HAPPY NEW YEAR from my Art Students and I at Whitney High School

Student Art Display in the Front Office.

About once a month or so we change up the student art display in the front office.  

To put up a display of this magnitude takes at least 2-3 hours, and I'm very fortunate to have Alumni Alyssa Olea dealing with this and so much more.  She is my right hand woman, and works for me 8 hours each week.  I don't know what I'd do without her.  I do know that my program wouldn't be as wonderful or organized without her.

You are a blessing in my life Alyssa, thank you so much for your dedication and hard work.

I love you, and so do the students!  They know you make this program work as much as I do.

One of Jim's Xmas Gifts

Some of our super soft white cotton pillowcases are starting to fray at the edges so for Xmas I took two of them and eco-dyed them and also edged them with beautiful trims.  This is one of them.

I printed it with windfall from the porch of the cabin along with some dried chrysanthemum blooms in various colors.

The results were stunning and very masculine.

I especially love when you can see the entire leaf printed on the fabric.

This is the pillowcase right after I unrolled it after 2 weeks of sitting up on the mountain.  Does it look this vibrant after laundering?  No, it does loose a lot of it's value, but it's still really lovely.

Experimenting...

with a bit of Nuno Felting and some waste materials.

Felted

Now to eco-print with rusted objects.

The result...but not done yet.

I gave the piece to my super-duper 3-d art student, Karisma Dev, and asked her to do what she pleased with it, and OMG, told you she was super-duper!!!

What I love is that it was a joint effort, and the two of us will be linked together through this piece.

Forever...

Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays to All

Taking a couple days break, be back soon,

xoxox
Deb

Meet My 2nd Quarter 7th Graders

First assignment, Value Scales.  They knocked it out of the park.  

Denise Chan, who turned in not one, but two!

Ann Luong, pretty sophisticated right??

Manishka Ranjit, an amazingly talented young one.

This very sophisticated piece above belongs to Larrisa Nguyen.

And Stephany Arciga, with her great border treatment.

This is a wonderful group of kids and I look forward to sharing them with you.

Eco-Dyed Summer Top - My Work

Just messing around with some cottons which are much harder to get to take the dye then the silks and wools.  

You'd think I'd get a punch of color like you are starting to see bleed thru below after I folded the left front over the right,but after steaming/boiling..

the result is much different then you'd expect.

The marigolds and eucalyptus leaves pretty much stay turn to color...

but I really lost the wonderful pomegranate red.

But then when you look really close you are seeing some turquoise and purples.  I actually like how the back side looks more then the front.  And if you look even closer you can see how the lace trim is picking up the colors as well, above.

Our November and December Sunsets...

and sunrises have been spectacular this year. 

this is right outside our condo garage.

Beautiful!

Eco-Dyed Table Topper - My Work

Experimenting on a vintage cotton table topper with amaryllis flowers, pomegranate seeds, marigolds, and tea rolled over a piece of copper pipe then boiled for a couple hours.  Pre-soaked in soy milk. 

Just in time to put on the coffee table for our family Holiday party.

Burrr....

it's cold up here on the mountain, 

but ahh, mommy lite a fire and now it's just right!

I'm going on a two week Holiday Break, but will be trying to keep up with my posting, so please stay tuned  :)

Felt Pouches - Student Work

I introduced you to my Beginning 3-D kids a few weeks back with their sweet felt embroidered pillows/pin cushions, well these were their finals for 1st Quarter.  

They had to combine all that they had learned about color theory, design and embroidery in this piece, so enjoy.

This top pouch was made by senior Julia Kim and is one of my favorites.

Below hers is the lovely stitching of junior Katelyn Uchiyama.

This adorable UFO is the work of junior Bianca Tolentiono.  Great colors on a striking backdrop.

The cute little Pikachu was made by senior Esther Woo, and the delightful butterfly next to hers belongs to senior Andrew Rim who exhibits amazing craftsmanship skills.

The lovely piece above was done by 8th grader Annie Lin, and below we have seniors Vinisha Kothari with the remarkable mermaid and Dhruvi Chauhan with the atmospheric landscape.

The little cutie above is the work of senior Megan Yeu.  Megan has a great class schedule this year.  She is planning a major in art, so this year she was able to fit 3 of my classes into her schedule, Advanced 2-d, Ceramics I, and Beginning 3-D.  What a great way to go out of here  :) 

And lastly there is junior Charisa Marie Perdon Bloemhof with a picture of her new baby sister.  So sweet!

Tales from the Birdhut

Musings on Art, Walks with the dog, and Life as it Happens

This is the work of Saski, an artist that I recently found via Jude Hill.  She is combining printmaking, eco-printing, stitching and weaving, so many of my favorite things  :)  

see more of her work  here.

Weavings of Jen Mullen

Whimsical and fun, this is how I want my students to know weaving, and this is what Jen Mullen of Bayou Quilts explores on a daily basis.

Look youngsters at how she sets up her foundation, wandering here and there and then filling in later.  This is how I learned to weave in my Crafts Class at Sunny Hills High in Fullerton, Ca. in 1973 with  my instructor Rose Ann Johnson.  

Jen is also exploring the possiblities of burlap as warp below.

What a great idea!

And Jen calls this Nature Crafting, going outside to see what nature has to offer.  Love how she has thought to bring her weaving into these very simple natural objects.

For more on Jen and her art, please see my Featured Artist of the Month across the top of my Home Page.