art
Family-themed art is a look into one's living room; it depicts celebration, crises, and the quiet moments of familial interactions.
Wishing Bear
In the Alaska summer of 2009, I had just graduated college and was looking for more ways to help pay off my school debt. Raised in bush Alaska, 40 miles from the nearest road and completely off-grid, I had a wide variety of self-sustaining craft skills. I was currently living in Anchorage, the largest town of our state. The city often attracted more tourist than state residents. So, I decided to make unique gifts for travelers. Their little “piece of Alaska” to take home.
By Meghan Williams5 years ago in Families
Shaping Happiness
I grew up wanting to become an artist. Perhaps it was growing up in my grandmother’s house when I first developed this affinity. Every morning I walked down the pink-painted hall adorned with paintings; some framed, some exposing the carefully painted edge of the canvas. They were all mounted center to the adjacent piece to form a line, almost as if done with the same care you would see in a gallery. In this house, not a single wall was bare. If not decorated with framed and embroidered verses, or butterflies preserved in shadow boxes, the walls were made known with patterned wallpaper in retro orange and greens. Everyday I walked down the hall that stretched from the front entry to my grandfather’s study, and I would look up at the paintings.
By Janine Yeung5 years ago in Families
Create Your Happiness: Découpage
Art runs in my veins from both sides of my family. On my mother’s side my Great-grandmother, Margot Lund, was one of the Queen of Norway’s seamstresses designing and sewing her dresses in the early 20th century. Her daughter, Elsa Lund, my grandmother, learned the seamstress trade and sewed her children’s clothes as well as her daughter’s Barbie clothes in the 1950s and 1960s.
By Lisa Comento5 years ago in Families
The Joyful Art of Scrapbooking
The Joyful Art of Scrapbooking Every picture cut, snipped and clipped by scissors tells a story. The world-renowned artist Romare Bearden would have been a great scrap-booker. Since the concept of Scrapbooking is about taking scraps, and other pieces of material to create a visionary explosion of cohesive imagery, the ‘Father of Collage’ would have excelled at the craft. He was also an author and songwriter heavily influenced by the artists of the Harlem Renaissance. His art especially collage and photomontage prove that colorful images can impact its audience and tell a story, evoke an emotion, and relay a powerful message about the community and even the world. That's what Scrapbooking does for me. The inspiration from Romare Bearden encouraged me, someone who is not a renowned artist or even a professional one to create art through my scrapbooking. When I look at his collages whether it be The Block, Jazz, Kansas City, Mother and Child, Young Students, Carolina Shout, or any other of his collages, I am inspired to create.
By Saja Bo Storm5 years ago in Families
Cut out to be a crafter
I remember cutting up cardboard boxes in the back of my Mum and Dad’s shop, where I entertained myself during long summer holidays, fashioning things to play with, indulging in creative ideas. “Can’t you sit still for five minutes? You’re always licking and sticking,” my Mum would complain from behind the counter. I was too young to walk down to the seafront on my own and my parents worked seven days a week. But I didn’t mind that, I was completely absorbed and consumed by my latest creative whim, intensely mindful and entirely in the moment. It was the kind of creativity where the project at hand was so pressing, and the process so instantly gratifying, that perching uncomfortably on a chair-edge, getting cramp in your leg and forgetting to finish your half-eaten jam sandwich barely registered.
By Lucy Johnson5 years ago in Families
Sewing Ostomy Pouch Covers
My children mean the world to me. When my youngest daughter Katharine was diagnosed with Crohn's disease at age 19 and in college, my heart was broken. After all, my oldest son needed to have his colon removed at age 13. Katharine made the decision to have her colon removed at age 23 after 3 years of suffering from the disease. She also opted for an ostomy and stoma, which again broke my heart. However, I had raised a brave and optimistic (plus beautiful and intelligent) girl. I was there through her surgery recovery (along with her boyfriend of several years, who will become her husband in 3 months).
By Debra Imrie5 years ago in Families
Snowflakes in the Desert
Quite a few years back, I was a stay-at-home mom of five kids, ages ten and under. We were on a very tight budget, trying to live in Southern California on one income, with really no money for anything beyond bills, food, and gas for our minivan. Christmas was approaching and we knew we couldn’t even afford a tree. We had a handful of ornaments from my childhood, a string of lights that had belonged to my grandma, (and were somehow still working!) and a few other random decorations we’d picked up over the years, but not much.
By Alison Albert5 years ago in Families
The Power of Craft
In my view anyone can be creative, but it's when you include the element of craft that creativity can then become elevated to art. And whereas creating pictures merely requires materials such as glue, paper and paint, performing a craft requires professional equipment such as scissors, knives and rulers.
By Aaron Needle5 years ago in Families
