Curate This! 2013

What Does a Curate This! Teen Curator Do?

To begin, the participants decide on a theme or main idea.  By looking through the artworks in the Sabatini Gallery permanent collection (things we own), they select pieces which best fit their theme and help tell their story.

The guest curators research our records and use the library resources to create text for the exhibit.  This includes information for the artwork labels – the artist’s name and the title of the piece, for example.  They also write a curatorial statement.  This statement relates the story or idea around which the exhibit is organized.

Teen Curators learn to mat and frame artworks as needed.  Deciding where each of the pieces and text will be placed is an important part of the lay out process.  Finally, the artworks are hung with careful measuring and leveling and the cases are arranged.

Voila!  It is a finished exhibit.  Join us next year!

For more information:   http://tscpl.org/gallery/exhibitions/curate-this-the-genius-of-our-age/

Rust Red Hills, Georgia O’Keefe
http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/georgia-o-keeffe/rust-red-hills

A New Day, A New Artist,  A New Art Medium

This week in Art Club at Lowman Hill the third graders were introduced to the finer art of watercolor.  This art medium takes a lighter approach and finer motor skills which the students have been working up to all year.

O’Keefe and Texas by Sharyn Udall

The Master Artist we looked at was Georgia O’Keefe.  Specifically, we looked at her Southwest landscapes in watercolor.We talked about the visual differences in the mountain peaks of that part of the United States contrasted with our own flat-topped Flint Hills in Kansas created long ago by the inland sea.

Taos Mountain, New Mexico by O’Keefe
http://hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu/collections/overview/americas/northamerica/uscanada/painting/earlymodern/P99362.html

Group discussion included how to create a unified composition using a color scheme, patterning and visual space.  We  talked about how different colors make us feel and how this relates to warm and cool colors.  One student pointed out that summer is red…red hot!

First Step – drawing with pencil

Patterning and visual space was related to photographs of the Flint Hills as well as landscapes by O’Keefe.  They examined the use of overlapping lines to develop a foreground, middleground and background giving the illusion of receding space.  Repeated colors and shapes provide a sense of movement and unity.

Second step – Draw over lines with black crayon for resist

Begin painting (perspective learned earlier this year)

Working with Art Club throughout this year has been amazing.  The students are so eager and willing to learn and experience the world through art. They have developed confidence, problem-solving skills and creativity. They now love to talk about their artworks in front of the group.  I am grateful to be part of this outreach program and excited to make a difference in the lives of young people.

Wet-on-wet technique

Great use of color. Definitely a Modernist influence like O’Keefe but more Rothko!

]]> http://tscpl.org/art/new-day-new-art/feed/ 1 http://tscpl.org/art/what-to-do-when-the-party-is-over/ http://tscpl.org/art/what-to-do-when-the-party-is-over/#comments Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:00:44 +0000 Elizabeth Roe http://tscpl.org/?p=45000  

Romare Bearden

Pink cupcakes and heart-shaped cookies and Valentine’s candies and Valentines……and then After-School Art Club!  Too good to be true?  No, seriously. Last Thursday just happened to be Valentine’s Day as well as Art Club.  Mr. Kerr’s third-graders had a fabulous after-party celebrating African American History Month.

We talked about the collage artworks of Romare Bearden.  Then each participant created their own radial-design, valentine art piece by cutting, tearing magazine strips, copies of sheet music and tissue paper, gluing and adding details with crayon.

3rd Grader’s Collage Inspired by Romare Bearden

Students were so involved and creative.  What a difference  these art experiences have made in these youngsters lives ….in less than a year.

If you teach a person art, they will art for life!  With these students, I see the evidence of increased confidence, creativity, problem-solving and being able to talk about decisions/choices in front of the group.

“You put down one color, it calls for another. You have to look at it like a melody.” Romare BeardenTo set the tone,  we also listened to jazz, Romare Bearden revealed by Branford Marsalis Quartet, from TSCPL CD collection.

Other books about Romare bearden in the stacks:

Dreams and Nightmares

CURATE THIS! 2013   

Teens - Get a hands-on art opportunity! Learn about planning and curating an art exhibit from our art collection. You will work with Sabatini Gallery staff to select, plan and display an art exhibit in the Hirschberg Gallery. You can add this experience to college applications.

WHO:  3-7 High School Students from Topeka/Shawnee County and surrounding counties

WHAT:   Second annual exhibit curated by teens.   You will decide as a group on your own take of Underground as a theme for your exhibit.  This is part of Topeka Shawnee Count Library’s Summer Fest Reading program.   A cohesive exhibit will be collaboratively chosen from Sabatini Gallery’s permanent collection.  Writing text including curator’s statements, labels, preparing walls, matting and framing are all part of this process.

WHERE:  The front gallery space, Hirschberg Gallery.   This entry gallery has roughly 12 x 35 square feet, allowing for the reception desk and security gates, for 423 square feet.

WHEN:  Sign up by Feb 12, 2013. Dates of exhibit April 30 – August 11. You will need to be available from February 13– April 30 to assist with planning and installing their exhibit.  We will meet weekly on Wednesday afternoons from 4-5 pm.

HOW:  Interested?  Have an instructor send a letter of recommendation.

Betsy Knabe Roe

Sabatini Gallery, Topeka Shawnee County Public Library

eroe@tscpl.org  785-580-4577

The Good, The Bed and The Ugly
Curate This! 2012

Zentangle drawing is a process that utilizes paper, pencil and pen. No mistakes, just right! This method of doodling helps to build confidence, improve focus and develop dexterity.  It can also reduce stress!  By creating zentangles, you will build a repertoire of patterns and designs from which to start future art projects or more intricate zentangles.

