1st class School Without Walls

 

I started my student-centered art residency, "Clip, Cut, Paste: Using Technology to Piece Narratives Together," as a resident artist for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts this fall. The residency will be executed at the School Without Walls Senior High School in Washington, D.C., with Humanities and Advanced Placement Language and Composition instructor, Kamel Igoudjil. The young teens will create blogs, podcasts and ebooks over the course of 6 weeks.

The Art of Reading

DATE: Saturday, September 19, 2009
TIME: Kids at Pyramid Atlantic: 2:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m.
Art & Wine Reception: 5:30 p.m. until 8 p.m.
LOCATION: Pyramid Atlantic's ArtSpring Store,
8519 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD

Kids at Pyramid Atlantic: Read-alouds and art projects for the kids are scheduled for 2:15, 3:15 and 4:15, with Maryland Delegate Shirley Hixson, Sharon H. Philippart of PBS, The Great Zucchini and Gillian Clark, chef at The General Store.

The Art & Wine Reception features artists Adjoa Burrowes, Anthony Dortch, Marsha Gallo, Tony Gallo, Liz Macklin, Anita Merina, Ruse and Dave Scavone. A portion of the proceeds from art sales will be donated to The Reading Connection (TRC). Imagination Blooms, art by TRC kids honoring Eric Carle, will be on exhibit.

In Search of a Quiet Place

While moving artwork to a storage place this summer, I found a lithograph I created while an undergraduate art student at Howard University called "In Search of a Quiet Place". I remember working in the printmaking studio and the effort it took to grind the thick limestone down. Back then it was a very physical process. Nobody uses stones anymore, but litho plates. Surprisingly the print still looks fresh to me and the sentiment underlying its creation is still alive today, decades later.

Pictured here is the artwork being photographed by Black Artists of DC (BADC) Liberian American Photographer, Desepe DeVargas.

Serengeti On This Side

I'll be presenting some of my new digital prints at "Meet Your Printmaker" exhibition on September 19 at Serengeti Gallery, 7919 Central Avenue, Capitol Heights, MD. joined by artists Liani Foster, William Harris, Wayland House and George Shomari-Smith. http://www.galleryserengeti.com/exhibitions.html

Telling Your Story Through Art

This fall I'm on the Class Acts Arts roster for the first time. Class Acts Arts, Inc. is a non-profit arts outreach and presenting organization dedicated to bringing high quality and culturally diverse performances, workshops and artist residencies to schools and communities, at-risk youth, seniors, and special needs populations throughout Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia.

On my directory page, it urges teachers to infuse their curriculum with captivating workshops and residencies exploring multi-media collage, paper decorating, bookmaking and creative writing through my programs Telling Your Story Through Art. These are some of my offerings. Create cut paper collage installations celebrating family in the Family Ties workshop using my book Grandma's Purple Flowers as a guide. Examine cultural identity creating visual narratives in Our Wide Wide World workshop that links history, geography and social studies. Explore science and the natural world in the unique bookmaking and collage workshop called Seasons of Hope, Seasons of Change. As an illustrator of over a dozen books for children, I like to lead students in creative explorations that aid in self discovery and esteem. For more information: http://www.classactsarts.org/index.php/artists/roster?artist=53

I'm In It Deep

It's been two months since my residency ended at Pyramid Atlantic. Yesterday I delivered a print I created digitally at Pyramid during that time entitled "Bye-Ku: I'm In It Deep". As a resident artist, the print will be included in their archives. As I finished stitching the hem of the silk cloth at painter Marsha Gallo's studio in DC, I couldn't help but feel excited about the new directions I want to take with my Bye-Ku series. I definately want to include more work on cloth, introduce more stitching and printing also.