Alexandra Sheldon Collage Class this weekend

Alexandra Sheldon

This just arrived in my email in-box. Alas, I'm gallery sitting the Loading Dock in Lowell. But you can sign up for this class tomorrow. All supplies are included. Alexandra is a generous, experienced teacher. You will come home with tons of materials and ideas. Can't make it? Check out her website for other classes and times.

Autumn Leaves Collage
Still a few spots open for this Saturday, October 25.
The workshop runs from 1pm to 6pm.
I will have twenty plus fall leaf colors all mixed up for us to play with. 

To sign up, contact
Alexandra Sheldon
617.429.4434
www.alexandrasheldon.com
facebook.com/asheldoncollage

art with the elderly

Three-week painting

Two more classes this week, first in Assisted Living, then in the Alzheimer's wing. Various conflicts meant only a handful of students in each, but that gave me time to sit with the each student, and help them, again, to face the blank page and come out with art sixty minutes later.

Focus

 The start of class is always the hardest. People are "all over the place:" restless, tired, doubtful. My job each week is to open an emotional window and let the fresh breeze blow in.

 We talk about the subject matter.  I demonstrate a technique. Then, one by one, they begin to find their way.

Autumn still life

 Autumn is the easiest time to teach. Subject matter is everywhere, just waiting to be brought inside.

Working with stenciled designs

I brought stencils this week. They charmed even the most hesitant into painting.

New student, autumn tree

A new student in the Alzheimer's class did not speak until the very end. But she painted, fully engaged for nearly an hour. She smiled when the painting was done.

Autumn landscape

This landscape is by a woman who's worked with me for nearly five years. She'd never painted before I came. Now she can scarcely hold the brush and uses her non-dominant hand. But look at that work: Energy. Color. Life.

Free Form Fabric Collage

Free Form Fabric Collage last night. Thank you, Arlington Center for the Arts, for bringing such wonderful students together.

 Last week, we started with VALUE: what it means in life and what does in art.

 Students made value scales for each definition. We talked about color preferences, the "whys" behind what had seemed like random choices.

Then they worked from photos to make small abstract collages, keying to value instead of color.

This week we worked with fusibles, making collages and then small screens. We'll print next week and collage some more.   This week we used fusibles, including fusible vinyl to make screens and stencils, which we'll use in the coming weeks.

So this morning, everything looked like collage material to me.

 I got out some "failed" paintings and rustled up a bunch of  tiny narrow collages.

Of course I had to do some printing.

 Then out came all kinds of other bits and pieces.

 Bookmarks! They'll be on sale this weekend at Lowell Open Studios. 

Find me in Studio 512

122 Western Avenue.

Sunday, 1-3 is demo day: I'll be printing away outside the studio.