LACMA in NoHo: Exploring Bookmaking at the Valley Plaza Library III

LACMA in NoHo: Exploring Bookmaking at the Valley Plaza Library III
We Write The Book

In December 2017 we had a blast MARBLING PAPER AND making Accordion Books at the Valley Plaza Branch Library, in North Hollywood (NoHo).

I was honored to serve as a teaching artist for LACMA (The Los Angeles County Museum of Art) to lead this program.

The stars of the program were mothers, daughters, SISTERS, girls and women.
YEAH! Girl Power! 

Play date at the Library with Mom!

The Mom above’s book…use of “scrap” (repurposed) paper…to colorful effect!

Girls creating together…

Young participants had a great time creating patchworks of color, shapes, patterns and textures on the accordion pages.

Others had fun using rubber stamps!

A material world…

Stickers are a hit.

Another Mom gets into the act.

And another…

Devoted Mom with her two beautiful little guys…

Focused..

The lovely Ivonne of LACMA photographs a lovely accordion book!

YEAH! Girl Power! 

LACMA in NoHo: Exploring Bookmaking at the Valley Plaza Library I

LACMA in NoHo: Exploring Bookmaking at the Valley Plaza Library I
We Write The Book

In October 2017 we had a blast making Flag Books at the Valley Plaza Branch Library, in North Hollywood (NoHo).

The stars of the program were mothers, daughters, girls and women.
YEAH! Girl Power! 

…and a beautiful couple too…both artists.

Pink Power.

A fitting conclusion!

LACMA in NoHo: Exploring Bookmaking at the Valley Plaza Library II

LACMA in NoHo: Exploring Bookmaking at the Valley Plaza Library II
We Write The Book

In December 2017 we had a blast making Tunnel Books at the Valley Plaza Branch Library, in North Hollywood (NoHo).

I was honored to serve as a teaching artist for LACMA (The Los Angeles County Museum of Art) to lead this program.

The stars of the program were mothers, daughters, SISTERS, girls and women.
YEAH! Girl Power! 

“Raw” tunnel book, all in black, ready to have content added to the frames and create a story, scene, drama or all three!

Fun use of stamping in different ways on the frame and backdrop if the book. What is the coyote howling at?

Sisters working side by side.

Smiling mom with her two daughters must be enjoying the creative break, and the opportunity to create side by side with them.

Animals parade through flora under celestial bodies, all in primary technicolors!

Wonderful use of trim….spanning on end of the “stage” to the other, with a butterfly attached!

These four beauties created gorgeous pieces, with attention to detail, and total concentration!

Older sis…

and younger (the middle child!).

Great use of zig zags to create a sea life theme!

A line-up of works in from of Mom.

Pink continues to rule…

Let’s celebrate….Girl Power! 

On-Site: Neighborhood Partnerships with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

On-Site: Neighborhood Partnerships with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Please enjoy reading a wonderful post written by Karen Satzman, Director of Youth & Family Programs at LACMA, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art…

I was honored to serve as teaching artist for a series of onsite LACMA art making workshops on “People Street“, in North Hollywood, in the NoHo Arts District.

Upcoming NoHo LACMA art workshops include:

Make a Flag Book 2 pm
2 pm | Sat, October 14, 2017
Participate in a free artist-led workshop and create your own artwork in response to works in LACMA’s collection.
North Hollywood | Valley Plaza Branch Library
Free and open to the public
Note: This program takes place off-site on 12311 Vanowen St., North Hollywood, CA 91605
This project is supported by a grant from The James Irvine Foundation.

Make a Tunnel Book
2 pm | Sat, November 18, 2017
Participate in a free artist-led workshop and create your own artwork in response to works in LACMA’s collection.
North Hollywood | Valley Plaza Branch Library
Free and open to the public
Note: This program takes place off-site on 12311 Vanowen St., North Hollywood, CA 91605
This project is supported by a grant from The James Irvine Foundation.

Make an Accordion Book
2 pm | Sat, December 9, 2017
Participate in a free artist-led workshop and create your own artwork in response to works in LACMA’s collection.
North Hollywood | Valley Plaza Branch Library
Free and open to the public
Note: This program takes place off-site on 12311 Vanowen St., North Hollywood, CA 91605
This project is supported by a grant from The James Irvine Foundation.

