Chicago comes alive each summer with its beautiful lakefront and breathtaking views of Lake Michigan, bright cerulean blue skies, plush canopies of trees, colorful gardens of all shapes and sizes, and a wonderful abundance of urban energy. As an artist drawn to warm weather and being outdoors, soaking in the endless visual displays of nature in combination with the city's built environment fills me up with a dizzying amount of inspiration to consider and explore in the cooler months ahead. Continue reading

During the month of December, we worked with the concept of emanations, a thing or issue that spreads out from a source, while viewing videos of natural energies, forms, and phenomena. These include Reindeer Cyclones, Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty, snowflake designs, ice crystal growing on glass and ice crystals freezing inside bubbles. Each of these subjects were explored on sketchbooks pages using a 5"x 5" square format and a wide range of drawing and painting materials.

 

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During the month of November, the artists in our Envision Program explored the concepts of Constellations and Murmurations in their sketchbooks. These subjects provided engaging opportunities for working with complex environments and natural phenomena while working with a succession of drawn and painted layers. Continue reading

Over the past few months, artists in our Envision program have been researching the subject of Environments in their sketchbooks. They have been exploring the meaning of the word itself and its relationship to the natural world, our built environment, physical space, ecological concerns, future realms, and our material reality.  Continue reading

This summer we used our sketchbooks to gain a better understanding of the physical world that surrounds and supports us everyday. During the month of June, we explored the concepts of tracings, filaments, and symbiosis through naturalistic drawing approaches, linear mapping with ink and experimental color, masking tape topography, and printing with natural forms.

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Over the past six months or so, we have been busy creating work for our upcoming Water Worlds exhibition, opening June 10th, 2022 at the Anchor Building Gallery in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. Hosted by artist and marina owner Virginia Carstarphen, the show will be installed in a massive marina structure located on Lake Saint Clair that is usually reserved for boat storage. We are very grateful to Virginia and her husband Todd for providing this exciting opportunity for all of our artists. Continue reading

As we come to the end of August, there is that familiar feeling in the air -- the one that reminds us that the summer went by way too quickly and those back-to-school-days are right around the corner. It is reassuring that despite all the disruption from the pandemic, our calendars, schedules, rituals, and rites of passage keep moving us ahead. Even with the strange pandemic fog that we've been collectively suspended in for over a year and a half, the anticipation of seasonal change continues to keep us on track and offer new possibilities for growth and discovery.

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There is something quite enticing about a new sketchbook. From the moment it  opens, a whole new world awaits to be discovered. The blank pages suggest such promise and opportunity for visual exploration and creative play. Many pages -- many attempts -- many hours -- many thoughts. 

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I have been experimenting with the art of collagraphy, or prints made with hand-made textured plates, for many years. The thing that draws me to this type of printmaking process is the simple construction of the plate. I use foam core board as my base and attach pieces of nature, recycled odds and ends, and small metal objects to my plate with acrylic matte medium. 

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