Prepare to be amazed….

The Camden-Rockport Middle School mosaic mural, in the cafeteria, Camden, Maine. In the style of (and with the permission of) Eric Hopkins.

This post is frightfully late…. I only took these photos in June 2011!  Yes, more than a year ago at the unveiling!   But the mosaic in the cafeteria at Camden-Rockport Middle School (Maine) is so stunningly beautiful and wonderful a public art project, that I decided I still needed to share it with you all.  It all began with Kristen Andersen, the CRMS art teacher.  Kristen is the kind of art teacher you dream of having–after having kids in CRMS for 8 years, I STILL want to go back to middle school and be in her class–alas, I’m a bit too old!  As Kristen put it when she approached world-famous artist Eric Hopkins with the idea, it takes a great deal of faith on the part of the artist to grant permission to a group of children to make a work in his own style.  I’d add that it takes a great bit of courage and creativity to come up with and execute the idea–Well Done, Kristen!

What you see in the photo above is eight 2 x 4 foot (24 by 48 inch) panels of glass mosaic, MADE BY the KIDS of the middle school!

The project began with a detailed proposal. On the storyboard, you can see some of the original sketches, inspiration art by Mr. Hopkins, some of the glass tiles and tile nippers used in the project.  The photo (printed on 4 sheets) on the table is the view from Mt. Battie, which overlooks Camden Harbor.  The mosaic is this view, with the top of the old stone tower on the left of the mosaic and the harbor and view beyond.

A closer view of the sketches

A closer view of the photo-montage and tools used in making the mosaic

The Youth Arts program helped fund this large undertaking…thank you Youth Arts! On the easel at right you can see a mock-up block for what Kristen envisioned. The pictures on the left are of Eric Hopkins’ art.  He has his own gallery in Rockland, Maine; if you’re ever in the mid-coast, DO take a detour down winter street to go visit…it’s just a stone’s throw from Main Street.

The mosaics were made in eight sections that fit into the VERY sturdy frame.  Should the piece ever have to be moved, that can happen because of how this was assembled!  Way too wonderful and too much work not to plan for the inevitable changes down the line.

And here is the official unveiling! Gasps of delight all around!

CRMS Art teacher Kristen Andersen–the multi-tasking mom– tells the assembled students, staff, important folks, parents and onlookers how the project happened.

While Kristen explains the project, (from left to right) Principal Maria Libby, Asst. to the Principal Matt Smith, a Youth Arts representative, and Eric Hopkins listen.

Kristen and assorted students and volunteers (THANK YOU volunteers) met once a week after school to work on the project.  Early on, Mr. Hopkins came to one session and helped fine-tune the drawing on the plywood panels to give it that Hopkins-sweeping-view.

After the unveiling, we all got to go up close. Here is my friend Kathy on the left, then Kristen and her son on her hip, and Mr. Hopkins. It was SO totally COOL…he kept going up to the mosaic touching it in wonder…the way you see folks walk up and want to touch a quilt. Neat!

Another shot of the mosaic, with a Youth Arts representative, Principal Maria Libby, and Eric Hopkins.

And back to where we began… on the tower at Mt. Battie, a close-up of the left end of the mosaic.

THANK YOU Mr. Hopkins for saying yes.  Thank you Kristen for being such a wonderful teacher and inspiration.  Thank you to Maria Libby and the school system for being a place that encourages such wonderfulness in the school.  Thank you to the kids and the volunteers and Youth Arts for making this wonderful piece. Goosebumps, all over again.  WONDERFUL!

SAQA-The Maine Event 2012 dinner at the Capt. A.V. Nickels Inn, Searsport, Maine

What a lovely place to have an art quilt meeting!   I must say that this regional SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates, main site here) was the first time I’ve been around this many really top notch art quilters outside of the ginormous International Quilt Festival in Houston!  Thank you to coordinators Beth Berman, Sarah Carpenter and Margaret Sheehan for bringing this together for a third consecutive year.  I’ve already got the third weekend in September reserved for next year!

