CULTURAL IDENTITY PORTRAIT PROJECT SESSION 6 OF 7, BYRNE CREEK SCHOOL GR. 8 Recall previous posts about this project: Does wheatpaste work on a ceiling tile? Session 2 of 7 Today we added final touches. 30 Grade 8 students did an extraordinary job on this project. The result illustrates that their true identity lies in connection,…
Category: Workshop
How-to: step by step drawing technique
@BYPOSTSTREET ART HOUSE CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT SERIES 1 PHASE 1
THE @BYPOSTSTREET ART HOUSE GLOBAL: Creative Director, Anna Thorsen LOCAL: Art Director, Kat Thorsen (Vancouver BC) MISSION: To awaken creative expression VISION: To develop global art initiatives Art Events, Street Art, Apparel, Curriculum Development, Workshops, Workbooks, Speaker Series, Craftivism, Illustration, Portraiture, Documentaries, Graphic Novels PRESENTS Curriculum Development Series 1: The @BY POSTSTREET Sock Monkey Life Skills and Entrepreneurship Program for youth…
Cultural Identity Portrait Project Session 2 of 7, Byrne Creek School Gr. 8
No matter what the end goal, it’s witnessing, sharing and experiencing the creative process that drives me.
Does wheatpasting work on a ceiling tile? Hmmm…
I will be facilitating a really exciting Cultural Portrait pilot project at a local high school in a couple of weeks. The plan is for the 30 students to create a street art type ceiling as they explore self and cultural identity. The work is to go on those classic porous school ceiling tiles- you…
Drawn Together Therapeutic Art Workshops
For more info or to host a workshop, contact me! DRAWN TOGETHER WORKSHOP SERIES with Katarina Thorsen: FULL DAY (6.5 hours) or 3 PARTS (2.5 hours each) In this therapeutic art workshop series, artist/author and art facilitator, Katarina Thorsen takes you through personal explorations of your Past, Present and Future through creative expression tools. Katarina creates…
“Collages can help us all open up our creative and artistic sides to create a sense of peace…”
Sometimes we get can get lost in simply living life, raising our children, and our everyday responsibilities. We often lose our own identities and forget about the goals and possibilities that we have always wanted to reach. We ignore the creativity of our inner child, setting it aside as trivial and immature. Collages can help…
Some self reflection in my #DIY collage project!
Step 1. Get a square IKEA MALMA mirror. Step 2. Print out (actual size) 4 panels of my piece “Mirror.” (Click on the images for full size. Drag onto desktop, fiddle around with it!) Step 3. They are designed to be pieced together (overlapped) and mod-podged on the square IKEA MALMA mirrors. Step 4. Add your own glitter, paint, words,…
Mind maps integrate both right-brain and left-brain thinking. And you know me- I LOVE them!
Impromptu session mind-mapping with my dear friends, Evelyn and Reem today. So healing. I just love starting in the centre and working our way out. We don’t necessarily know what we are focusing on, but letting it evolve. Mind maps integrate both right-brain and left-brain thinking by capturing your stream of consciousness in a structured…
JOURNAL SERIES Part 5: REFLECTION: ANTICIPATION, PROCESS and AFTERMATH.
I am working on a new journal series to connect with my book Drawn Together- Maintaining Connections and Navigating Life’s Challenges With Art. I am a great believer in sharing my creative process! That is how Drawn Together was created in the first place- through journals and blogposts. As I build the journal series, I…
JOURNAL SERIES Part 4: REFLECTION: esteem heart
I am working on a new journal series to connect with my book Drawn Together- Maintaining Connections and Navigating Life’s Challenges With Art. I am a great believer in sharing my creative process! That is how Drawn Together was created in the first place- through journals and blogposts. As I build the journal series, I…
JOURNAL SERIES ROUGH SKETCHES Part 3: INSPECTION/HISTORY connections
I am working on a new journal series to connect with my book Drawn Together- Maintaining Connections and Navigating Life’s Challenges With Art. I am a great believer in sharing my creative process! That is how Drawn Together was created in the first place- through journals and blogposts. As I build the journal series, I…
Journal Series Part 2b: INSPECTION/HISTORY #roots #photos
I am working on a new journal series to connect with my book Drawn Together- Maintaining Connections and Navigating Life’s Challenges With Art. I am a great believer in sharing my creative process! That is how Drawn Together was created in the first place- through journals and blogposts. As I build the journal series, I will…
Journal Series Part 2a: INSPECTION/HISTORY #roots
I am working on a new journal series to connect with my book Drawn Together- Maintaining Connections and Navigating Life’s Challenges With Art. I am a great believer in sharing my creative process! That is how Drawn Together was created in the first place- through journals and blogposts. As I build the journal series, I will…
Journal Series Part 1: INSPECTION/PRESENT DAY #mindmap
I am working on a new journal series to connect with my book Drawn Together- Maintaining Connections and Navigating Life’s Challenges With Art. I am a great believer in sharing my creative process! That is how Drawn Together was created in the first place- through journals and blogposts. I am inspired by Austin Kleon‘s call to…
Where From Here? Creativity Workshop June 29, 2013!
