Perks of summer ...

One of my favorite perks of summer is getting to visit Poetry Hill Poetry's Summer Writing Program and leading these lovely kids in an art project.  These visits are particularly enjoyable as these kids are wonderfully creative and take my art activities and create pieces beyond my imagination.  I am always awed by their ideas and finished pieces.

picture created using thumb and fingerprints
 (and pen) note how the flowers
feel like they are flying!

This past week we created graphic novel pages/comics using thumbprint art.  Thumbprint art is basically using an ink pad and either your thumb or fingers to make a print which you can then make into ANYTHING by adding lines.  You can also use your prints in a group to create larger shapes and images.  You can see by the finished pieces below that these kids did both.  

I started the session by demonstrating some possibilities and then handing out ink pads and scratch paper to let them play and get a feel for the process.  While they were experimenting I asked them to think about a story for one of their thumbprint characters.  After a bit, I handed out a page with empty 'storyboard's and ask them to create a story using thumbprint art.  The stellar finished pieces are below, many with lovely narratives.  And just in case you too want to play, here is the link to the printable template.  

True confession: thumbprint art is HIGHLY addictive, as you will see by the piece I made for my 'dailydress' blog. 

the adventures of Joey!! climbing, hanging, jumping and more.

the story of a person looking for a place where
they are accepted. 

Lastly, Potato Hill Poetry's Summer Writing Program has one more inspiring week left and if you are local and have a budding creative in your house, I highly recommend that you click here and check it out!! http://www.potatohill.com/summer-writing-program/

a peacock beauty pageant, click to expand and read the captions,
the outcome is priceless. 

story of a mole who gets sick and is helped by other animals
and they all end up living together.

'love birds':  the wedding, making a home, having babies ...

based on the games, apples to apples

a picture of the beach by her house in maine

'how I feel about houses' ... the sun shows its opinions about
different styles of home.

made by Andy Green, award-winning poet and writer, and leader of this program.
He continued playing and experimenting and check out the last panel,
totally thinking outside the box with his bunny ears!!  

as the kids were diligently working away I continued playing on the board,
first creating a Ferris wheel, then putting all types
of characters in the buckets of the Ferris wheel and then a
created the crowd waiting for their turn!
TOTALLY ADDICTING!!

And in response to a conversation about 'weirdness' that we had as we worked on our pieces, I created the illustration below, using my thumb and fingerprints.

illustration for my 'dailydress' blog -EMBRACE YOUR WEIRD!

and as always ...

Follow your Art and Peace

a week full of art, poetry and midcentury treasures

from the studio of virginia fitzgerald     Share Tweet Forward Share Pin MARK your CALENDARS ... Tuesday, April 10th, 7-9pm.  Opening Reception for 'A Long Distance Relationship' at the Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro Arts Museum, 86 Park St., Attleboro, MA 02703, 508.222.2644 This event will include a recognition ceremony that honors each exhibiting artist and exhibition partners. Free and open to all. www.attleboroartsmuseum.org Wednesday, April 11th: CLOSING RECEPTION of "100 Extra Days"  6-8 PM The Carney Gallery - Regis College 235 Wellesley Street, Weston, MA 02493 MORSE LIBRARY POETRY SLAM Poetry SLAM! 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM @ TCAN Slam is held at The Center for Arts, 14 Summer St., Natick, MA 01760 Experience the power of words in this multigenerational SLAM for beginners and seasoned performers where only the audience gets slammed.  Led by the dynamic Geof Hewitt at the historic  The Center for Arts in Natick the evening starts with participants of the Dr. Seuss group (those ages up to 15), then moves onto the Dickinson performers, ages 15 and up.  Prizes awarded to the top performer in each group  Free to the general public www.natickarts.org Thursday, April 12th, 6- 8 PM. 1st RENEW Pop-up Trunk Show  Contemporary Art, Mid-Century Antiques, Sustainable Fashion and Craft Brews together at Fountain Street! @ Fountain Street Gallery 460C Harrison Avenue, Suite 2 Boston, Massachusetts 02118 www.fsfaboston.com Taste Springdale by Jacks Abby‘s newest innovative barrel-aged ales and sour beers. www.springdalebeer.com For more info. check out the links above or send me an email: va.fitzgerald (at) comcast.net look forward to seeing you soon! peace, Virginia www.virginiafitzgerald.com Copyright © 2018 Virginia Fitzgerald, All rights reserved. Your are getting this email because you have shown an interest in the art of Virginia Fitzgerald, her 'dressproject ...' & her creative endeavors. Our mailing address is: Virginia Fitzgerald 25 Washington Ave. the Winchell Building Natick, Ma  01702 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

more great art from Potato Hill Poetry's Creative writing program

Before the summer ends I want to share some of the awesome work created by the terrific kids at Potato Hill Poetry's summer writing program.  I had the pleasure of being the guest artist for two more sessions and it is ALWAYS such a treat!! 

Potato Hill Poetry's Andrew Green sets an inspiring environment in which these kids flourish.  By the time I arrive, these kids' creative juices are flowing, making my job just that much more fun.

One week the group was working on written pieces about an imaginary place so I decided to have them create a mixed media map or a travel poster about their place.  Once the map was finished, we folded it up, just like a map, and put it into a cover, ready for a backpack or glove compartment.

The following week I shared my love for the master of color, Henri Matisse.  The Boston Museum of Fine Art had just hosted a beautiful exhibit of Matisse's work and so I thought I would join in on the matisse buzz that was happening.  

I focused on Matisse's later works, his collages. I gave the kids some basic instructions and lots of colored paper and they created some brilliant pieces.  Also to end the session, each writer shared a short story or poem about their collage!! I was over the moon!!!

I am sad to say that the Potato Hill Poetry Writing program is done for this year.  It is truly one of my highlights of my summer!! It is such a treat to work with these creative kids. And an extra special bonus is that Mr Green is alway an eager participant in my art activities which is fun for me and the kids.

'the sisters from Hamilton

I guess all I can do now is to wait for next summer .... 

peace,  virginia

awesome accordion books from potato hill poetry's creative summer writers

For the past few summers I have had the joy of being the guest artist at Potato Hill Poetry's summer writing program and last week I lead my first activity. This summer I decided to try something new so we made accordion books and the end result was truly inspiring.

After we each made a basic accordion book, I gave very loose instructions about filling their newly created book. I pointed out the unique element that an accordion book offers which is the option to use each separate page or to use all the pages for a long or tall design and many campers did just that.

And as is common with most of my art lessons, I brought my endless supply of materials and supplies for the campers to use in their books!! 

And even though I appreciate that too many choices can be overwhelming, these kids weren't intimidated one bit and each created a lovely and unique book. It was a truly inspiring morning!

Please enjoy these treasures of creativity.  And I will be working with Potato Hill Poetry's Summer Writing Program a few more times this summer, so if you are interested make sure to check out the information at potatohill.com/summer-writing-program/.  

peace