I have been creating and exhibiting mixed media assemblages and handmade paper for more than 25 years and more recently have been exploring altered art, polymer clay and artist trading cards. After earning an M.A. in Consciousness Studies I started creating what I describe as Alchemical Art, taking "found" materials from shorelines, thrift shops, garage sales and dumpsters and letting the materials determine the subject and style of my creations.
I have also led a number of workshop/classes on various aspects of spirituality and consciousness as well as workshops demonstrating many different art techniques and media. Eventually I combined these interests, exploring the ways that art can be used as a tool to access and expand consciousness, especially by incorporating the alchemical principle of using work on transforming materials in the external world as a means of working on our internal reality.
Announcing an Internet Class at CLASSHEAVEN.COM -Starting May 1 , 2008
We will be creating three amulets/pendants using Triomino game pieces and polymer clay. I have a degree in Mysticism and Religion and originally designed these amulets to hold a variety of sacred stones and/or affirmations, but if you are more comfortable with a more conventional use, they can hold a personally meaningful keepsake such as a lock of hair, a flower petal from a wedding or perhaps small pebbles from a beach or other spot close to your heart.
While working with polymer clay, we will cover basics, safety issues, stamping clay, creating our own carved stamps, gold leaf work, use of mica powder finishes, forming beads, and a number of other techniques. Since these are small objects that will only need small quantites of materials such as Pearl Ex powders, I have put together a kit that will contain most of the materials and tools that will be needed rather than requiring significant expenditures to get started. Also, I will include sacred stones from a number of cultures that I have gathered over the years. These include a quartz crystal, a lodestone, a 100 million year old fossil, and fragments of meteorite, 2000 year old Mayan pottery and fulgurite, a mineral formed when a lightning strike fuses sand into a type of glass. The kit will be available for $12 plus shipping. Since shipping polymer clay can be an iffy business, especially from Texas, it will not be included, but is readily available just about everywhere.
The class fee is $25
The Start Date is May 1st - Sign up HERE
I would LOVE to have you join me!
I am also currently planning a weekend workshop in which we will discover what defines who we are and creating a "resemblage" that reflects those definitions. My "resemblage" is:
For more information please contact me.
I look forward to sharing a creative space with you.