Many of you are on my email list for workshop notification, and thanks so much for that!If you are, you know that there is a new year of Painting with Fire beginning soon.

This has been the most phenomenal program to hit the Encaustic arts community in —- well, forever! It’s the brainchild of Lora Murphy, and it has widened the appeal and exposure of painting with wax exponentially. You can read more about how Lora won a coveted award from the International Encaustic Artists for her amazing work in this article.

I am so excited to be back for my third year with Lora Murphy and Painting With Fire. Please consider enrolling – I honestly didn’t realize that you can access the previous two years of lessons when you sign up for this one! But it’s true!  Here is information on this year’s spectacular line-up.

PAINTING WITH FIRE 2023-24

I’ll be teaching two classes for Painting with Fire this year. One is called The Birds and the Beads, and the other is called Unfolding Stories. Classes start April 26th, 2023, and right now there is an Early Bird price of $249.

If you go to this link on my website, you can see a short preview video of one of my classes called The Birds and the Beads. Actually, this video is from the very end of video when I am amazing myself that everything turned our so well – sometimes it doesn’t!

Click here to see the Birds and Beads video and also to register if you decide you’d like to join Painting with Fire for the Early Bird rate.

Here are some more birds and beads done with encaustic medium and beeswax and other stuff:

So NOW for the next WAX Feature – (and enrolling in Painting with Fire might help you with this one).

There is an open CALL FOR ENTRY by the International Encaustic Artists that invites you to show how you interpret the lovely, lowly wildflower. It’s called Wax and Wildflowers:

IEA and SAALM (San Antonio Artists League & Museum)
are co-hosting a collaborative juried exhibition –
“Wax and Wildflowers”

June 11 through August 11, 2023.

DEADLINE TO SUBMIT:  April 15, 2023

Click HERE for details

The coolest thing is that the exhibition will be held here in San Antonio at the SA Art League & Museum in June. Encaustic artists from all over the world will submit work about wildflowers. The whole place will be abloom!

You can read the story about the inspiration for this show as well as find our who the jurors are by clicking this link.

If you are interested in Painting with Fire or the Wax and Wildflower show, here’s a prompt to get you started. The first five people who send me an email before noon today (CDT) with Wax as the subject will get a copy of my eBook called Behind the Veil: Beeswax and Collage. You don’t have to enroll in anything or enter the show to get a copy – just be one of the first five. I’ll send you the download link.

Thanks for reading SHARDS!! Wax on!

I’m back from all kinds of adventures, including a studio move and teaching a workshop at the new Rockport Center for the Arts. Both those stories will be told later, but first, a delightful post from guest artist Meredith Johanson from Buffalo, NY.

Meredith and I “met” in the Spring of 2021 by email when she sent me a lovely thank-you card. We found much in common and promised to keep in touch. Then just last week, she send me photos of an amazing mixed media piece called Our Lady of Covid Relief. I know that her work and the story behind it will resonate as much with you as it did with me.

Our Lady of Covid Relief
by Meredith Johanson

I struggled with all the new parameters that the Covid pandemic created, all the fears, uncertainties, new ways of living, and all the old ways that helped in this strained situation. And of course, the original, authentic me created during all my years of living (70) was there too. So I processed what was happening to me in art from the get go. What else was there to do?

Ideas that have resonated with me for as long as I can remember include the idea that inanimate objects can have their own spirit, can hold spirit; madonna/saint/goddess figures are simply objects of focused love and somehow that gives them power/healing/softness and makes them universal; i have seen a wonderful humor in much around me; the universe provides if only we can be still and listen.

As many of us did during the ‘Covid period,’ I reached out to/with friends in art. I was talking to my cousin, half a country away, one day about using doll forms to represent spirit, call in spirit, release spirit, create presence, centering, grounding, releasing something, etc. We decided to embark on a project in which we would both make a doll (she never had even contemplated this) and I would coach her along. Then we would compare what we did.

I quickly discovered that the blue paper mask laying on my work table in the studio instantly turned my face into ‘Our Lady.’ She existed for months with just the head covering, watching over us all and waiting for me to catch up to her. And we were making friends.  As we went through our own physical process with Covid, I began collection physical things that I loved visually from the experience and mental things/images as well.

