Nenagh Art Classes - Spring Term

Art Classes are back in Nenagh Arts Centre for the Spring term. I have reved up the imagination and come up with some nifty new flyers. I have been spending some time trying to define what it is I do and why I do it. I know why I think we should be all be painting or creating everyday and I can see the impact that art has on the people I work with. However I don't know if I am communicating this message.The new flyers are meant to start that discussion for me, let people know that this is going to be fun and excitting and that the art class belongs to them.

Do let me know what you think. Have I hit something here or does it all sound a bit bonkers?

Top Inspiring TED Talks on Creativity

I have been aware of Ted Talks for some time, but lately I went in search of some inspiring thoughts on creativity. One of my own personal hurdles on creativity is my reluctance to own it. When people ask me what I do for a living I say that I "work as" an artist. Not that "I am" an artist. In fact I actually say that I "work as" a community artist. God forbid I give myself all the credit. I have been thinking about where this would have come from. Being an artist is not something that you're encouraged to pursue as a career choice. When in school I was very focused and committed to art and didn't have much doubts around being an artist. However when I got closer to leaving school and applying for college something started to shift. It happened when everybody started talking about college and career choices. I began to feel a bit naive that I thought I could be an artist for a living. I remember one teacher asking me what I wanted to do when I left school and my reply was to be an artist, her response was "well that's nice as a hobby". That one innocent statement was the beginning of the doubt and had a big impact on me. I began to feel a bit stupid for thinking that I could possibly do that and also that it was even worth doing at all. In the end I applied for a course in design, thinking it was a more sensible option. One year in and I knew it wasn't me, too many straight lines and hours at a computer so I left to start a different journey.

It has taken me many years to come back to the place of wanting to be an artist again. Even though throughout all those in between years I have been selling paintings, drawing illustrations for magazines, teaching others to paint, exhibiting work and creating large art pieces with groups but not once would I say I was an artist. It was as if I was declaring myself to be KING. In the last few years I have been warming myself up to it by claiming to be a "community artist" because so much of my work is in the community sector.Other people call me an artist and many people around the town call me "The Art Lady". The Art Lady is a pretty cool title too, however from this day forward I am making a change, I will make the declaration and call myself an "ARTIST".

I heard once that we are the stories that we tell ourselves, well I am telling myself that I am an artist, it is what I always wanted to be and is also the one job that I have to pinch myself when I get paid because I fell that it crazy to be given money for something that I love to do and would be doing anyway.

I have selected a few talks about creativity and claiming creative roles in our lives. I think if we make creativity and art more of a norm then we won't have people telling us that its "nice as a hobby". I challenge those of you teetering on the verge of claiming such a title to go for it. Go all out and give your title some extra oomph. Choose from my list below and just think about the bank officials face when she processes your new claim for a loan and sees your profession!

Artist Extraordinaire

Creative Genius

Musical Maestro

Inspirational Poet

Now for the Inspirational Ted Talks

Elizabeth Gilbert on creativity and genius

Amy Tan on creativity and career choices

Janet Echelman on taking imagination seriously

Let me know what you think and if you have any occupation titles to add to the list.

Creative Christmas

Rosie and her Doll

I haven't written in months, not because the creativity has dried up but because it has been flowing in abundance and I haven't had a chance to catch up with myself. Between all the Christmas presents I have made and taking care of the new baby (and the rest), I just didn't have a moment to record any off it. However  I couldn't let it go without putting up some pictures of the presents I made for my two youngest. I have caught the knitting bug lately and have even found myself a guru, an ICA member and knitter extraordinaire. She even has had her work hanging in the Aras!! That is a serious badge of honour.

I found myself an enchanting book a few months back that really captured my imagination. It is called "Toymaking with Children" by Freya Jaffke (2003, Floris Books). The author basis all her designs and toys on the Steiner philosophy. The book emphasises the different phases of childhood and the nature of play. It explains how the simplest of toys are often the best as they allow the child to use more of their own imagination instead of allowing the toy to do all the work.

I picked out a simple knitted doll for the baby and also a knitted farm for my son. Both have gone down really well but already the mane has been ripped from the horse and the dolly's head is being pulled out a bit far from her body. I think it adds to the charm and I absolutely loved making them. As basic as they are, for me it was a real challenge to figure out the patterns and to get them made when everyone was in bed.

The Farm

I am finding that I am beginning to be sucked into the charm of crafts. Where before I think I was a bit of a snob, thinking that only fine art had any real artistic merit I am beginning to see the error of my ways and really embracing the skill and creativity involved in craft. When fine art was historically the domain of men, women found their creative outlet through their craft work. For many women creativity had to be built into every day life and the outcome needed a practical merit. I have seen the dept of skill that many women have and disregard as useless or would never give their creative input into a textile or knitted project much thought. This is a train of thought that I am hoping to continue in the coming months with one of my women's groups, exploring creativity in crafts.

Nenagh Art Classes

Children's Art - Saturday Afternoon
Explore a range of craft and art based activities. Children are encouraged to discover their own creativity and interests. We will be using a range of meduims and also looking at the work of well known artists.
Ages 5 to 7 yrs @ 2pm, Ages 8 to 12 @ 3pm.
Eight weeks, cost €85, Starts 1st October

Adults Art Workshops - Thursday Evenings
Get in touch with your iner artist and find your own inspirations. Open to all abilities for a relaxing and social evening.
Eight weeks, Thursdays 7.30 to 9pm
Starts September 29th, Cost €110

To book a place call Olivia ph: 087 6380201 or email olivia@creativehouse.ie. All materials included, cost can be paid in full or by installment.