 JOIN US!

 

LACMA in NoHo IV

LACMA in NoHo IV
Making Double Flower-Fold “Exploding Books”!

On-Site: Neighborhood partnerships with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art!
LACMA (The Los Angeles County Museum of Art) began its partnership with North Hollywood in August 2016 with Summer Nights, free art workshops for the community at the NoHo Plaza in the Arts District.  This year in August 2017, we continue the tradition!

Participants learned to create the flower-fold book! Also called an exploding book due to its jutting geometric structure, the flower-fold book opens into a dynamic and magical art piece. Our project was inspired by artists who embrace geometry from LACMA’s collection, such as Jay DeFeo‘s “The Jewel“,

Hearts and hands…

in the making.

Our friends are back….friends with a long history of making.

Lorenzo, MFA student at Otis College of Art and Design offers instruction to participants.

This family is back again for another project!

Flowers, friends, focus.

Beautiful family of talented ladies…daughters made hats as well as

utterly charming flower books.

Cece, a fashion design student, works intently on her book.

The wonderful Karen Satzman, Director of Youth and Family programs at LACMA chats about the NoHo outreach program with devoted participants.

This young maker worked on her book until we folded up the tables! She committed completely to the project, and can complete it at home.

It was fitting to wind up our August of artmaking in NoHo with the “exploding book” project.

 Hopefully the this LACMA program enabled participants to ignite their creativity, and fueled by their imaginations, blast-off into the inner space and outer realms of their creativity!

LACMA in NoHo III

LACMA in NoHo III
Making Scrolls!

On-Site: Neighborhood partnerships with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art!
LACMA (The Los Angeles County Museum of Art) began its partnership with North Hollywood in August 2016 with Summer Nights, free art workshops for the community at the NoHo Plaza in the Arts District.  This year in August 2017, we continue the tradition!

Participants had the opportunity to design books that can be rolled up! Using paper and wooden dowels, they assembled a scroll then added decorative and narrative materials. Our project was inspired by LACMA’s collection of Japanese hanging scrolls displayed in the unique and beautiful Japanese Pavilion.

Creating in community. Participants cut up magazine text and imagery to use on their scrolls.

Mom helps daughter, while son works away nearby.

These frineds have attended every workshop. They have a long history of making.

Pink rules…

“In the Pink”!

A fun date night…

The scroll proivides ample surface to explore text and image,

and lots of texture, color, shapes and forms.

Elle is a consumate maker, and loves to join in community artmaking activities.

Working vertically.

Pink, and pink!

Pink, close-up.

Incredible work with texture, torn edges, and a goth sensibility.

Welcoming the New Year…

with her scroll…a cornucopia of bounty!

May your New Year…be one of new beginnings…of learning, artmaking, growth and joy…

On your Own and in Community!

LACMA in NoHo II

LACMA in NoHo II
Out of the Box: Making Box Art!

On-Site: Neighborhood partnerships with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art!
LACMA (The Los Angeles County Museum of Art) began its partnership with North Hollywood in August 2016 with Summer Nights, free art workshops for the community at the NoHo Plaza in the Arts District.  This year in August 2017, we continue the tradition!

On August 12th…we had a blast “transforming  boxes into  textured dioramas and assemblage work of art.” Participants used tiny toys, fabric, ribbon, repurposed and found objects, a wild assortment of papers and more to elevate a simple cardboard “gift” box into the gift of art and creativity, fueled by their imaginations, and all the materials and supplies that were available to them right onsite.  Our project was inspired by artists who create box works from LACMA’s collection. such as assemblage artist Betye Saar, and the inimitable Joseph Cornell, as well as the boxes created by iconic artists featured in the amazing show, “Los Angeles to New York: Dwan Gallery, 1959-1971“, a must-see, up through September 10th, at LACMA.

Working in community…

adults and children alike,

creating the work of our/their hands…

in “material heaven!

Friends,

and family

and sole practitioners, came together to celebrate their creative spirits.

is Fall in the air? orange was a big color theme…

adorning this box-work from beginning

to completion,

inside,

and out.

There was lots of laughter,

and contemplation,

smiles,

and complete immersion.

A glorious evening!