I am honored and delighted to be be working with my dear friends, Jennifer Lyons and Nancy Kirkpatrick on a new creativity workshop series! Our first workshop: WHERE FROM HERE? JUNE 29, 2013! Do you long to connect with your creativity, rekindle your passion, fuel your purpose and evolve your career but do not know where…
Big-vision visualization #mindmaps inspired by #rightbrainbusinessplan
Recall my journey with visionboards, mindmaps using: My previous posts: For I dipped into the future… Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakes. Making the task more me Right-brain entrepreneur Jennifer Lee is a certified coach, writer, artist, yogini, and the founder of Artizen Coaching. Before pursuing her own passions full-time, she consulted for…
Say Yes to Saying No- new book by @LeslieFierling via @InfluencePub! #drawtheline
Last July, I had the pleasure of being in same the InspireABook workshop as Leslie Fierling! She is a dynamic, inspiring, dedicated, focused, no-holds-barred individual. I learned so much about finding my voice simply by spending time with Leslie that weekend. Since then I have witnessed her transformation to author and I am loving calling her…
“Where white is black and black is white, I won.” #graphicnovel study #crowskull
When Crow was white he decided the sun was too white. He decided it glared much too whitely. He decided to attack it and defeat it. He got his strength up flush and in full glitter. He clawed and fluffed his rage up. He aimed his beak direct at the sun’s centre. He laughed himself…
Maybe you mistook me for an angel… #graphicnovel studies and research
Sometimes, the truths that we hold to be fixed in our culture develop a fissure, which widens into a crack, and as we watch, the mirror shatters shard by shard, until nothing is left but fragments of the prejudice lying in disarray at our feet. – Patricia Pearson, Perceptions of Female Violence and the Vocabulary…
… the depths of that leaf-encumbered forest, the soul… #graphicnovel study
It rasped her, though, to have stirring about in her this brutal monster! To hear twigs cracking and feel hooves planted down in the depths of that leaf-encumbered forest, the soul; never to be content quite, or quite secure. – Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway MOLLY- the graphic novel —
Regarding Molly- importance of working titles and “acting as if…”
As I experiment with marrying text to illustration in my graphic novel, I am working from the end backwards, creating a working title and promotional mockup. Acting as if the book is completed, the project feels organized and allows me to create a skeletal framework on which to flesh out ideas. This framework can then…
The dissonance of text and illustration. Study for #graphicnovel #Molly #BabesintheWoods
MOLLY- the graphic novel —
Shame. Study for #graphicnovel
Recommended reading: — MOLLY- the graphic novel —
I, in fleshy tomb, am buried above ground. Study for #graphicnovel
— Encompass’d with a thousand dangers, Weary, faint, trembling with a thousand terrors….I…in fleshy tomb, am Buried above ground. – William Cowper MOLLY- the graphic novel —
The Babes in the Wood study #graphicnovel
The Babes in the Wood [1] My dear do you know, How a long time ago, Two poor little children, Whose names I don’t know, Were stolen away On a fine summer’s day, And left in a wood, As I’ve heard people say, Poor Babes in the Wood! Poor Babes in the Wood! Oh! don’t…
Take Off the Amber, Put Out the Lamp #graphicnovel #research
Take the day. Immerse. Forget everything else. Read. Sketch. Cocoon. Trust the calling. Today’s resources: Jamison, K.R. (1999) Night Falls Fast- understanding suicide, Vintage Books: New York, NY, USA Malooof, J., ed. (2012) Vivian Maier- Street Photographer, powerHouse Books: New York NY, USA Appignanesi, L. (2007) Sad, Mad and Bad- women and the mind-doctors from…
These three hours that we have spent.. two shadows went along with us… #graphicnovel photoshoot w. @RickLegalPhotos
Recall Photoshoot Dec 3, 2012: A Lecture Upon the Shadow Here are some MEGA TASTY treats from Rick Legal. As an artist/researcher/behavior evidence analyst, these photos fill every cell of my being with joy! It is wonderful to allow a fellow artist the freedom to do his work within the context/limits of a vision. Extraordinary….
