Tag: Creativity
#TryThis Projects for Home
Let’s help you keep that desk free of coffee rings. Coasters are an easy, useful project for any part of the home.
An Interview with Mernet Larsen Pt. 3
In part 3, Mernet Larsen discusses her use of ordinary settings for her unconventional paintings. “Larsen’s statement says she is working ‘to offer a new perspective unto life.’ Certainly this exhibit offers a look at an artist who is doing contemplative and deeply investigative work, and gives us a chance to better know a unique voice.” Anderson Turner, Akron Beacon Journal Mernet Larsen (b. 1940) makes intriguing, humor- and tension-infused paintings featuring geometric figures that inhabit space in ways that defy gravity and conventional viewpoints. The artist
Try This: Lanterns
Decorative arts, unlike sculptures, are meant to be useful and beautiful. These lantern projects are a perfect way to keep your creative output close by.
Paint without a Brush
What do you need? Compile as many non-paintbrush tools as you can. Add paper, watercolors, and water. You can also compile as many non-paper surfaces to paint on. Add brushes, watercolors, and water. Try this? Painting without a brush can help you explore abstract painting. You can get a better feel for pattern and texture.
Try This: Abstract Sculptures
Challenge yourself to turn regular household materials into a sculpture. Make something you find beautiful. What do you need? Pick just one media, like a plastic folder. Try this? Use your imagination to manipulate it to create a 3-D form. Or, put together only two forms, like paper straws and pipe cleaners. As you work, think about how your sculpture looks from all angles. Pick up your sculpture so you look at the forms from a different angle.
Try This: Animal Collages
Animals are a perennial source of inspiration. While drawing is one way to depict creatures, collage or sculpture can expand your creativity. What do you need? Scissors, glue, paper, and/or cardboard. Try this? Cut shapes from paper and/or cardboard. Challenge yourself to create an abstracted figure from these pieces. Glue your shapes onto a background. You can add a few details with a marker at the end.
Try This: Alternative Books
Bookmaking can be easy. Handmade books are perfect for pocket sketchbooks. Try This? This book is one of the easiest books to make. You need paper, scissors, and yarn. You can use a ruler to make you work neat and even. As with most books, you trim the pages to size, prepare for binding, and then bind the pages together. You can add panache to your books by using interesting colors for the yarn binding, for the cover, and for the paper.
A Conversation with Wiggle, Giggle, Jiggle Artist Jimmy Kuehnle
Interview conducted by Alison Caplan, Akron Art Museum Director of Education You develop your works on a computer. What is it like to not fully experience them until they reach a gallery or museum? When I come to the gallery to install, it really feels like I have been walking around the space for a long time virtually in the computer. I know the places and can recall them. It is a strange sensation in the beginning to have most of my memories of the
Back to School!
School is right around the corner, so be sure to take a look at the great items we have in our shop that can help make this school year fun and exciting! Get a BIG start to this school year! Giant Pencil from Toysmith $7.95 Really Big Eraser from Toysmith $4.95 Create a unique study space! BTW Dry Erase Board from Decor Craft International $14.95 Squadron Pushpins from Design Ideas $4.95 Tell Tale Pushpins from Design Ideas $4.95 Cloud Cork Board
Community Conversations: Shifting the Cultural Landscape
By Mark Masuoka, Executive Director and CEO But I’m not creative.I don’t have a creative bone in my body.I can’t even draw a straight line.These statements are commonly overheard the moment we propose an art (creative) activity. Whether it be signing up for an art class or just sitting in a meeting and being asking to think “outside of the box”, these apprehensive statements reflect a larger social context beyond the “fear of the unknown”. It points to how people perceive the truth about what is