I have had the opportunity to participate in Maryhill Museum's Summer Art Institute for Educators for the past two years. This year I returned as a presenter and student. (What a great way to earn a couple of credits to help keep my teaching license valid!) The theme for the class this year was Reuse, Recycle and Repurpose: Sustainability and Art. This was right up my alley and spending a week creating and learning about recycled arts was exactly the getaway I needed.
About 20 educators and art enthusiasts from the Gorge and beyond attended the class. We sketched, created a circus with wire, made collages, created dream boxes, and worked on mosaic color wheels using cereal boxes. Here is what I ended up creating by the end of the week.
Box of Dreams in the style of Joseph Cornell
Using items that represented myself and my family, I created this Box of Dreams. I ended up loving this project much more than I anticipated. These boxes lend themselves to narratives by the artist since there is so much to look at and many of the items included in the box are representational.
Recycled Paper Mosaics AKA "Cerealism" taught by Peggy Dills Kelter
We used cereal boxes to look for color and texture to create these color wheel mosaics.
Sketching
We also spent time each day doing some sketching. This was my study of a potato.
Collective Drawing
We were asked to sketch a number of pictures each day. After sketching for 3 days, we were to create a sketch using at least 4 of the previous drawing we made. Mine included the shed in my backyard, a metal and glass sculpture made by Jess Caudill and Tom Herrerra, a sculpture found in the Sculpture Garden at Maryhill Museum and the door that was in a straw bail house we toured in White Salmon, Washington.
Sketch of Oregon as seen from Maryhill Museum
Collagraph using cereal boxes
Collage and Recycled Poetry
We were asked to make a collage using found paper and using one article, find words to create a poem.
I taught a session where I explained the Repurposing Project. I also spent time talking about the Plastic Quilt Project and led the teachers in creating their own plastic quilt square.
Each year I take this class I fall in love with Maryhill Museum even more. The week I get to spend learning about art and creating is like a vacation for me. I hope to recruit my husband to take the class with me next year!