Come learn to zentangle.  Saturday, February 9th, 10 am – 12 pm, Marvin Auditorium.  Stop in and spend some time tangling.  No previous experience necessary.  Ages 9-Adult.

Check out these books from the stacks:

One Zentangle a Day       

Lowman Hill After School Art Club outreach program of Sabatini Gallery

Why is creativity important in everyday life?  It is because it makes life infinitely interesting and fulfilling. Creativity is a way of living life that embraces originality and makes unique connections between seemingly disparate ideas. Creativity is about living life as a journey into seeing and communicating the extra-ordinariness of the simplest, most every day acts.

Teacher and student

We often think about creativity as making something, but in fact the root meaning of the word means ‘to grow’. When we are creative we feel as if the world and all that is in it is vibrantly alive. Creativity’s by-products are some of the major achievements of civilization–from the invention of the wheel to Mozart’s sonatas.

Perspective – drawing and painting

Human beings are essentially born creative–from infancy on we find innovative ways to negotiate life. The most creative people find ways around obstacles because they see them not just as roadblocks but also as opportunities. Creativity expands our perceptions and along with expanded perceptions come new ways of problem solving–from making an exquisite meal when you don’t know how to cook to painting an extraordinary landscape when you are living in a freezing attic and can’t afford a full box of paints.

Polka-dot painted pinch pot and story tellers

Painting dinosaur Story teller

What can you make with shredded paper?
Image Source:http://tinkerlab.com

Sabatini Gallery Family Art Day, Saturday, November 24, 11:00 am -1:00 pm, Marvin Auditorium 101A.  Family Art day provides an interactive  opportunity for children and parents to learn, create and, most important, have fun together.

Guaranteed that no two artworks will be alike.  This is a spontaneous, playful technique of wrapping up shredded paper to create  3-D sculptures.

Take a break from shopping, eating turkey and watching football.  Bring Grandpa, Aunt Mary, Cousin George and the kids.    Build your own Winter Fantasy artwork or work together as a team!

What will you create?   

Reinterpreted “Starry Night”

A Big Thank You to Topeka!  Over 100 individuals came to help out with Seams: Like Van Gogh, the  community outreach art project initiated by Sabatini Gallery.  Many more donated the clothing that was used for “painting” this large-scale mural.  Among those creating the mural were artists, musicians, self-titled “non-artists”, worker “bees” and sideline supporter, young and old.

One of the impacts of this type of art project is building ties to community.  It is an opportunity for everyone to be involved in the arts.   People come together who might not otherwise have contact with each other. Community art builds individual social networks along with social capitol to connect people by getting involved in working with local nonprofits.

Some folks sorted clothing by colors and some wrapped the individual pieces into components to re-create the expressive paint strokes that Vincent Van Gogh used.  Participants connected these paint strokes into components of the larger image and some wove them onto the mural itself.

Community art provides an opportunity for individual expression as well as working with others.  There are so many individual touches in this mural such as buttons and particular sparkly fabrics that a participant chose.  Be sure to get in close and take a look at the details.

The Seams project promoted awareness of those in our community that need help.  We are lending a hand to our neighbors by providing winter clothing.   Volunteerism improves our health!  Studies show that volunteering relieves stress.

We sure did laugh a lot!  We shared an enjoyment of all the above and just getting to know each other.

Diego and I by Frida Kahlo

This summer, I spent time reading various non-fiction books about the history of Mexico to learn more about the ancient cultures and artifacts. This was all very “dry” reading, interesting but all factual.

I recently came across a Barbara Kingsolver book, The Lacuna, while browsing in the library stacks.  It is not a new release but I had not read it before and she is one of my favorite authors.  What caught my eye especially was the description-the part about Mexico, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.  These two Hispanic artists are influential in the art world and are much admired today.

Kingsolver weaves together historical events, real people and an intriguing story of a fictional main character, Harrison Shepard.  The Lacuna presents a perspective of life, society, politics and the art world during the WWII era. Shepard is a cook so there are even delicious food details.  Can it get any better?  Somebody hand me another book

Seams: Like Van Gogh
Topeka Community Art Project

Community-based Art is creative expression that emerges from communitiesof people working together to improve their individual or collective circumstances.  Community-based art involves a wide range of social issues. It includes an understanding of “communities” that includes not only geographical places, but groups of people identified with historical or ethnic traditions, or dedicated to a particular belief or spirit.

 Community-based artists are concerned with the ways art can function within many different types of public arena, including community development, corrections, education, aging, the environment, healthcare, politics, disability, conflict resolution, community regeneration, cultural citizenship and more.  They are working in all media, in all disciplines, in all locations from traditional galleries to hospitals to prisons.

These artists are committed to bringing the arts to bear on the widest possible range of social conditions and challenges facing our communities.  At the heart of this social vision is a belief in cultural and creative expression as a means to affecting deep and lasting social change.

If we want respect, love and beauty among us and our community, we must actively promote it through our art and through teaching others as a conscious effort to build a movement of people prepared to facilitate and participate in social change.

Community art has a dual nature.  It is an expression of both individual and group identity.  Instead of being viewed as an isolated individual genius, the artist serves as a cultural catalyst, an integral part of a larger process of social intervention and transformation.

Through art, we can challenge many assumptions such as the boundaries between “artist” and “non-artist” or  “normal” and “abnormal”.  Community artists build upon the power of artistic creation and expression to spark new ideas and elicit new actions from both those who participate in the creative process and those who witness its results.

Join the Topeka Shawnee County Public Library Sabatini Gallery, Teens Taking Action, Topeka Rescue Mission, NOTO Artists, and myself in donating winter clothing for those in need and creating a large-scale community art mural based on Van Gogh’s Starry Night.  Watch for more details and upcoming dates for helping with this project:  http://tscpl.org/gallery