Porch Stories at The Left Bank Studio, February 2013
We had another wonderful Porch Stories event for February. The theme was “Coming to America.” For many of the participants, storytelling is part of their culture, but it’s a unique opportunity for them in this country. We recorded 13 storytellers for later broadcast on KHOI. It felt very natural to tell stories after a good meal, and the guests wouldn’t go home until they’d washed the dishes!
Clay sketches on display at
The Left Bank Studio
These are some of the clay sketches I sculpted before making the larger Story Wall sculptures for St. Thomas Aquinas Church. I could show the small “sketches” to the architects, and to church members to see if the Story Wall would say what they intended.
I gave some of them to St. Thomas Aquinas Church recently for their January auction. Now they’re in people’s gardens and homes, and the money raised will help support service trips throughout the year.
I’m really enjoying using my art to help others (and it has to go somewhere, since I’ll be moving)!
Intrepid storytellers at The Left Bank Studio
This photo is from last month’s Porch Stories, a storytelling event for KHOI Community Radio which I hosted at The Left Bank Studio. My concept of Porch Stories is “conversational storytelling over a meal,” and I tried to make it relaxing. We had a lovely lasagna dinner and I talked to the participants about storyboarding and outlining to organize a story. They quickly made a few notes, then started telling 5–10 minute stories and allowed me to record them for later broadcast on KHOI. They really got into it — we went around the group, and then started telling another one! The storytellers didn’t know what they were getting into, but I think they had fun (they wrote me thank-you notes!).
Next we have to edit the recorded stories for broadcast, and they might go on the air in March.
“Thank you” to everyone at St. Theresa School for allowing me to be part of their Social Justice Week! I grew in awareness, and they enlightened me in the ways we can bring awareness to others. The focus of the week was different types of hunger. I sat in on some lectures from the charity Mary’s Meals (Mary’s Meals USA website; Wikipedia article) and saw a video of what they do. Mary’s Meals builds kitchens and provides school lunches to children around the world who have few opportunities or resources. The children come there to get a meal and also to learn. You see people’s eyes brighten as they have not only food, but hope.
This square by a kindergarten student is about how each person is a unique, special child of God
I worked with St. Theresa students from pre-kindergarten through 8th grade as they designed and created squares to be incorporated into acrylic sculptures. First each student designed a symbol in pencil on paper. They laid a clear plastic square over that and traced the outline of their symbol using a black paint marker, then painted it.
The children’s symbols were about social justice topics such as hunger, dignity, caring for others, peace, justice, protection, stewardship, rights, responsibilities, work, poverty, and fairness. As they were painting I went around and asked them what their symbol meant, and they told me exactly. Each mark had meaning to them, and they knew exactly what they wanted to express. We wrote around the squares what they were thinking when they were painting, photographed each square, and made a video of all of them, with the children’s voices explaining their meaning. Then I drilled a hole in each square and bolted them to 16 figures that I designed, which ranged from about 30″ to 36″ high.
One of the completed figures incorporating the students’ squares
The figures were auctioned off Saturday night at their fundraising dinner and auction. They will be displayed in people’s homes and businesses, and some are staying in the school. We’ll also make stationery featuring the individual squares with each child’s name.
Throughout the week the kids did all kinds of things to raise money for Mary’s Meals. One of the creative fundraising activities was featured on local TV! The money that came in during the week was announced over the school loudspeaker, and we would pause to pray.
Thanks to the generosity of the parents, students, teachers, and parishioners of St. Theresa’s, they raised over $14,000 for Mary’s Meals! The money raised will enable Mary’s Meals to build a kitchen to provide a daily meal to students. Once a kitchen is established, on average it costs only $16.80 for them to provide school lunches for a child for an entire year (update: current figures here)! The experience showed me the power we can have. We are all creative — if we put all our squares together, we can make a big difference in the world!
Sanford Museum & Planetarium in Cherokee, Iowa
(photo from their website – click image to visit)
I was at the Sanford Museum & Planetarium in Cherokee, Iowa in January for a watercolor workshop and the opening of the Poetic Expressions in Watercolor exhibit (which runs through February 17, 2013). In addition to scientific and historical programs, the Sanford hosts exhibits of artwork throughout the year. It’s a lovely space to show and to have a reception. There is often a lecture to go with an exhibit, and for this show Iowa Poet Laureate Mary Swander brought her books and gave a talk on Farmscape that evening. Her book Driving the Body Back had resonated with me as I was travelling to bury my parents’ ashes near their original hometown, and several of my paintings in the Cherokee exhibit relate to Mary’s writing. Through them I could show people my journey and how I worked through my pain.
The theme of the workshop was also “Poetic Expressions in Watercolor” and we had a wonderful turnout of 25 men and women of varied ages. The workshop focused on basic watercolor techniques, along with creative inspiration and “painting your own story.” Participants had brought a quote or image that was meaningful to them.
Workshop participants tell me their stories as they paint
This painting depicts a family coming through the shadows strong and forgiving, transformed
We start with gratitude — painting symbols of what we’re thankful for — and then go “into the shadows.” As we deal with losses and pain, we start to see the light that is always with us. As we come out of the shadows we find our creativity and are transformed, usually involving some type of forgiveness or acceptance.
Thanks to everyone who participated in the day’s activities, and to Michele Deiber Kumm of the Sanford Museum for these workshop photos!
