Autobiographical Mandalas are complete! The Creative Explorations students have designed these beautiful radial designs using compasses, watercolor, Sharpies, Micron and white gel pens, and a lot of creativity!
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While many people begin creating art a a young age, what sets Akiane apart is her early talent for realism produced at the level of a seasoned artist. A child progidy, Akiane started drawing at the age of 4, using pastels at 6, and completed her first large-scale realistic paintings, including the one above, at just 8 years old. News of Akiane's talent began to spread, and at the age of 9, she was invited to be a guest on the Oprah Winfrey show. At 10, she published her first book, called “Akiane: her life, her art, her poetry," with publisher Harper-Collins-Thomas Nelson. From there, the young prodigy was quickly propelled into stardom. Akiane has been featured in numerous art exhibits in many unique and prestigious places, such as monasteries, museums, universities, embassies, and more. She has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars through exhibits and campaigns for over 200 non-profit organizations throughout the world. She has been featured in over 200 news/media outlets, has toured the world with her paintings, and continues to actively produce beautiful and inspiring art to this day. In addition to painting, Akiane enjoys spending time on other artistic pursuits, such as writing, composing music, and creating screen plays. She wants "people to find hope" in her artwork.
You can learn more interesting facts about Akiane and see the progression of her artwork from age 4 to now through her website: https://akiane.com/ First projects are almost finished! Last week, Creative Explorations painted a watercolor background for their mandala final project and started transfering their images over the dried watercolor. This week they started applying the inkwork, and will be finishing up next class! Painting class is well underway, with our first still life painting close to completion. This week we worked on adding light and reflections to our green glass jars and painted the green bows. Next week we will finish up with the details on the cube, seashell and sticker! After next week, all our first projects of the year will be completed! We're off to a great stART!
Autobiographical mandalas are underway in the Creative Explorations class! Each design represents an aspect of the artist's personality. Next time you see these two, ask them to tell you what the symbols mean in their mandalas!
Our Polymer clay Easter Bunny Workshop is coming up in March! We'll be creating our own little Easter Bunnies and eggs out of polymer clay! Sign up soon! Class sizes are limited! Ages 7 and up are welcome! Need a night out?Make it a date night! Drop the kids off up to 30 minutes before and pick them up up to 30 minutes after so you can have an evening to yourself! $10 extra. Just select early drop off and/or late pick up at checkout! -OR- Make it a Family Night!Join the kids and make it a family affair! Children under 6 may come only if accompanied by a participating adult. BRING a FRIEND discount
Family/Sibling discounts Current Student discount (Some discounts cannot be combined) Click here to learn more! I can't possibly say enough about Morgan Weistling. My husband first encountered his artwork at the annual "Festival of the Nativities" held in Bellevue, Washington, while walking through a room dedicated entirely to the life and ministry of Christ. In the room, though it was filled with paintings and stories, one piece stood out to my husband above all the others. It was an image entitled "Walking with God," and depicted the young Jesus taking some of his early steps as a child with his father, Joseph, holding his hands and guiding him. My husband was captured not only by the beautiful painting style, and the deep earth tones, but by his personal connection to the scene. He later told me of a memory he had of his little brother learning to walk. The little child was afraid to take his first steps, and cried when trying to do so. After some time, he was finally able to take his first steps and accelerated into a typically energetic toddler. This painting reminded Kyler of the faith required, even by little ones, to take those first brave steps, and also the faith required by each of us when venturing to try something new. It connected with him on a personal level, which is one of the best qualities of Weistlings paintings. Fast forward one year, while Kyler and I were on our honeymoon at beautiful summer resort. While wandering the large hallways and massive guest spaces, he noticed another piercing image above the mantel of a large fireplace. Upon closer inspection, we realized once again that we had happened upon another Weistling image. This time of a cloaked girl. We did not know the personal meaning of this image, but concluded that we really liked his loose painterly style, the readily seen strokes, the deep tones, and the vivid gaze of the young girl, inviting you to ponder and seek to know the deeper meaning behind the image. Yet a third and fourth time I happened upon a Weistling artifact while seeking a Christmas gift for Kyler. I discovered that he had released a book entitled "The Image of Christ" filled with paintings he had created all about Christ and his life. I purchased the book for Kyler prior to our marriage and engagement, and within weeks, happened upon another copy of it for sale at a thrift store and bought one for myself! (Now that we are married, we have two copies!) Needless to say, we felt personally drawn to his beautiful and meaningful work, which is why I have chosen to introduce him to you as the artist spotlight this week. Weistling practically grew up with a pencil and brush in his hand, taking his very first lessons at only 19 months old, sitting on the knees of his father. By the age of 15, Weistling had already begun his formal art training at the Brandes Art Institute in Los Angeles, and by 19 had his first job working for the top-advertising agency in the area: Bacon Reneric Design. He created countless movie posters and advertisements before retiring from the industry 14 years later and beginning his more personal line of work. What is