A Lecture Upon the Shadow: an evening of collaboration on the #graphicnovel with @RickLegalPhotos and co.
A LECTURE UPON THE SHADOW. by John Donne December 3, 2012 was an evening of collaboration as Jocelyn Louise and Jay Fisher recreated 1947 and main characters from my graphic novel as they were photographed by the extraordinary photographer, Rick Legal, and as the entire process was documented by photographer and colleague, Nancy Kirkpatrick. The book will include…
Naked Ladies Naked Ladies Naked Ladies, by Lynda Barry (Real Comet Press, 1984)
Recall my obsession with my superhero, Lynda Barry. Well, the obsession rages on, fueled by the newest addition to my collection: OMG. It’s spectacular. Each page is a full-page playing card illustration of Lynda’s exploration of female body images. Along the bottom of each page runs a classic Lynda Barry storyline. Charming, funny, tragic. It starts…
Art is a biological function. #LyndaBarry @ideaprogram
Two artists are my greatest influences: Frida Kahlo and Lynda Barry. Both are tatooed on me. It’s serious business. Recall my post the other day: Lo and behold, my greatest hero, Lynda Barry, is in town. Being able to attend Lynda’s lecture at IDEA, Capilano University Friday evening was a dream come true. And Lynda delivered….
#LyndaBarry is in town! @ideaprogram
Lo and behold, my greatest hero, Lynda Barry, is in town. I am a tad overwhelmed to say the least. She is always my inspiration. My idol. My number one. The greatest- PERIOD. One of the most successful alternative American cartoonists, Lynda Barry has blazed many trails over her 30 year career. Best known for her Ernie Pook’s Comeek about…
Found #Guernica study from 2003. #Picasso
Found the following ink studies of Guernica in one of my 2003 journals: —
OMG! Fabulous @YouTube art series: @PBSOffBook
The Art of Glitch The Worlds of Viral Video The Art of Logo Design Seeing Beyond the Human Eye The Evolution of 8-bit Art The Culture of Reddit Lego Art Fan Art: An Explosion of Creativity The Art of Film & TV Title Design Tattoo 25th Anniversary GIF Mashup The Impact of Kickstarter Animated GIFs…
#Graphicnovel update! Checklists, mindmaps, plotting out chapters, inciting incident… #startattheend
I love that all I am doing in my art and career feeds the graphic novel, even if I’m not working on pages in the book per se. When I do my street art, I am utilizing the style and perfecting the technique and medium I am using in Molly. When I am working with…
Approaching fruition: my weekend with @InspireABook and Influence Publishing
I just spent an intensive and fabulous weekend with Julie Salisbury of Influence Publishing at her Inspire A Book Mastermind class! Incredible! I am working on the book that showcases my Dad’s art and our journey together. Julie has a brilliant way of facilitating a group to support each other in the creative process and…
Fifth Chakra, I love you but you’re bringing me down.