During the break after the last workshop/demo and supper, I sat outside on a breezy (and increasingly nippy) deck enjoying the view and sketching.

Earlier in the day I had spotted a beautiful old spoon amongst the assorted styles near the coffee.  I picked it up and decided it was so lovely that a mere photograph wasn’t enough, so I sketched it!  I then added a quick watercolor of that view (I believe that is the far north side of Penobscot Bay in the distance) and journaled a tiny bit on the page:

My sketch page of the day. The tiny writing that scrolls around reads: As the sun goes in and out behind the couds the shadows shift and move dancing over the page (upper line) and In the late afternoon we had a break after the last session and before dinner, so I painted the view. The spoon needs to be a bit darker at the tip of the bowl, but otherwise I’m happy with it.

After dinner was the best part…seeing what others are doing! Alas, I do NOT know everyone’s name, so I apologize to artists and readers alike for not having attribution on many of these.  If you know who did what, please let me know so I may update the blogpost!

Sandra Betts (on left) shared this portrait of her mother, using Mary Pal’s technique using cheesecloth. Very effective…. when Sandra first held it up I thought it looked like her, but not quite. When she said it was her mother that explained it!

Isn’t this FABULOUS? Someone please tell me who made it!

Michelle Goldsmith (on left) told us about taking Lisa Call’s working in a series online workshop. This was one of many large pieces, wholecloth and painted. I loved the joyousness of the color in this one. Plus it was fun to see Michelle again–she was program chair for her guild and they hired me to come teach there in May 2011, and it was so much fun!  I blogged about that visit here and here.

Beth Berman, our lead coordinator for this event, has a thing for crows. Her art quilting skills have just blossomed since I first met her. This is one of her two pieces.

This Maine quilter (on right) loves color and dyes her own fabrics and creates her own embroideries (in this case the seagulls). I just want to dive headfirst into that color!

As you might gather, it was a WONDERFUL day!  Thanks Beth, Margaret, Sarah and everyone who traveled from near and far.

At the Hemingway House, Key West, Florida

Back to some visual inspiration from our Florida trip!  After our first night on Duck Key, we drove down to Key West for two nights.  This allowed us one day to wander (sweating a lot…it was over 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity) in downtown Key West and one day for a snorkeling trip to the Dry Tortugas.  The one thing I absolutely wanted to do was visit the Hemingway house, where I promptly fell in love with the acid green shutters!  The house is on the second highest bit of land on Key West, a little over 20 feet above sea level!

Of course, one of the reasons I wanted to go is the cats.  We have a polydactyl, which means many-toed cat.  They are reasonably common here in Maine as well as on Key West.  Most cats have 18 toes (four per foot, plus dew-claws on two feet).  Thumper has 26 toes–basically a foot and a half per leg!

This regal calico allowed us to photograph her in the dining room of the Hemingway house. I think she has the normal number of toesies.

Here’s one of those lovely windows from the INside looking onto the verdant garden.  There are fans for the obvious reason…it was HOT!  Apparently Hemingway’s then-wife (they lived there in the late 20s and 30s) decided to remove the ceiling fans and install her collection of crystal chandeliers.  The tourguides regret her decision every summer!

I loved the paving in the verandah area around the house…looks like a Quilt Modern plan, eh?

I LOVED the pods and flowers… I believe this is a Royal Poincianna tree. Stunning against that blue sky!

Speaking of cats… clearly they go where they want, even if it is on top of wet cement so that their feeties are preserved for posterity! Can you say Surface Design?

More wondrous and bizarre berries on trees–this one near the dock area where we departed for the Dry Tortugas.

LOVE LOVE LOVE the Royal Poincianna petals among the stones and buttress roots! Can you say QUILT-to-be?

And here are Mr. and Mrs. Smith at Mile 0 of US Highway 1. Now we need to go, maybe next summer, to the OTHER end of US Highway 1 where it runs into Canada a couple of hours to the north of us!

Coming soon:  our trip to the Dry Tortugas… yes, it is possible to go beyond the end of the Key West…keep going west!