I did collect the physical bits together on a tray that I saw every time I was in the studio. There was a sense of her presence with it, so she existed even then, although not in complete form yet.  This method of working is part of the way I think/process what is going on in my head when I can’t put words or concrete ideas to it. If I see it visually and let go of self, the bits seem to have a way of working themselves into order and letting me know what else they need.

Of course there was so much, and Our Lady didn’t come together in the time period I thought she would. And she existed in my mind and that felt like enough.  This Winter, something shifted in my world, I felt ready to ‘re-enter’ a more normal life and move away from Covid. Time to address all that stuff on the tray!

Some of the things that are part of “Our Lady’

I have always saved fortune cookie fortunes and have a big box of them.  Sometimes I look at them for inspiration, or to find something fun to add to an art piece. AMAZING – many of them were eerily appropriate for Covid – “‘A chance meeting with a stranger may change your life,” ” Enjoy time in nature,” “The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go,” “Do what you can with what you have,” “Now is not a good time to travel,” “‘Now is a good time for a bit of solitude,” etc. I will always think of those fortunes when I think of that time period.

The syringes are representative of our hopes for a vaccine that would end the madness.  I worked in the medical community for 25 years and was surrounded by them, but if you suddenly want them for an art project, Oh NO! not available. But when my neighbor spontaneously delivered a bag of the tiny ones to my mailbox, I was blown away.  I love that they have become her halo.  Indeed, vaccines are the saving magic for many illnesses.

There are a lot of references to testing and testing supplies, appropriate because the became such a part of my (our) daily lives. They are inserts from Covid tests, printed in 7 languages that the tests are approved for use in that country, stamped with a big red seal, made in China. I love red. I love they are a reminder that the entire world, the human population was in this together.

One bit of testing ephemera is actually saved from personal use, in which 5 people were home testing together and the testing method was too hard for any of us to figure out. So some of it is really personal, some more global in nature. The back is covered with a testing instruction sheet and the hanging device is a N95 mask, signaling for me when restrictions began to be lifted across the board if a N95 mask was worn. Time to let go of it all.

There is actually quite a bit of humor in the piece.  I would say this is usually a part of my work, although it’s not ‘in your face’ funny.  I see it as my own little joke, and an added bonus/treat for viewers that look close enough to find it. If it wasn’t for humor, how ever would we get through this life?

Meredith

NOTE: I love Meredith’s work because it represents the best in art – creative, relevant, beautiful and ironic in its beauty. Meredith, many thanks for sharing your personal thoughts and processes about Out Lady. We can all relate, and we can all be grateful on so many levels for having come together through this experience.

There is such joy in making something out of shards and discards, especially if they have a history. Remember my post about provenance? I wrote, “If you look up “provenance” as it relates to collecting art, you’ll find that it refers to the trail of ownership of an art object, or the history that got it from there to here. But every object has a history and a story based on where it is found. As an artist, you can incorporate those stories to give richness to your work.”

So I call these new assemblages “Two-Byes” because they are made from small scraps of two-by-four lumber found at the edge of the junk pile of a construction site across the street. The house that’s being built there is on the site of a lovely old brick home that was torn down to make way for this giant new structure. Sigh.

At any rate, these Two-Bye assemblages are full of stories about where the parts come from, and the whole is always greater than the sum of the parts.

The Two-Byes start with stamped random words from an antique stamp set that was a gift from my friend Jean.

Picking out words to stamp give me a creative kick start – it doesn’t mean that the piece will be about seven white horses or Japanese combs, but pictures start forming in my mind about how these words suggest stories, materials, and choices. I love this stamp set!

The heads are fired earthenware (Texas Longhorn White) and I have used the same base face with variations for these guys.

This structure lends itself to all kinds of media. Here is a Two-Bye called “Love Letter” with surfaces of encaustic collage.

Here is one called “Indigo Girl” – she is covered with hand-dyed indigo cotton and has rusted metal elements. Rust and indigo are such natural partners.

Here is “The Artist’s Cat” – it also has rust elements and a “heart box” covered with a mica sheet that reveals a murky portrait of a cat inside.

One of the things I really like about assemblages like these Two-Byes is that they are a playground for experimentation. They come from humble origins but tell glorious stories in all kinds of media languages.

