Today I did something I have never done before.
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| Still life of Game Boxes |
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| Victoria and the student who broadened her horizons |
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To begin at the beginning. My husband drives a limo for a company that works with workers comp clients. One of these has a brain injury and she attends a center that teaches adults "life skills." My husband is often her driver and so they get to talking. She became very interested in me and my art via these conversations so one day he gave her my business card. When she got to the center, she was so excited that she got one of the administrators to look at my website with her and then asked if she would invite me to come and visit them to talk about my art. This morning was the day I went. I insisted on doing a project as I could not imagine talking about my art for 2 hours to a room of people with varying disabilities.
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| Hard at work painting spider mums |
I talked a little about what I do, showed them a few still life paintings and explained what I look for and what I was aiming at in each of the paintings. The paintings I brought in included the paper bag, the painting all in yellow and one that included a myriad of unrelated objects to show them that it didn't matter what they painted, just to have fun. I kept the explanations very basic and simple such as shapes and color. Then a quick demo and time to help them with their own paintings. Their work was impressive. I hope you enjoy seeing some of the pieces I was able to photograph.
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| Brown Paper Bag |
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| Painting the still life with the red table cloth. Don't you love that sassy tea-pot on the right? |
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| Tulips |
The two women who helped me in the class both came up to me independently to tell me how amazed they were at what was produced. The level of participation was way up and the quality was the best they had ever seen them produce. That I connected with them. The man who painted the brown paper bag said I inspired him to go back to painting and the woman who did the tulips above came up and gave me the biggest heartfelt hug I have had in a long time. What an amazing experience. I am welcome back ANYTIME and they are already planning a field trip to see my one person show at the Littleton Museum.
3 comments:
Just as with your blog, you have always been so willing to share your experiences as an artist in order to make the creative experience accessible to all with an inkling of interest. Sounds like you came away infused with some remarkable energy.
That's amazing. I am so glad it worked out that way.
Maybe I am more of a teacher than I give myself credit for.
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