Projects: Easy stained glass

Materials:
-colored Sharpie markers
-black Sharpie marker
-scissors
-ruler
-roll of tissue paper

I love stained glass windows, but they're very expensive and time consuming to make. I came up with a cheaper, easier way to create my own with no mess.

You're going to want to buy the waxy feeling tissue paper, not the kind you wrap presents in. It's a little more heavy duty, you can paint and draw on it without the paper ripping. Any craft store should have some.

First of all, get some inspiration: look up "stained glass windows" on Google, or check out a few books about stained glass from your library. Pictures of Tiffany glass works are my favorite.

Next, use your black Sharpie marker to draw out a window shape. Circles can be pretty cool. Or you can do the traditional Gothic window.

Use your ruler to keep the lines straight. Come up with a design or picture to draw. Simple designs are easier to color in. Also, remember that with stained glass, the lines are very angular--there's not a lot of rounded corners. The reasons for this is that rounded pieces of glass were harder to fuse together than squared pieces. 

Cut out the window shape you came up with, and then pull out those colored Sharpie markers. The reason to use Sharpies over Crayola for this project is that regular markers will fade away when exposed to sunlight. Sharpie keeps its color for a long time.

After you've colored in your picture, tape it up in a window that gets a lot of light. You now have beautiful stained glass , without the expense. Another idea is to measure the window you want to put your design in and make it to fit.

Resources: American Masters

I've mentioned before that I'm a big fan of PBS--they have so much information available on their website. Another tv show of theirs that you might find useful is American Masters, specifically the episodes on visual art for our purposes. It's a great show about those who have had a big impact on the cultural arts in America. There is an accompanying article about each artist you can read online. And of course, PBS always has a section for educators. Good stuff for the visually oriented amongst us.

Resources: 3 Minute Egg

I first found out about 3 Minute Egg a couple years ago when I was wandering around at Art-A-Whirl in NE Minneapolis. I kept seeing the same guy interviewing and filming different artists over the weekend. I overhead him talking about this video blog that he had created called 3 Minute Egg. Here's a little bit more from Matt Peiken, the creator of 3 Minute Egg: 

"3-Minute Egg is 'The Twin Cities arts seen' — the nation’s first daily video blog devoted to a local arts community. 3-Minute Egg opens windows onto artists and arts happenings across a spectrum of disciplines—dance and theater, film and visual art, performance art, public art, rock, jazz and hip-hop, comedy, literature, spoken word, slam poetry, and the classical arts....Every week, 3-Minute Egg produces and posts short documentary videos about Twin Cities artists and arts happenings. New videos go online every Monday through Thursday....Each 3-Minute Egg mixes interviews with footage of the artwork into three to four minutes of high-definition video."

It's now broadcast on TPT here in the Twin Cities, available on iTunes, Facebook, Youtube, the Star Tribune's website, and elsewhere. Check out the About section on the 3 Minute Egg website for more information.

Here's a segment about Foot in the Door 4 that took place earlier this year (I had a painting in that show which was pretty exciting). A couple of my friends are interviewed in this video as well (it's the guys with the white boxes that say "yes," "no," etc).

Field Trip: First Thursdays in NE Minneapolis

Northeast Minneapolis has become a major hub for the arts here in the Twin Cities. There are galleries, art centers, events, festivals, concerts, and more artist studios than you can count. Art-A-Whirl is the huge art crawl in May that attracts thousands to NE, where artists open their studios and sell their work, tons of events go on and it can be pretty overwhelming with all the crowds. I personally enjoy the people watching and wandering amongst the mass of humanity filling all the art buildings....but that's definitely not for everyone, especially if you have kids. It's not very fun trying to herd a pack of children through all the people to see some art and learn something along the way.

If you want to check out the studios and get a chance to talk some artists one-on-one in a more low key setting, I suggest going to NE Minneapolis the first Thursday night of the month. It's quieter, the artists are less stressed, and you can see all the art much easier (and find parking a lot quicker!). It can be a little intimidating to walk into a studio and strike up a conversation with a random artist, but most artists I've met are more than happy to talk. If your kids come with questions and a willingness to listen, they can learn a lot, maybe even see a demonstration of an art process.

This is not a good field trip for children who can't refrain from touching things--even the nicest artist can get upset when the art they've worked so hard on is manhandled by unruly tykes. Although, if you ask nicely and handle the objects gently, there are some who are willing to let kids touch their work. I personally don't mind viewers running their fingers across my paintings because it does feel pretty cool, but it's always a good policy to ask first.

The Casket Arts Building, the Northrup King Building, the Q.arma Building and the Thorp Building all have open studios on this evening. The Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association has a full list of all the buildings that participate, with their addresses, times that they're open and links to each building's website.

My favorite places to go are the Northrup and Q.arma Buildings. Q.arma has a handul of studios on the top floor and in the basement; Altered Esthetics Gallery (where I have had work shown in the past) is on the second level. It has a lot of award winning artists in residence, and you can walk through the whole building pretty quickly. The basement is my favorite floor, with comfy couches scattered around, lots of art on display, and on occasion, a couple of friendly dogs that love to be petted. This would be a good place to check out if you don't want to walk too far.