If you’re interested in learning more about assemblage, I have an online course called NEO SANTOS: New Interpretations of Folk Art Saints and Angels that can give you more ideas. I now some of you have taken it and I see what you’ve done with it – good for you!

But you really don’t need a workshop to put together a scrap-and-shard story – just collect some scraps of wood and fiber and metal and write some random words to guide you. See what happens!

This Sunday, 50 Years of Fiber Art, an exhibiting celebrating the golden anniversary of the Fiber Artist of San Antonio, opens at the University of the Incarnate Word University’s Semmes Gallery. Fiber Artists from across the region and the U.S. present work inspired by culturally significant milestones of each decade since the 1970’s – fashion or design, pop culture, music, architecture, notable people, places or events, or even a more personal story about the artist’s experiences.

Juror Paula Owen selected 37 pieces from the 220 submitted. I had the fun of helping unpack some of those entries yesterday with the FASA team at UIW.

Each artist chose a decade to interpret, and interestingly, about half of them chose the 70’s. I love Terry Gay Puckett’s take on that decade (we were requested to give a statement about the work) – and apparently, so did the Juror!

My own piece reveals a bit more frustration about my chosen decade – the 90’s. That was when Technology discovered me and dragged me, kicking and screaming, out of my secure art studio. This mixed-media/fiber work, which is also in the exhibit, is called Digital Divide: The Last Kimono.

Until the mid-90’s I had been happily going along making art – particularly large-scale folded and framed paper kimonos – and then I was chosen to do a technology internship by the school district where I was teaching at the time. No more kimonos for me. The possibilities that digital tools offered were dazzling and frightening, and it turned my whole notion of art-making upside down. I eventually joined the Computer Science Department at Trinity University in 2004 – now that was a trip!

I have so many terrifying moments of that  decade – crying because I didn’t know how to use a Windows computer since all I had used was Mac, calling the Ed Tech department at my school district because there were fish swimming on my computer monitor and I didn’t know how to get rid of them (It’s a screen-saver, Lyn – just move your mouse and they will go away.”), and mostly pretending that I knew what I was doing – wrong.

Artists generally think more globally than technology likes – digital proficiency is so hard because it relies on a completely different skill set than traditional art does. Many skilled artists realize that they’re beginners again when they switch to a digital art platform and have to relearn the basics. Look at this face – this is not a happy woman:

In my statement about this piece, I wrote: “It took another ten years before I found my way back to clay, paper, beeswax, and fiber, my instinctive, beloved media. This work is constructed of canvas from my old studio, torn, and imprinted with computer code. The 90’s decade of immersion in technology and the digital binary world continues to serve and influence me like a gift of fire – brilliant, indispensable and risky.” Ultimately, I am so grateful for the chance to learn the kinds of skills that let me bridge the digital world with the hands-on studio work.

All of us could tell stories about a particular decade that changed us profoundly. What’s yours? If you are in San Antonio and you’d like to see some answers interpreted through fiber art, come to the opening of 50 Years of Fiber Art this Sunday.

PS – if you look carefully at the poster for the show (above), you will see that the “button” that makes up the zero in the “50” graphic came from a photo I took of a detail of my submitted work when I designed the poster for UIW – that’s how digital art can combine with the real thing. Groovy!

My friend Ann Leach is a visionary who is passionate about doing good through art. Her first project raised money for Ukraine by inviting artists to make and sell dolls based on the traditional Ukrainian Montaka model.

Ann has expanded her reach with a world-wide call for Elemental Spirit Dolls. She invited me to help, and we are joined in this project by photographer and graphic designer Waldinei Lafaiete, who will produce an amazing catalog of the accepted art dolls.

You are invited to enter this call and to share your vision of Healing the Planet through the creation of a spirit doll, Wanderer, Neo-Santo – whatever creative figurative form you choose.

Helen Layfield, British fiber artist and scholar, will act as Juror. Besides the photographs of the dolls, which will be for sale to benefit Friends of the Earth, there will be essays by Barb Kobe, Joanna Powell Colbert, and other artists whose studio practices are grounded in nature and conservation.

For all details and answers to questions about this unique initiative, click on the image below:

This brand-new workshop follows closely on the heels of The Wanderers, one of my most popular workshops ever.