I love the concept of your biology is your biography. It’s not science but I find it a great way to address pain and blockage and to reassess your life. It just makes you go hmmm. Caroline Myss explains: What I recognized is that your biography becomes your biology–you are one and the same with…
Kat’s DAILY JOURNAL WORKSHOP SERIES. Parts 1-35 #arttherapy
DAILY JOURNAL WORKSHOP SERIES: Part 1 JUST WRITE Part 2 DRAW OUT THE WORDS Part 3 HEART Part 4 SPILL OUT COLLAGE Part 5 NAKED SCREAM Part 6 INVITE ALTER STRETCH EXTEND Part 7 ARISE AROSE IN 3′S Part 8 SELF-PORTRAIT. HUMAN Part 9 WORD CRAZY QUILT Part 10 VINTAGE WORKOUT Part 11 GESTURE DRAWING…
An afternoon of new connections with @BeautyNight!
I was honored and delighted today to meet with Caroline MacGillivray, founder and executive director of Beauty Night. Beauty Night builds self esteem and changes lives of women and youth living in poverty through 3 streams of programming: wellness, life skills development and makeovers. They believe that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and…
Drawing during ARTS WEEK at @wpgadotca! #creativity! #highenergy!
A huge thank you to Danielle Unger for the invite and to all the staff and students at West Point Grey Academy for putting on an amazing event and for being being so welcoming! It was wonderful seeing artists from the community sharing their gifts with these talented and highly creative kids! It was all…
When I struggle with Critique vs. Criticism, it’s time for Critical Thinking
[Images from quote books from my art shows in the early 90’s] Ah, the artist dilemma. Or really, the human condition. The struggle with taking critique but not treating it as criticism. Juggling the constructive and the destructive. Be it from friends, family, community, clients… mainly OURSELVES! By slowing down and pulling out some…
Weekly artist series: Week 9 Part 3 of 3 SUE COE: Portrait of Truth. Who do you celebrate? I celebrate Sabrina.
Week 9 Part 3 Sue Coe What draws me to Sue Coe’s work is the freedom in her truth telling. Her technique reflects the message and there is an ease to how she produces her work while at the same time she hammers her message home. She is her art. — From Americans Who Tell the…
Conception, gestation- a movement begins. #women
A movement is only composed of people moving. To feel its warmth and motion around us is the end as well as the means. – Gloria Steinhem An idea is building and I thank the women I met with last night for our initial brainstorm. Stay tuned as we move from the concept to the concrete!…
Weekly artist series: Week 9 Part 2 SUE COE: A mother dying
Week 9 Part 2 Sue Coe The Last 11 Days is a group of charcoal drawings Sue Coe created from July 20 to 31, 1995 depicting her mother as she lay dying with cancer. The drawings reveal Coe’s private struggle with her mother’s illness and eventual death. [source] I’m not a big fan of the word “resonate.”…
Journaling at WOW- the Women of Worth Conference
It was a pleasure connecting with Christine Awram, founder of Women of Worth, and listening to Yvonne Evans last night at The Granville Island Hotel. Theme: An Empowered CEO on A New Business Culture & Currency I look forward to processing the lessons that I chicken-scratched in my journal and building on the concepts I…
Weekly artist series: Week 9 Part 1 SUE COE black, coffee brown, white, slap #lifeinaday
Week 9 Part 1 Sue Coe From my post Jan 27, 2011: I first came across Sue Coe’s work in the 1988 Annual Edition of Gallerie Women’s Art. “The work is in a series, a narrative, a novel or document in pictures. It records injustice and cruelty, and attempts to perform the role of witness. Art…
Weekly artist series: Week 8 Part 3 of 3 PORTRAIT POETRY #OttoDix #arttherapy
Week 8 Part 3 Otto Dix I adore this portrait by Otto Dix. Let’s simply revel in reproducing it and adding poetry to it. Firstly, write in your journal for 10 minutes without interruption. Just about anything that comes to mind in the moment. Secondly, circle every third word. Isolate those words and create…
Weekly artist series: Week 8 Part 2 DECONSTRUCT CONSTRUCT #OttoDix
Week 8 Part 2 Otto Dix As with George Grosz, I’m using the book LUSTMORD as my main resource this week. Look at Otto Dix’s paintings. See the cartoonish exaggerated style. DECONSTRUCT Pull off the cover of an old hard cover book: Horizon publications are wonderful for this. And the contents are perfect for collaging. Find a…
Anxiety journaling tool. #heart #lettinggo #outflow #arttherapy
Focus on 3-4 things that are blocking you, that hinder you, frustrate you, nag at you, keep you from living your life peacefully. E.g. I picked Anxiety, Fear, Money, Low Self-esteem Write for 10 minutes in your journal about these blocks. On a drawing/photocopy of an anatomical heart, write your main words repeatedly throughout the…
Weekly artist series: Week 8 Part 1 #OttoDix
Week 8 Part 1 Otto Dix OTTO DIX: Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix 2 December 1891 – 25 July 1969) was a German painter and printmaker, noted for his ruthless and harshly realistic depictions of Weimar society and the brutality of war. Along with George Grosz, he is widely considered one of the most important artists of the Neue Sachlichkeit. [source] …
Weekly artist series: Week 7 Part 4 of 4 Allusions and Changing Standpoints #deKooning
Week 7 Part 4 Willem de Kooning Find a de Kooning in nature: Draw something or someone in your environment: de Koonify it: Next artist: OTTO DIX See also: 35 PART daily journal exercise Weekly artist exploration/journaling series INTRO Weekly artist series Week 1 parts 1-6 FRIDA KAHLO Weekly artist series Week 2 parts 1-6…
Second Art Sunday at the @RubbleGallery! #charcoal #drawing #arttherapy. Next one Mar 25!
