art
Family-themed art is a look into one's living room; it depicts celebration, crises, and the quiet moments of familial interactions.
Finding Happiness
I do not begin to know where the creative spirit comes from, or why some people are so gifted with it. But I do know that sometimes creativity sprouts in the darkest of times, and can haul one’s spirit back into the light of day. This is how it was for me.
By Anne Krinock5 years ago in Families
Quilting My Family Tree
My passion is quilting and I use my scissors to cut up fabric and then I sew it back up in a myriad of patterns. As a young girl I thought that quilting was something that only grownups could do. I would thumb through the worn pages of my Mom’s quilting books to admire the beautiful patterns and I relished the quiet moments sitting with my Grandma Nancy at her kitchen table watching her hand sew. The needle making graceful dives into the fabric between her nimble fingers. Fabric pieces joining together was magic to me and It wasn’t until I was much older that Grandma Nancy offered to give me small sewing lessons during our holiday visits to Pennsylvania.
By Sara Stephen5 years ago in Families
Finding Happiness
I do not begin to know where the creative spirit comes from, or why some people are so gifted with it. But I do know that sometimes creativity sprouts in the darkest of times, and can haul one’s spirit back into the light of day. This is how it was for me.
By Anne Krinock5 years ago in Families
The Fabric Scissors
Scissor mastery was achieved early in my family. In fact, I learned so young that my only real memory of children's round-tipped scissors is seeing the shiny new pair that appeared in my box at the beginning of each school year. If they were on the list of school supplies displayed at the local variety store, they were purchased exactly as specified. My mom wasn't exactly a rule follower, but she was properly respectful of my teachers and their wishes. But we both knew those scissors were just a polite gesture.
By Janet Lewis5 years ago in Families
Spaghetti Al Dente in the Window
I would kill to look through that window again – to see my nonna and nonno waving back at us as our old red Honda Chevrolet pulled out from their driveway. To look back at their home, that to ten-year-old me stood as tall as the empire state building and as disheveled as the leaning tower. I feel shaken at the thought of a new family pulling down the discolored kitchen wallpaper, repointing the brick fence that outlined their vegetable garden, or replacing the gas stoves that boiled an inconceivable number of pasta dinners.
By Daniel Bosco5 years ago in Families
Mother Lucia’s Last Pair of Scissors
I was almost 10 years old when my mom decided that I was ready for a significant honor. Like many of the milestones that gradually separate us as adults from the carefree days of childhood, that particular moment remains clear in my mind.
By Suzanna Fitzgerald5 years ago in Families
Creativity and Craft
In my view anyone can be creative, but when you combine creativity with craft you can produce fine art! I create my artwork with paper. I've learned that creating with paper requires the skillful use of an array of tools such as scissors, knives and rulers. The first piece I can ever remember making was a paper daisy chain surrounding the title of the Beatle's song, 'Come Together'. I remember with pride because my 5th Grade teacher, Ms. Carmola, put it up on our classroom's wall!
By Aaron Needle5 years ago in Families
My Bohemian Upbringing
People often ask me how I came about my painting method. And it’s just not one easy answer. First I feel a need to explain; I didn’t want to be an artist when I was a kid growing up. My parents were both artists, when I was a young child they curated an art gallery and would have openings. People would come up to me and ask-do you want to be an artist when you grow up? I didn’t know. In 1969 my family went to Europe for a year, it was something a lot of people did at that time did; the American dollar had a high value there. According to my dad, when we lived in Malaga, Spain, I would sit in front of paintings on the floor of museums and draw, people would watch. I don’t remember this, I was 5 years old. One thing I DO remember about Europe was lying on the benches of the Louvre bored, as my young artist parents looked at Monet paintings from every angle, step back, move forward, and squint. My biggest disappointment that year was that the “Piccadilly Circus” was not a circus, but a square in London! My grandmother had come over when we were in Italy, and journeyed with us to London, where we caught a giant sea going ship back to the states. She kept saying all the way through the Netherlands we were going to Piccadilly Circus. I thought it was a real circus. My mom spent her inheritance, living, traveling, and doing art; then she went back to college in the 70s. Just like Donna’s mom, from the 70s show, she set out to “find herself.” My parents got divorced when we came back from Europe.
By Melissa Brown5 years ago in Families
Bold Joy
My mom, who is a hairdresser in Puerto Rico, lost her job after the devastation of Hurricane Maria. The hair salon where she was working for the last 6 years never recovered from the damages. This hurricane left thousands of families without homes and destroyed some communities entirely. We lost an estimated 2,975 American citizens. My mom proved her resilience by bringing clients to her home. Her business was starting to pick up, until COVID-19 lock down, leaving her without a job again.
By Christian Marrero 5 years ago in Families
Creating Happiness
Her work desk, in the dimly lit corner of her bedroom, was perfectly in order. Artists paper laid out amongst the many shapes and sizes of bristles of her paintbrushes with paint palettes of acrylic paint made from leftover cardboard cereal boxes-perfectly imperfect, nestled together amongst one another on her desk. Her tool caddy with the different patterned edged scissors and all the tools she'd ever need were right within her reach where she could access them easily. The smooth melody of Billie Holidays "I'll be seeing you" playing in the background, Kayla was about to transcend into her happy place where she could create something beautiful for others in a mindset she could escape within, an alternate reality, if you will.
By Kayla Fridrich5 years ago in Families
Repurposed with Love. Top Story - June 2021.
Checking the mail It wasn’t that long ago that I fell in love with a widowed gentleman. He would check his mail “to see if anybody loved” him, and would return smiling, even if it was only a bill waiting in the box. This gripped me, for I had long loved greeting cards, and bought them randomly over a period of years if they were pretty or amusing or unique. I bought the ones that made me feel something, and that I could imagine others would like. My collection was a reflection of part of me. I bought the cards, yet there had been no reason, no purpose or person in mind other than to recapture the feeling it had given to me the first time I saw it or read it.
By LP Steinbeck5 years ago in Families