Usually I don’t take my digital SLR because it is heavy!  But I am so glad I did on this trip because I would never have been able to get this shot without the full 2 second shutter exposure…. definitely the best night shot I’ve ever taken!

Can you say breathtaking? Taken from our 2nd floor room on the beach in the Florida Keys

I propped the lens on part of the balcony railing and held my breath so as not to wobble while the shutter was open.   I later got an email invitation to enter a quilt show with a specific theme, and my idea is for a night quilt, so even though the exact subject matter will be different, I KNOW I will use this photo of the moon and reflections on the water as one of my source images!

I’ll also, over a series of posts this coming month, share many more of the photos I took on this trip.  Nothing like a change of venue to wake one from the doldrums and start snapping madly with the camera! Enjoy the pics, and back in a few days, perhaps even with actual QUILTING.  What a concept…

The banana “flower” after the fruit has formed. I totally LOVE the rich red colors and the dried, curled up petal/frond/leaf thingies (not sure what they actually are, biologically speaking)

Loved the way these unopened flower buds are silhouetted against the darkness of the background foliage.

More of the glorious silver-gray-silver-curly-haired palms that enchant me

Not sure as this was growing shrub-like, but I think this may be white (?!!!) bougainvillea. Lovely not matter what it is!

And this suitably exotic and colorful … ummm… flower? leaf? sepal? whatchamacallit????

Sometimes it just takes a change of venue to open your eyes!  We went on a vacation–something we do about every 4 years–this past month.  Back at the beginning of middle school, when our younger son came home with honor roll grades the first quarter of 5th grade, hubby made a deal with him:  if Eli was on Honor Roll for all 16 quarters of middle school, he could pick the destination of his choice (in the continental 48 United States) for a family trip.  Well, Eli did it, plus added in three individual championships in three sports his 8th grade year (Cross Country, Wrestling and Track)!  He is interested in marine mammals and the ocean, so he picked the Florida Keys and off we went!

I opted to lug my heavy DSLR (new, this is its first out-of-studio major excursion), and am so glad I did.  I took a deep gulp (hoping not to get dumped into the water) as we sat on a small kayak and paddled into the warm waters offshore our first day in the Keys and (thanks to rapid fire shutter speeds!) got  fabulous photos of a cormorant–several duds, two great ones:

Cormorant taking flight

and

Cormorant airborne. Granted the horizon is tippy, but I was on a kayak!

We stayed at a gorgeous, fancy resort…nicer than any place I’ve EVER been…for just the first night.  The grounds were amazing…I wandered with my camera in the Florida heat (90+ degrees, 90+ percent humidity…drip!) and found inspiration at just about every turn:

I love looking up at palm trees, and I love those berry-like things that change in habit (upright, drooping), size and color depending on the palm tree.

A palm trunk like this makes you want to grab some fabric and Shiva painsticks and do a rubbing. In the absence of those supplies, a camera and making a thermofax screen for printing… or using just the shapes for a filler quilting design. Or use the shapes and make a modern quilt in undulating strips…..

Fan Palm…again, reinterpret in cloth….

I had never seen palm trees with silver-gray leaves/fronds. As you can gather by these three photos, I REALLY liked them. They were beyond round, so the center would fold in on itself…this is just ONE frond! The light part in the center is where the frond folds in and tucks into the center of the beyond-a-circle shape.

Close up of the silver-gray palm frond…love those curly rivulets of leaf peeling off from the edges of the frond

And another–going for symmetry this time.

And the canopy of fronds overhead…can you tell these just grabbed me?

An employee spotted me and said she, too, was a photographer, and sent me off in the direction of this cool path.  The trees were trained to grow diagonally across the walk, and there were tiki torches along the path to light your way at night.  On one side you look back through the arch/tunnel to a pool……sigh!

The palm trees are trained to grow at this angle to form this tunnel!

I’ve got TONS of photos to share, but I’ll try to alternate between Florida and what I’ve been doing the past couple of months!  TOO MUCH catching up!  I’ve been busy DOING life and not blogging about it <grin!>!!!