We’re experimenting with a 1-2 times per month art afternoon at the Rubble Gallery and our first one was wonderful! And so was today!!! Thank you, ladies, and Henrik, for a fantastic afternoon and thank you Ari, Quinn, Bryn and the Rubble Gallery for your beautiful space! Let’s let the photos speak for themselves! TAKE…
Weekly artist series: Week 7 Part 3 ELAINE #deKooning. #husbandsandwives
Week 7 Part 3 Willem de Kooning Artists do not work in a vacuum. I am fascinated by artists in relationships. Frida/ Diego Camille/ Auguste Lee/ Jackson Sophie/ Hans Elaine/ Willem How did they feed each other’s art? How did they harm each other? Influence each other? Who was more powerful? Are they inseparable? ELAINE…
Weekly artist series: Week 7 Part 2 ERASING #deKooning. #arttherapy
Week 7 Part 2 Willem de Kooning To read about the erased deKooning, click ERASED deKOONING Look up de Kooning in images. Copy a favorite with charcoal. Now erase it. See also: 35 PART daily journal exercise Weekly artist exploration/journaling series INTRO Weekly artist series Week 1 parts 1-6 FRIDA KAHLO Weekly artist series Week 2…
Weekly artist series: Week 7 Part 1 A WOMAN’s MOUTH #deKooning #arttherapy
Week 7 Part 1 Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning 1904-1997 That ferocious woman he painted didn’t come from living with me. It began when he was three years old. – Elaine de Kooning (wife) [source] — READ: de Kooning PDF handout — Find a photo of a face. — — Cut out the mouth. —…
First Art Sunday at the @RubbleGallery. #charcoal #drawing #theface. Next one Feb 26!
We’re experimenting with a 1-2 times per month art afternoon at the Rubble Gallery and our first one was wonderful! I taught the basics of drawing with charcoal and my students were sponges, inspiring me, each other and themselves with the results! We also worked on some journaling techniques. It’s marvelous to work in a…
Weekly artist series: Week 6 Part 3 of 3 THE DOOR #Basquiat #arttherapy
Week 6 Part 3 JEAN MICHEL BASQUIAT Draw a door. Take out the words you wrote in Part 2: Pull out some words. Make a poem. Write the poem on the door. Invite a guest through the door to do an entry in your journal. I was so honored to have my dear friend, Darcy G.,…
Weekly artist series: Week 6 Part 2 DOWNTOWN 81 #Basquiat #arttherapy
Week 6 Part 2 JEAN MICHEL BASQUIAT Downtown 81 (a.k.a New York Beat Movie), shot in 1980-1981, was directed by Edo Bertoglio, written and produced by Glenn O’Brien with post-production in 1999-2000 by Maripol, It is a rare real-life snapshot of ultra-hip subculture of post-punk era Manhattan. Starring Jean-Michel Basquiat and featuring such early Village artists as James Chance, Amos Poe, Walter Steding, and Tav Falco, the film…