In the past four days, I have either taught or taken a class! That might be a record for me. It’s going to take me a while to actually process all that happened, so why not move it along with a blog post? 😀
Last Friday, I had the pure joy of leading a one-day artist residency at Brandon Middle School for the Art Club kids. They have to “earn” this day by attending a certain number of meetings during the year, and they either get a field trip or a visiting artist. This year was the artist year, and their teacher Barb Bellmer asked me if I would be their guest. Would I?!? I love residencies! I had the kids (6-8th graders) do a large-ish collage in the morning, and then use encaustic in the afternoon. Here are some photos of their great work! 😀
On Saturday, I was lucky enough to take Megan Woodard Johnson‘s “Intuitive Collage” class in Grafton. It was a wonderful class, and also fun to play with paper not from my own stash! (It totally makes a difference, because Megan’s collection, while very similar, is much more “curated” than my own and her color palette is far more discerning than mine.) It was really fun to just PLAY, with no thought about anything except the process. It was much-needed fun, and lots of my friends were in the class, too! 😀 Here are the collages I made during the class! 😀
On Sunday, I had two dear people over to my house for an Individual Art class – my friend Monica and her daughter Ivy wanted to do encaustic collages. HOLY SMOKES! I am still in awe of the pieces they made – they couldn’t be any different, but they’re both amazing!!
Yesterday, I FINALLY was able to take a class with the fantastic Heidi Parkes – I’ve been wanting to take her class for literally the past year, but it just never worked out. So I decided to just take a private lesson yesterday instead! She is a fiber artist who lives in Milwaukee and is a champion of the Slow Fashion movement. She believes that mending our clothes is not only thrifty, but also employs the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, which celebrates the imperfect. It was a relaxing and contemplative (and totally fun!) way to spend a rainy Monday afternoon. And I’m also going to be able to wear my fave jeans and t-shirts again! 😀
In writing this post, I am reminded once again how incredibly lucky I am to be living this kind of life. Am I insanely busy? Yes. But I love both teaching AND the fact that I am able to learn new things as well! And as every teacher knows, you always learn something new from the people who take your classes. I know I do, EVERY time. All of these processes and collaborations; the ability to learn more about and spend more time with wonderful people; the act of living one’s life in and about art – this is what it’s about for me. I hope to live this life for as long as I am able to enjoy it. 🙂
melkolstadart 
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