never taken a drawing class before and was inspired to add an additional element to her journal entries.  She is a writer and published author and has loved seeing her progress (as have I).   Love the expression of her fabulous dog (pencil on paper).  Learning how to train the eye is taught even with our littlest students.  Each new session working on something that intrigues our eyes and stimulates our mind. 

 Sewing!  Who wouldn't want to add this to their basket of talents.  Sewing classes are year around, with the special addition during the summer of Fashion Design Camp.  Two different sessions available.  In class and in camp students learn to machine sew, design patterns, work on personal projects, and above all gain confidence to create!   For ages 7 and up.

 After School Enrichment art classes have finished for the 2012-2013 school year.  We will be back at it again in August, coming to over 12 different schools.  So honored that Studio 4 Art is found as an educational and professional organization that can bring quality art sessions into schools.

Pictured here is a student who has painted his background and after mixing the skin tone, is painting the shape of the head....all with his fingers.  This class is offered for students, grades 1-5, and I find it important to go back and remember what it feels like to play.  They were later painted with brushes when we were doing more intricate work on the portraits themselves.  They had a blast. 

 Studio 4 Art sponsors at least 2 free art days a year.  This was a part of the Art, Wine and Music Festival in Novato.  My favorite quote of the day, "Wheel throwing has been on my bucket list for years, so happy I can check it off.  Thank you!" 

 Lino cut prints.  The process has a zen quality to it.  From sketching your design, to transferring it to your linoleum plate and especially with the carving.  But the true reward, the magic of the print.  Printmaking classes offer this as one of the techniques learned.  We also have workshops!

This will be a part of the Mixed Media Camp.  I think we may print them on t-shirt to show them off.

 Bisque ware is available at Studio 4 Art.  You can come in a paint a piece any time we are open; M-F 10:00-5:30 and Saturday from 10:00-2:00.  This piece warmed my heart.  It was created by the child's hand and her thumbprint.  Then outlined with one of our glaze pencils.  So sweet. 

 One of our own teachers was in a show recently.  It sponsored up and coming artists in the bay area.  This piece is one of my favorites, although it is difficult to photograph, the process is layers of photographs, printed on transparency's.  He has bolted them together with space in between to give depth and also adding a bit of ghostly quality to them.  Artist: Jenson Neugebauer

 Our first week of summer camp.  These young artists were looking at trees to sketch to become inspiration for our later project in clay.  They were looking for the width of trunks, how many branches they saw, the outer shape of the tree (contour line), how to create so many leaves in one drawing and the texture they saw on the trunks.  Observational drawing at its finest. 

 

When we closed our eyes and imagined ourselves as trees with a background that symbolized our favorite time of day, this is what happened in our Clay Play fine art camp.  Love, love, love.   The process was of visualization, inward perspective, and painting on clay as a canvas.  Summer camps, art work that is above and beyond.

 Encaustics are still a mystery to many.  I have been painting with wax for about 5 years now (first learning the process in college) and have enjoyed sharing my experience with our students.  The scent and sensation of painting with melted wax is like no other.  It is great for many, many reasons; laying in words and poems to work, layering in handmade paper, mixed media art pieces, for those that like to carve, and especially for those that enjoy the creative process.  It is a medium that allows you to just let go and have fun.  Truly.  It is a wonderful medium if you love scrapbooking too!  Encaustics is available in a weekly class, workshops throughout the year and will be a part of our Teens ONLY camp.

Our First Student Art Show

Studio 4 Art is priviledged to work with many local school's offering After School Enrichment Art. We have just finished up our first 8 week course of the 2011-2012 school year and wanted to show off the student art that was created in our new addition, the Annex. We offered live music (compliments to the Magic Flute of Terra Linda for supplying!) and hors' deurves to set the mood for this special night. I love teaching these classes as the energy is always exciting and our usual full classes of 16 always offer a different experience every week! A special shout out too to our after school instructors: Marilyn Burkholder Creamer, Ann Gerard, and Susan Poer. And thank you also to the schools that welcome us in. This show was with 5 Novato California elementary schools; Hamilton Elementary, Pleasant Valley Elementary, Olive Elementary, Loma Verde Elementary and San Ramon!

With over 100 pieces of artwork, it was exciting to see the space come alive with color. The work looks amazing and the students have worked hard learning a lot of techniques while having fun and studying about Mr. Picasso.

Each session Studio 4 Art brings something new and exciting to students in our After School Enrichment programs. This session we studied and looked at Pablo Picasso, learning about his style, technique and what kind of art mediums he liked to experiment in. Students created a print using a foam plate while learning about Picasso's blue and rose period. They studied Picasso's cubist paintings looking at such work as "The Guitar Player". We took this idea and brought it to a new level of cubist painting. Beginning with acrylic painting (encompassing learning about composition and color mixing) student began their adventure with linear angled lines and then painted inside if this design. The next layer of this painting was to have the children fully explore the creative process by dividing their painting into pieces by cutting with scissors, to then put back together creating a completely different cubist type painting. We ended our session with clay and sculpture work. The emphasis in this exercise, continuing with Picasso, was how the artist loved to exaggerate features and figures, sometimes creating a more comic like piece and learning his reasoning for this exaggeration was in part due to perspective. The clay project is using clay that is a porcelain type clay and was fired in Studio 4 Art's kiln.

Studio 4 Art is very excited to have a space where we can let the students see their art work framed, hung and lit up. It gives them a sense of pride and accomplishment when their work is up for all to see. Looking forward to the next show in about 2 1/2 months.

Mom's- Sharing the Love

Mother's day is Sunday and I have been pondering this a bit. I have three children ranging in age from 21 to 4. I am thankful that I have experienced raising children as a young mom. It has given me a different perspective on raising my youngest son and remembering to slow down enough to absorb, observe and relish small moments in his life. As mothers day approaches I have been thinking about the gifts I have received over the past 2 decades. Although I can't remember all of the beautiful gifts, I do remember the ones that my kids have put thoughtful creativity into. Some of my favorites are hand prints, letters written on how I have inspired them and of course their artwork. All of these capture the precious sense of time, love and uniqueness.

Flowers are always a hit as a way to say I love you. I thought that this week I would inspire our students to create flowers that would last a lifetime. Here are just a few of the beauties that were painted.