The Northrup King Building, on the other hand, is a massive, sprawling four stories, with over 200 artists. Not every single studio is open, but there's still a lot to look at. I sped through the whole building one Thursday night in under two hours, but it's more fun to take your time and maybe choose a floor or two to visit. There are maps available, and signs on every floor, because it can get a little confusing as to where you are and how to find the stairs. It's suggested to start on the top floor and work your way down, which I think is a pretty good idea. I enjoy the Northrup because there is so much to see and many artists to talk to.
If you want to check out Northrup and see all the studios, Art Attack in November is a great time to go. There's a lot of events and special exhibits to see that weekend, and artists tend to have more of their art out on display.

Resources: Wikipedia defines "Art"

The definition of art according to Wikipedia. A very long but comprehensive article, it gives a good overview of art in general. It also has a lot of links and suggested reading at the end, which you might find helpful.

Resources: Art 21

Art 21 is my favorite show to watch and re-watch. I always take some new inspiration or idea away whenever I watch it. I was introduced to it by one of my professors at Northwestern College. Each episode focuses on four artists, grouped by a loose theme (ex: memory). I really enjoy watching Art 21, because it helped me learn how to talk about my art. This is what PBS says about their show:
"... the only series on television to focus exclusively on contemporary visual art and artists in the United States, and it uses the medium of television to provide an experience of the visual arts that goes far beyond a gallery visit. Fascinating and intimate footage allows the viewer to observe the artists at work, watch their process as they transform inspiration into art, and hear their thoughts as they grapple with the physical and visual challenges of achieving their artistic visions."

I like hearing artists talk about how they make art and what inspires them. Especially artists whose work I don't understand, it helps me grasp their ideas and look at their art in a new way. I can go from, "That looks weird," to "I still think it looks weird, but now I know why the artist made it look that way." I can appreciate their work even if I don't find it that beautiful to look at.
 
I suggest this show for high school students, as some of the themes, discussions and art can contain mature subject matter. Also, Art 21 is definitely for those with some interest in art and a desire to expand their knowledge of the art world. 

The website for Art 21 also has a lot of resources to make use of. You can watch full episodes online, participate in discussions about the art, and, most importantly of all, they have an education section with lesson plans and project ideas. This section also includes an extensive glossary of terms that are used on the show. I highly recommend taking a look at the site. PBS is awesome for making all this information free and easy to access.

Here's a clip about one of my favorite artists, Julie Mehretu (the Walker has an enormous painting of hers in their collection):

Watch the full episode. See more ART:21.

You can also watch clips on Art 21's channel on youtube. It loads a bit faster than the PBS video player, and it's easier to browse through to select something.

Here's a trailer for season 5:

Field trip: Minneapolis Institute of Arts

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA) is my favorite art museum to visit. I've grown up going there (it is only 15 minutes away from my house). I enjoy wandering the galleries, taking in the centuries of art history. I love visiting my favorite pieces every time I go--they're like old friends now, offering inspiration whenever I have artist's block.

For many people though, the MIA is not a familiar place, and is in fact a confusing one to visit. It can be overwhelming taking your kids there. What to see? How long should we stay? What's there to do? How do I keep the little ones engaged and not ready to leave within 15 minutes? I have a few suggestions for you, to make your visit to the MIA fun and informative.

The museum is always free, except for a couple galleries that have special exhibits. There's on street parking, and two parking lots that are free for museum visitors. I suggest not going on Fridays, as that is the day that usually has a lot of school groups visiting. It can be very noisy, crowded and distracting with all the kids passing through. Thursdays are a good time to visit--the MIA is open until 9pm, and they usually have some interactive art carts scattered around the museum. The information desk is always a great place to start--they have maps, suggestions of things to see, and free tours to take. The MIA's tours are really fun and interesting. They have different tours aimed at specific ages (they even have a tour for 3-5 year olds now).

I think the best way to experience the museum is to pick a particular floor or style of art to see. Don't try to see everything in one go--it just gets too overwhelming and mind numbing. I don't even try to see it all when I visit. An hour, maybe two, is a long enough time to see what you want to see, wander a little, and not be tired out.

For the young ones, a great way to get them excited to look at all the art is to have a scavenger hunt. My Mom came up with this idea--count all the dogs you can find in the art. You can also pick other animals, like horses (there are quite a few sculptures of those), or flowers, or boats...something that's not too difficult to find and will pop up a lot from gallery to gallery. Your kids will want to check each painting and sculpture to search for their chosen object. If you have multiple children, have each child pick a different thing to look for. The information desk also sometimes offers activity sheets to fill out, which can guide you through your visit.

The museum has a wonderful website: www.artsmia.org and I highly suggest checking it out before you visit. It's easy to browse, and there's just so much useful information. Upcoming events and exhibits, collection highlights, and educational resources. There's a whole section devoted to teachers, with pictures, lesson and field trip ideas. You can browse the MIA's entire collection online; it will tell you what gallery an object is in if it's on display, and you can see pieces that are currently in storage too. The museum only ever has about 10% of their total collection on display at any given time!

If you do just a little bit of research and preparation before you go, your visit to the MIA can be very rewarding and hassle free. Let the museum do the work for you--they want to share their knowledge with and pass a passion for art to the next generation. It doesn't have to be an intimidating place to visit.