Really I am.
But you're going to have to trust me on that...because I can't prove it to you.
I have never been to art school.
I don't have a degree or certificate that says I'm qualified.
I'm not published in Art In America or displayed in a gallery (unless you consider my house a gallery)
But I am an artist. I know it from the very essence of my being.
It took me 20 years to reclaim the title of artist. I had it from birth to age 11. I reveled in my creativity. I dressed as an artist for career day. I created with abandon and it never needed to fit into a mold of "acceptable" art. I believed I was an artist and I was.
And then came Mrs. Shellenbarger. My 6th grade art teacher. She was a replacement for Mrs. Bachelder, the art teacher that had nurtured and encouraged me throughout my years at Roy Clark Elementary school. She praised how I turned my spray paint squiggle into a beautiful snail, she was confident my poster for the DARE program was going to win the contest and she never tried to show me the "right way," to create anything.
In contrast, Mrs. Shellenbarger nurtured and encouraged my self doubt. She suggested that I wasn't drawing correctly, that my people were not proportional, that my squiggle could have been a little more thoughtful. She extinguished my belief in my ability as an artist just as my internal critic was at it's loudest, heading into junior high.
It was almost 20 years before I took another art class...and then it was just a "little" one for bored mommies...but after years of trying to repress it, the flame caught...that little art class turned into another one and another, then working The Artist's Way, then starting a jewelry business, then teaching jewelry design, stretching into painting and encaustic, mosaic, glass fusing, book making and most recently fabric art and quilting.
And it turns out there are no Artist Police. If I call myself an artist and can't "prove" it, no one comes to strip me of that title...turns out I was the only one standing in my way.
I believe I am an artist, therefore I am.
But you're going to have to trust me on that...because I can't prove it to you.
I have never been to art school.
I don't have a degree or certificate that says I'm qualified.
I'm not published in Art In America or displayed in a gallery (unless you consider my house a gallery)
But I am an artist. I know it from the very essence of my being.
It took me 20 years to reclaim the title of artist. I had it from birth to age 11. I reveled in my creativity. I dressed as an artist for career day. I created with abandon and it never needed to fit into a mold of "acceptable" art. I believed I was an artist and I was.
And then came Mrs. Shellenbarger. My 6th grade art teacher. She was a replacement for Mrs. Bachelder, the art teacher that had nurtured and encouraged me throughout my years at Roy Clark Elementary school. She praised how I turned my spray paint squiggle into a beautiful snail, she was confident my poster for the DARE program was going to win the contest and she never tried to show me the "right way," to create anything.
In contrast, Mrs. Shellenbarger nurtured and encouraged my self doubt. She suggested that I wasn't drawing correctly, that my people were not proportional, that my squiggle could have been a little more thoughtful. She extinguished my belief in my ability as an artist just as my internal critic was at it's loudest, heading into junior high.
It was almost 20 years before I took another art class...and then it was just a "little" one for bored mommies...but after years of trying to repress it, the flame caught...that little art class turned into another one and another, then working The Artist's Way, then starting a jewelry business, then teaching jewelry design, stretching into painting and encaustic, mosaic, glass fusing, book making and most recently fabric art and quilting.
And it turns out there are no Artist Police. If I call myself an artist and can't "prove" it, no one comes to strip me of that title...turns out I was the only one standing in my way.
I believe I am an artist, therefore I am.
Project #1
Who I Am Today collage
Supplies
2-3 magazines
1 piece of paper, cardboard, canvas, whatever is handy. No larger than 8 1/2 x 11
glue stick
scissors
1 color acrylic paint
1 paint brush
1 sharpie (darker than your paint color)
Find a comfortable spot, somewhere you can spread out with your supplies and relax.
Flip through the magazines, don't think, just pull or cut out images and words, phrases, patterns that spark your interest. Continue to pull out images/words until you've gone through all the magazines. Don't worry about what you're going to do with them, just continue to cut and tear.
Once you've amassed a nice stack of images and words, spread them out so you can see all of them.
Start gluing them one by one to the paper, board, canvas you have.
Don't worry about whether they overlap, or how they're arranged, just listen to that voice in you telling you where they're supposed to go. Maybe some go on the back and some on the front, maybe some are supposed to stick off the sides...just go with it.
When you're all done gluing, step back and admire your piece. Make any aesthetic changes you see fit (trim edges, glue down pieces that are sticking up, etc). Consider any themes you see emerging.
Now that you're done with the collage, brush a coat of paint across the entire collage. And then wipe the paint off with a paper towel or rag, just leaving a film of paint across the images.
Wait for that film of paint to dry.
Take the sharpie and write across the collage, maybe just in the middle, maybe across the entire piece. Begin every sentence with "I am..." (I am beautiful, I am creative, I am brave, I am fearful). Keep writing until it's done (maybe covered, maybe just a few sentences in the middle, maybe just around the edges).
Most importantly, don't judge the finished work. This is just one project, one day, to show one mood.
This is just Who I Am Today.
Who I Am Today collage
Supplies
2-3 magazines
1 piece of paper, cardboard, canvas, whatever is handy. No larger than 8 1/2 x 11
glue stick
scissors
1 color acrylic paint
1 paint brush
1 sharpie (darker than your paint color)
Find a comfortable spot, somewhere you can spread out with your supplies and relax.
Flip through the magazines, don't think, just pull or cut out images and words, phrases, patterns that spark your interest. Continue to pull out images/words until you've gone through all the magazines. Don't worry about what you're going to do with them, just continue to cut and tear.
Once you've amassed a nice stack of images and words, spread them out so you can see all of them.
Start gluing them one by one to the paper, board, canvas you have.
Don't worry about whether they overlap, or how they're arranged, just listen to that voice in you telling you where they're supposed to go. Maybe some go on the back and some on the front, maybe some are supposed to stick off the sides...just go with it.
When you're all done gluing, step back and admire your piece. Make any aesthetic changes you see fit (trim edges, glue down pieces that are sticking up, etc). Consider any themes you see emerging.
Now that you're done with the collage, brush a coat of paint across the entire collage. And then wipe the paint off with a paper towel or rag, just leaving a film of paint across the images.
Wait for that film of paint to dry.
Take the sharpie and write across the collage, maybe just in the middle, maybe across the entire piece. Begin every sentence with "I am..." (I am beautiful, I am creative, I am brave, I am fearful). Keep writing until it's done (maybe covered, maybe just a few sentences in the middle, maybe just around the edges).
Most importantly, don't judge the finished work. This is just one project, one day, to show one mood.
This is just Who I Am Today.