captivating about Weistling's work is that he draws on history to create compelling scenes from back when times were simpler. He captures personalities, hints of light, stories that warm your heart and remind you of simpler times. He tells stories of young girls acting grown up and washing the laundry of their dollies, or bathing puppies, children reading by the fire, churning butter, baking with the family. He brings back the essence of the past when summers were filled with fishing and baking, dances, and spending time together as a family. It is this link to the past that captures me and reminds me what life is all about. From Weistling's website, he quotes, “In my paintings, I hope to communicate with the viewer the same emotional response that I felt and was inspired by. There has to be something visually stunning in the scene that causes me to want to capture that. Sometimes it is the personality of my model and a particular pose that just begs to be painted. Other times it’s just the way a particular edge stands out among the softer ones around it. Whatever it is, I know it must come from my heart or I won’t stay interested nor will the viewer.” Morgan Weistling has been featured in numerous publications, showcased his work in various exhibitions, has paintings in museums, and has won numerous awards throughout his career. You can find a complete listing of these awards, as well as other information about his work and his life on his website at https://www.morganweistling.com/about/
We hope you will find yourself falling in love, just like we have, with his grand, complex scenes, as well as his simple elegant portraits, capturing moments in time. You can buy his book, prints of his images, or just enjoy viewing them online. Find something in his work that speaks to you, and then share it with someone! What a great week! The Creative Explorations class is well under way as students work on creating their own autobiographical mandalas! Next week they will get to add color to brighten up their projects.
Painting class saw its first lesson this week as well! The key to a great painting is a great drawing, so we started off the class learning how to draw a still life scene from life! Students looked closely at spacial relationships to measure distances, sizes, and proportion of the objects all in connection to one another. I think their first drawings came out quite successfully, don't you?! Next week we will introduce color! Thank you students for working hard! Thursday has become one of my favorite days of the week! What happens when you put twelve boys in a room together to do art??? You get 12 masterpieces! Hope your birthday was as bright and happy as you are! Happy 10th birthday, Kolter!
I recently discovered an incredible artist/"toy maker" Petros Vrellis from Greece, whose mechanical ingenuity has led to the invention of unique and incredible new art methods. He has used his expertise from two Master's degrees--one in Electrical Engineering and one in Art Sciences--to combine art and technology in a beautiful, but unconventional way. Take, for example, his "Starry Night Interactive Animation." He has taken a well-known and well-beloved artwork by painter Vincent Van Gogh and created an immersive digital experience in which you can personally interact with the artwork! Check out a sample of it on his website: http://artof01.com/vrellis/works/starry_night.html Another incredible artistic feat involves a 200 peg circular loom on which he mathematically recreates faces from Renaissance artist El Greco using a single strand of twine almost a mile long! The final effect is eerily beautiful as the black threads overlap to create shades of dark and light. You can see many of the faces he has created and a video of the process on his webpage: http://artof01.com/vrellis/works/knit.html Petros is known for his installation work, where visitors can actually interact with the artwork. His "Drawing Pendulum" is another such installation. A visitor can activate the pendulum simply by pushing it, wherein it rotates in circular motions, adding layers of ink to a piece of paper as it passes over the top, until finally a portrait is revealed.
You can see other unique creations by Petros Vrellis at his website: http://artof01.com/vrellis/index.html What do you think about his art?! Share your thoughts in the comments below! It's finally time! I'm excited to start creating with you! I've given some pricing options to serve the different interests and schedules. Check out some of the discount options below: Art Pack DiscountsPurchase a four week art pack to save money on classes, or buy the entire semester for the best deal! (Pricing options available at checkout under the Drop-In menu.) (Packs only valid for Spring semester 2018.) BRING a FRIENDBRING a FRIEND for an additional 10% your purchase! To qualify, BOTH you and your friend MUST sign up for the same classes, packs, or workshops. Once you have a friend to join you, you may both sign up using the code: bringafriend to save 10% on your purchase! Sibling DiscountWant to enroll more than one child? No problem! You'll have the option of adding a 10% sibling discount for each additional family member who enrolls upon checkout. The only kink with the system is that the siblings must be enrolled in the same class for it to work. (They are working on changing that.) If you would like to enroll multiple children in different classes, email [email protected] and I will make a unique coupon for you to use. Class packs also do not apply a sibling discount. You may use coupon code siblingdiscount when purchasing class packs for more than one child or person. First Friday WorkshopsI'm also pleased to announce a series of workshops beginning in March and running the First Friday of each month. Drop your kids off for 2 hours of artistic fun! Need a night out? Bring them up to 30 minutes early and pick them up 30 minutes late so you can enjoy a little extra time to yourself! ($10 extra) Select this option at checkout! Thank you!I hope you'll find something here to serve your artistic desires! I've tried to make the prices more affordable and thus the classes more accessible. I'm really looking forward to creating with you!
See you at the studio! -Kellie |
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