During the month of June, artists in the Open Sketchbook mentoring program explored new and novel ways of approaching the subject of flowers while working with our Everything's Related: Flora and Fauna theme. We took our inspiration from a variety of sources including expressive Wild Style graffiti painting, working with our fingerprints, creating hybrid forms by merging flowers with other objects, and creating unconventional bouquets from flower photos and painted images by Mondrian, O'Keeffe, Twombly and others. 

 

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Artists in the Open Sketchbook mentoring program recently explored a beyond-the-sketchbook project called Borderlines as part of our Everything's Related: Boundaries and Borders theme. These works began with an intuitive contour-line mapping of organic shapes (twelve or more) on large sheets of paper. The edges and/or borders of these shapes were then used to frame unique areas formed around a twelve question KB Studio Curios questionnaire.

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Over the past few months, we have been working with a variety of themes and prompts related to the spirit of summer fun. During the month of June we explored the subject of Expansion as a way to open up new pathways in projects currently underway.

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During the summer months, our wonderful community of dedicated artists focused on the subjects of time and space in their sketchbook work. We used the concept of Drift Time in relationship to the lazy days of summer to guide a more relaxed approach to image making and Space Time in connection to visual dimensionality to aid in the formation of engaging, impactful environments. 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

During the month of July, we explored the physical world in our sketchbooks by observing the built structures and shifting forces of the earth's surface. We focused on the the layers, textures, and patterns seen in areas of strata and erosion and experimented with ways they could be visualized through layered ink and watercolor washes, linear mapping, combining wet and dry media, and by using dry earth pigments. Continue reading

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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Our wonderful community of artists came together on Tuesday, April 27th for our much anticipated Virtual Dinner Party. This project came about after we had collectively been exploring the tondo, or circular shape, as a new compositional format. We had also been having conversations throughout the pandemic about which artists through history we would enjoy having dinner with, imagining the lively conversations that would ensue between artists past and present. Since the tondo form could so readily be imagined as a dinner plate, it seemed the ideal time to come together for a virtual dinner party (with Judy Chicago's famous Dinner Party installation not far from our thoughts). Continue reading