St. Michael’s church in Owermoigne
In addition to finding her family’s old homestead in England, my friend also found the parish church her ancestors would have attended, and I painted it from the photos she brought back. Working with these historic buildings, I end up “going back” to that time period when I paint!
St. Michael’s church is in the village of Owermoigne in Dorset, England. It’s not certain when the original church was built on this location, but the first rector was installed in 1333 (source: Weymouth-Dorset.co.uk). The west tower survives from the 15th century, and the rest of the church was rebuilt in 1883, keeping some medieval windows (source: British Listed Buildings). (The village and church seem to have something of a notorious past!)
Watercolor journal and painting, with book as inspiration
As I traveled to Greenfield, Iowa last Friday, I was feeling anxious about the time and getting to my destination — until I drove south of I-80, and the countryside made me feel like I was coming home! The anxiety dropped away as the rolling hills reminded me of going to visit my grandparents’ homes in Indiana. The sense of welcome continued as I arrived at the Warren Cultural Center and met Catherine Howe, with whom I’d been planning some new year’s journal-making workshops.
At the workshops we made pop-up journals in watercolor, starting with “What’s in my closet” — what are our hidden treasures, what do we push back/hide, what do we need to throw away for 2013?
Watercolor reflecting on "let pain be pain"
Participants brought quotes that were meaningful to them, and used them as inspiration while quietly painting. They used very simple symbols to paint their reflections. The painting in the photo is a reflection on Thomas Keating’s book Heartfulness, and Matthew Fox’s concept of “let pain be pain.” You come out of the light, you go into the dark, but there is still light flickering (depicted in the painting by using salt with the watercolor!) and you come through the pain — you don’t forget it, but it’s not so painful because you have dealt with it.
The Warren Cultural Center
(photo from the Warren Cultural Center – click image to visit their website – note: music will play when page loads)
The Warren Opera House (founded by Edward and Eva Warren) opened in 1896. Last year, after 10 years and $6 million in renovations, the opera house and adjacent buildings re-opened as the Warren Cultural Center, with a concert venue, gallery, offices, meeting rooms, and retail space. The renovation has been featured on local television and radio. In between workshops, I stayed upstairs in the guest rooms, where everything is appointed much like its original Victorian era, down to the accurately restored colors and wallpaper. I could sit in the turret on the corner of the building, drink tea, and look out on the town square – it’s like going back in history! I could feel the long skirts, the parties, the life in the building from when it originally opened.
Ed & Eva’s, a gift shop in the very large space that used to be the Warren Dry Goods Store, has a great deal of artwork from Iowa artists. A few pieces of my artwork are on display in the Cultural Center’s gallery, and more of them will be up after January 10 or so (after a prior exhibit is taken down). If you’re thinking of a visit, there are even more things to see in Greenfield!
Updated from the future to add: This display has ended. Thanks to everyone who visited!
Sketch of round barn on the Borden homestead
Artists, keep your sketchbooks! My grandparents’ home (the Borden homestead) in Indiana had a round barn in back, but when my cousins and I visited a few months ago, all we could find was its foundation. I remembered I had drawn it somewhere, and when I was cleaning out the vault I found this drawing in an old sketchbook (dated 1973).
Once I showed the sketch to two of my cousins, the stories started flowing! They wrote to me about growing up on the farm and their memories of the round barn, searching out new kittens in the spring, playing with migrant worker children during the harvest months. Seeing how the migrant families were treated unequally by some in the community (and how my uncle tried to counteract the inequity) helped foster my cousins’ sense of social justice.
Symbols help us remember, and bring us together. We’re accumulating family stories to share with relatives, and this has given us a way to continue to stay connected.
Update from the future:
Find out about current programs on the KHOI website!
KHOI Community Radio logo
(click to visit KHOI website)
Kids’ Heart of Iowa Radio is on the air! To start with, you can hear five-minute segments at 3:55 p.m. Central time, Monday through Friday, on KHOI Community Radio (89.1 FM in Story County, IA and parts of surrounding counties).
KHOI has partnered with Ames Public Library and Youth & Shelter Services who have provided assistance, meeting space, and equipment toward the goal of having young people’s voices, issues, and perspectives heard. Since last January I’ve been meeting with kids from around the KHOI listening area to develop a youth radio production crew. We’ve had workshops on writing for radio, interviewing, recording and editing audio — everything involved in producing and promoting their own radio show.
Each child brings their own gifts, strengths and interests, and decides what they want to do. The idea is that they in turn will teach others. They’ve been getting up to speed with Audacity (audio editing software) and writing and producing stories and skits. The kids wrote the intro music you’ll hear on the show. It’s truly their show, and in time you probably won’t hear an adult voice in it! We’ll also send some of the content to Radijojo (link is to Google-translated page).
English homestead,
painted from the photo shown at left
This is a commission I’ve been working on for someone who’s been doing genealogy. She traveled with a family group to England to find their roots, and they found this homestead where their ancestors used to live. She tells me, “It was typical at that time for many families, often relatives to live together in one large home like this.” They think it was built in the 1700’s, and their family left this home in 1844 (it’s still inhabited today!).
I worked from a photo she brought back and tried to bring it to life. They’re going to make prints of the painting for family members, like I did with my family’s homestead in Indiana.
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