One of the reasons I like small-scale workshops like Secrets of the Spirit Box is that both experienced artists and beginners can use them as little “meditations” when there is a bit of time and space in the studio between big projects. These assemblages provide a stress-free exercise in design and decision-making using materials that we usually have on hand.

I’m really excited about the Secrets of the Spirit Box. With three hours of videos, this engaging class shows you how to transform simple materials into a magic box assemblage with lots of places to hide secrets. Like The Wanderers, you can customize and adapt the ideas endlessly.

Also like The Wanderers, the workshop tuition is just $39 and the videos are downloadable and available forever – at least as long as I am around! You can go to the class link and view the Introduction for free.

The Secrets of the Spirit Box

Here are some more photos that I took while I was working on this project.

There are several parts to making a workshop like this in case you are ever interested in doing your own.

First, of course, comes the idea. I like to think of things that are almost fail-proof and always educational and enjoyable. Then you need to make some prototypes or samples to make sure your ideas are realistic and match your original concept in clarity and simplicity of process.

Next come the filming – break it down into manageable segments. I did one segment in this new workshop in which I made a Spirit Box from start to finish in one hour, no breaks. That was hard because I kept seeing new possibilities as I worked, but stuck to the plan anyway! (Some workshop designers film with their iPhone, but I use a Sony video camera on a boom stand.)

Then comes the editing. I use three different kinds of software depending on the project: Adobe Premiere Elements, Windows Movie Maker, and Vimeo Create. You can get a free 30-day trial of Adobe Premiere Elements to see if you like it. And, yep, you gotta just sit there and learn it. But learning is good.

And finally, you share your workshop online. I like Teachable a lot. It’s not perfect, but it’s a good option for me right now. If you want to do a practice workshop, try uploading your video to YouTube and see what response you get. It’s an interesting entry sharing platform.

Sharing what you know with other creative people is important and keeps you connected to the community of makers and artists.

So here’s MY latest share:

Secrets of the Spirit Box

I”d love to have you join me! Thanks for reading!

In the wonderful way of things, I just received a photo of a Spirit Doll from Ireland that brings me great joy.

I “met” the maker through my Etsy shop. Her name is Linda Newman, and she’s from Westport, Co. Mayo, Ireland. Also, in the wonderful way of things, she has visited the studios in Mulranny where Lora Murphy hosts Painting with Fire.

Linda ordered some little clay faces from my Earthshards shop – when they arrived she wrote, “Your beautiful spirit doll faces arrived today. Across two countries and an ocean in perfect condition. They are all talking at once and I have tears to hear them!”

She told me a bit more about herself – it sounds like heaven.

“I’ve a little farm with loads animals n bee hives n gardens. Just time to LIVE now n get off the wheel.”

And then just two days ago, I received this photograph – look! And then read about the animals that make this creation so special, below.

Linda writes, “Her hair is Lambchop wool (Lambchop is her sheep), and a lock of mane from my dear pony Bobby, guinea feathers from Ethel, my intention is on a heart under the chamois dress. She is nesting in the child pepper wreath in my kitchen so I can see her every day.”

“She has a sharing of animals that were very dear to me. Lifting Bobby’s mane and burying my nose in his beautiful scent underneath was my treasure.  Mind you Ethel got a fright from a fox recently and has absconded to the neighbour’s woods. I had to retrieve her when I get back. Her husband Fred doesn’t seem to care she is living a field away. A modern relationship. I’d gathered those feathers after I cried n thought the fox got her. But she was too clever!”

I feel as if I know Bobby and Ethel and Fred and Lambchop. What a book that would make! Perhaps when Michelle Belto and I go to Ireland to teach next year at Mulranny, I can actually meet these rascals – and Linda, too!

Linda just asked, “I have a bag of washed n carded wool from my sheep Lambchop, which is a natural creamy colour but has little seeds and bits of dried plants still in it. Would you like some? I can send you some. Will make very interesting hair.”

Wow, yes!! Hair from Lambchop?? Lucky me – I can’t wait to see what that magical Irish wool will inspire. Thank you, Linda!

Life’s connections invite us to respond to them with a thrill of wonder – keep reaching out, keep connecting. You’ll receive joy in return.