LACMA in NoHo I

LACMA in NoHo I
Making Accordion Fold Books

On-Site: Neighborhood partnerships with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art!
LACMA (The Los Angeles County Museum of Art) began its partnership with North Hollywood in August 2016 with Summer Nights, free art workshops for the community at the NoHo Plaza in the Arts District.  This year in August 2017, we continue the tradition!

Setting up. Team member arrive at 4pm to make the “People Street” of NoHo Plaza ready for our accordion bookmaking workshop.

About 90 artmakers attend during the course of the evening, from 6 – 9 pm.

The range of the participants” creativity, and imaginative use of materials was breathtaking.

Whole families got into the act (of artmaking)

and fathers and sons worked together.

Some innovative artists took the materials at hand and created something entirely new, as
our wonderful DJ played accordion music, to work with the accordion-book-making event of the evening!

Friends shared…

Mothers and daughters spent hours…

Young artists played with stickers…

while others worked hard on collage.

Stories were told, and

the completed books exceeded the sum of their parts…

Which is what great art does, and always will do.
We need the art, and people need to make it. 

An ever unfolding cycle.

\

 

Tunneling our Way Through…Making Tunnel Books

Tunneling our Way Through…Making Tunnel Books

For the last class of our recent children’s bookmaking class at LACMA, we made tunnel books…comprised of two spines or sides, a back “page” holding them together.

To prepare for our project, we visited the beautiful LACMA Directors Roundtable Garden, resplendent with its Alexander Calder sculptures: mobiles and stabiles.

We observed how perspective is created by distance, saw how things looked smaller the farther away we are from them, and did a group exercise where each student in turn stated what they saw behind what the previous student said they saw…learning to see in “distance layers” (my terminology), I.E. in perspective.  We also explored the idea of scale seeing how large or small objects are in relation to each other.

Finally, we repaired to the lovely glassed in Plaza Studio, to put our learnings and observations into action, and create our books, exploring color, character, story and setting/environment in the process.

The results are…well, you can see for yourself why I called this class our “Seven From Heaven”!

Students of their own volition devised a theme,

such as this figure hiking,

and followed it through, in this case in silhouette form.

This young artist found images from magazines,

and created a scene with them.

Some created land, city and seascapes through cutting and shaping paper and cardstock strips, and adhering them to the spines,

to beautiful effect.

Students” individual color choices are always interesting…

and often very consistent…also with their clothing color choices, and probably more.

This innovative and well-traveled maker added the words, “Paris, London, New York” on these strips. her travels and where she has lived with her creative family is an important part of her identity.

The red spines on either side create a theatrical effect in this piece, that this bookmaker worked on with meticulous attention to detail, and tender loving care, as she did with all her projects.

I am so going to miss this class. It truly was heavenly to work with such motivated, thoughtful and devoted young creatives in the nurturing, inspirational and magnificent setting of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. May the “Seven From Heaven” ride LACMA art-mobile again soon, and may it be with me!

“Let’s Make Books” at LACMA

“Let’s Make Books” at LACMA

It has been wonderful to teach a family bookmaking class: “Let’s Make Books” for ages 5 and up at LACMA (The Los Angeles County Museum of Art).

Parents can attend with their children, and spend three hours visiting and drawing in LACMA’s galleries, grounds and gardens, walking through its architecture, and learning about its collection, before returning to one of the LACMA Art Studios to work together on art projects related to what has been visited and viewed.  A total experience of art immersion!

In this class thus far we have made accordion books with pop-ups, “folded fan” books with “windows and doors”, flag books, and tunnel books. A grand time has been had by all, including myself.  It is wonderful to work with families, see parents and siblings interacting, and the grown-ups getting a creative break which hopefully will refresh and rejuvenate them when they leave LACMA, and return to their daily lives.

Folded fan book with “windows” that open.

“Playing” with washi tape.

HeARTfelt…

The tunnel book can fold up, stand up, and stretch.

Using LACMA exhibition announcements and postcards as part of the artwork.

Doors closed….

Doors open…

In process…

A colorful collection of magnificent tunnel books!

The creative endeavor of our kindly assistant…who played imaginatively with the tunnel book structure!

Kindness, creativity, imagination, play…these are the hallmarks of our program, and were in abundance during our class. Hurray for LACMA!

We have a bookmaking class for children aged 10-13 starting in early April…check it out!  We would love to have your children in our class…making art together.