New Art Classes

Clay Mask -

Creative House are now running art classes in the recently opened Nenagh Arts Centre. I am really excited about this. The new centre currently don't have any ongoing visual arts program and I am hoping that I can carve a place there for our courses. With the new baby I will be bringing in some help with the wonderfully creative Aisling Finucane  running the start of the children's classes. We are going to explore a range of mediums and craft projects. As always I will be bringing in ideas from well known artists but also encouraging the kids to find their own inspirations. Some of the art work will be displayed here and I will also post some tutorials so you can do the classes with your own kids.

The adults workshops will focus on helping people to get in touch with their creativity. I often find when working with adults who don't paint at home, they have a reluctance to let go and allow what ever is inside to come out. They can often spend a lot of time trying to get something 'right' and be 'good'. I suppose if the last time you did art was in school if can be very hard to shake that internal teacher. I hope to make the class a relaxing place where people are happy to explore and experiment without the inner critic.

I am looking forward to getting my hands messy.

Community Sculpture - Update



My Wabi Sabi Sphere



I have been very busy of late, our baby was born three weeks ago so my motivation to update the blog has been taken away by a very cute little girl. I was unable to get the sculpture into the cathedral for July so I am hoping to have it in for October. I did however have it displayed in the local gallery during the festival, where it got a great response.

To be honest I had my doubts, doubts in buckets. I wasn't sure if anyone would quite get what I was trying to do or what the Wabi Sabi Sphere meant. I also was worried that no one would turn up to the workshops. But most of all I didn't know how I was going to pull it off in the end. What was it going to look like? After a short little meltdown in a room full of styrofoam painted balls and 30 metres of tangled wire, I called in my ever helpful husband and two designer friends for consultation. Once I got my head in the right place I was able to pull it all together in a very short time. The result is the long intertwining piece that can be hung in different places and manipulated into different forms. I must say I felt very proud when it was hung in the gallery.

Below are some images from the workshops and gallery.

Community Workshop

Children's Workshop

Jess the Artist

If anyone is interested in how I made the sculpture drop me a line and I will give you all the details and list of materials.

My Viking Experience

Last week I went into my daughters school to deliver a workshop in papier mache. I had spoken to her teacher months earlier explaining that I was a community artist and would be happy to deliver a workshop in the classroom. Artists coming into the classrom is a relatively new idea but something that has great merit. The Artist in Schools Scheme has been running for a number of years in Ireland and it gives schools an opportunity to work with an artist around the curriculum. There has been a big debate in recent years that primary teachers are overloaded with expectations to know how to teach academics, sport, art, music, drama and whatever else can be fit into to the day. There is also increasing evidence that using creativity within the curriculum makes learning more successful as it reaches out to those kids who may not favour academic learning. I have worked with a wonderful artist Jole Bortoli who has worked in an educationally disadvantaged school in North Dublin City. Fortunately the principal had the openness to facilitate the running of the Junior Certificate through art. Jole explained how this approach transformed the kids attitude to education and even themselves. The constant challenges of creativity and learning gave them a confidence and sense of themselves that they wouldn't have had before. It also kept that them coming back to class each day, which in itself was a success.

I have worked in schools before using art, however it was with the aim of integration. In West Tallaght in Dublin there is a large population of non Irish, mainly African children. The teachers in a local school recognised that the boys would often integrate and mix better by playing sports, however the girls didn't seem to gel as wel and there was an obvious divide. I designed a series of workshops where a group of girls from both nationalities worked on creating their own dresses and had a fashion show at the end. It was a great success and highlighted how effective using creativity can be in bringing people together.

This time however my mission wasn't quite so grand. My brief was papier mache and Vikings, and with the help of my daughter we came up with the idea of a ship. I took the shortcut of googling 'papier mache boat' and came across such a simple and sweet boat that I couldn't resist (Ann Wood and her wonderful creations). We made a mock up before class and altered the design to suit. I went to the class and was happy that we hit on something good. However when I delivered the workshop the kids were more than pleased with the process and outcome. The teacher was so accommodating and helped push the learning with the creativity. We all chatted about Vikings and what type of Vikings the each child's ship (the skull and cross or pretty flowers gave the clues)  would carry. When they were all dry and finished the teacher displayed them outside the classroom giving much pride to the creators.

My daughter has written a summary of the class;

Hi my name is Ella, I am nine years old. My mum came into my class and did art. We made Viking Ships. We used hessian for the sails and cereal boxes for the boat. We dipped sugar paper into PVA glue and water to coat it all. And we used skewers for hanging the sail on and a small pin to hold it on. It was a papier mache boat. We used so much glue that you could knock on the boat. Loads of us got glue stuck on our fingers. During the class we were talking about Vikings and our teacher was asking us about Viking facts. We learned what they did and what they stole and how they lived. We hung them in the hall and put up a blue backdrop and they looked really cool. We got loads of compliments from the other teachers.

*****

To read up more on Jole Bortoli and her wonderful approach to children and arts click here.

I also came across a fantastic new site for kids to display their work, The National Children's Gallery of Ireland is a new site that promotes young kids work, click here to see the future artists of Ireland.

If you are involved in any creative work with children let me know and I can post it on the site.