I voted!

Thanks to all the people who have risked their lives so we may vote.

180 degrees

I am so grateful to my good friends who helped me with the installation this past weekend (Angie, Greta, Lorin, Tara, Charlene and Louise it would not have happened with out you all!) it was a blustery 40 plus degrees and lots of work.  It was an honor to be asked to create a mosaic mural for 180 degrees this is some of what they do- Since 2001, 180 Degrees, Inc. has contracted with Ramsey County to provide juvenile probation case management services. Ramsey County recognized the need for specialized services for juveniles who face multiple barriers. Under the umbrella of Ramsey County Human Services, case managers work with juveniles placed on probation through the Juvenile Court. Case managers report the progress of a youth directly with the juvenile court. The goal is to provide community-based services that will address the needs of these juveniles and reduce placement.

Case Managers work with any juvenile placed on probation involved in a Human Services program such as Child Protection or Children’s Mental Health. Case Managers work closely with other Human Services workers to develop a plan that ensures clients will be successful in the community. At the same time, Case Managers are responsible for holding juveniles accountable if he/she fails to follow through with programming in the community.

On your mark, get set....

The big weekend has arrived well one of the big weekends anyway.
I will be installing my mural this weekend it's an outdoor project and it's cold here high of 42 tomorrow right on the cut off. I would love to have volunteers- anyone?!?
I am pretty sure all the toes are in the right place..

Process

Weeks and weeks of process this is what I live for!

I am so excited about the great projects I have right now, I feel so lucky and so honored to get to play.
If you look closely you will see the mistake I made here, I will be tearing out and rebuilding something, do you see it? Thanks to one of my dear friends for pointing it out!

Release

Contemplating white

Before this year, I was known for color, my work is generally filled with patterns and multiples of bright colors but this year most of my commissions have been for white. So I am thinking...

self portrait

I was looking at the paintings of Barkley Hendricks from his exhibition
Birth of the Cool. I love the power that these figures hold. I wanted to make a piece about power real or imagined.

I have always been a big fan of altar pieces which are also power pieces as well as prayer pieces.

what resulted was this...

Self portrait of the artist as a Bad Ass....

A brief and unplanned rest

I had just begun the next commission
when it was deemed necessary to wait due to some conflicts...
Which means catching up on much needed paper work (blah!) and a little play time (yay!) I am a little rusty with playing... I tried to make myself not think or judge and just pile it on... Certainly could have pushed it further maybe today...

In the meanwhile...

I have been working on a series of five pieces for a restaurant in S.F. Each piece is 4 x 3... I think ...
they left the studio yesterday!
On to to the next thing....

Days 3 and 4

Yesterday was my last day with the kids I will truly miss them, they were inspiring! hats off to them! I've a little more grouting to do and some scrubbing too. I was glad to be there to witness the scaffolds removal and here she is! My thanks to all the staff at COMPAS and The Canvas.
Peace

Day 2, mosaic installation

The between the heat and the weight of the tiles....
We are all very tired. Things are going well some mistakes have been made and tile was pulled repositioned but all is well tomorrow the last layers, cleaning and grouting begin!

See me kissing the wall and my "sister" Charlene down below standing around as usual...

Day 1 installation

It's been a very intense three weeks and we finished the mosaic! So now it's installation time, of course I had no time to shoot pictures while we were working so you are not seeing photos of the 10 amazing teens I have had the privilege to work with, maybe tomorrow. We installed half the mural today and I hope to finish tomorrow and then grout and clean for two days.

And it begins!

It's been an incredibly busy and HOT summer so much to talk about I am only going to talk about the project of this week. I am so lucky to be working with 10 young artist apprentices they are wonderful! We are building a mosaic for a local teen center down the street from us. It's a 25 x 12.5 wall so pretty big we started on Monday here is the sketch before I painted it and changed its far more complex and colorful.

Much more to come,
the first 12 square feet were completed today!

Kids and community again!!

tis the season...I worked with approximately 400 kids and their parents at the flint hills international children's arts festival to create 3 mosaics for the St. Paul public library this past weekend.

The following day I was at my 12 year old daughters school completing another mosaic.
An amazing an exhausting weekend!
Tomorrow I will grout them all!

kids and community

I had the pleasure of spending most of this perfect day outdoors installing a mosaic at Maxfield Elementary school. It was sponsored by my new friend Nettie and her non profit Nettie and Friends. It was designed by children and created by everyone we had kids from 5 - 65 work on this project and it is very special! I am so happy to have been invited to be a part of it. Here are some photos after installation but before grouting.
Tomorrow is grouting day I would love help! ;)