Work of Art/Next great artist on the Bravo channel...create covers for classic book covers

I am totally exhausted tonight but I had to stay awake long enough to see what the challenge would be tonight. Penguin Books will choose the winner and it will be published and visible nationally...Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde....Pride and Prejudice....The Time Machine.... Dracula..... Frankenstein.... are the classic novels the artists are assigned to illustrate for this composition. Personal expressions, prejudices, philosophies, evidence of fingerprints, historical influences, good vs. evil and so forth. The challenge is to create a book cover for the classic novel in a very short and limited amount of time. Imagination and witnessing the themes of each story and plot in a contemporary graphic approach. Conveying the spirit of the book in an effective design element but remaining uncomplicated enough to draw the readers to pick up and read a classic. Witnessing the individual processes offers insight into how each individual person works with a very short deadline and the images they collaborate with their personal experiences and journeys. Ironically a few selected artists had only read the Cliff Notes...a summary of their novel which could imply they lack the provided information from each author. The pressure seems to creep into the self confidence of some of the artists and that interfered with their ability to focus on just their own mark making...I think there is a lesson here for me to remember :O). You should check this series out just for the inspirations and next week it is "shocking Art".

I went to Goodwill today and found a desk for my small office at the studio and it was only $7.50...I could hardly believe so Ken is picking it up for me tomorrow. I already had found three chairs at the thrift store...they are bright colors and had never been used....WoooHooo! I am getting so excited and they are putting the awning up on the front of my studio so I have to work on what letters or font I would like to see....I am printing three large posters to frame for inside the gallery to employ as a my signage for right now. Nathan is putting one in the front window to announce my upcoming opening. I have a young artist...Haley Lavender who is a Junior in high school and a very inviting young artist whose paintings sparked my interest from the day I met her. She is having the first gallery opening on August 28th with our Final Fridays art walk. She has worked side by side with me all week and never complained...even when she had to thread all of the large embroidery needles for my little ones.

Today's workshop assignment was to create a running stitch to outline their hand prints. This took some time and patience but for the most part the students created some interesting patterns. This was difficult for some of them so I was ever so grateful for my high school volunteers...they were priceless. Ken delivered Popsicles for our break...it was 94 degrees with equal humidity ....so this was a super treat. When we came into the studio we played a game where the students were blind folded and tried to use their words to describe a mystery object in a brown paper bag...this proved to be quite entertaining for everyone. Finally we began our stamping design elements and then with assistance they added the word "Identity" in a bold black image onto their portrait and the evidence fiber sheet. Tomorrow we return to fingerprints and design layouts ...I think we need to take a break between the sewing so we will make hand prints onto paper and then create a second sheet of playful hand print landscapes or compositions. I am so hopeful this weather pattern will break soon... the heat really drains my energy and I now people were concerned when they watched my red face and sweating session. I sort of get embarrassed but I try to carry on ...it is just what I have to deal with since the brain surgeries. I need to get my materials together now for tomorrow. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

Tuesday ...a workshop in the Glass Studio...the Meeting room...outside with sunprinting ...and forensics in the morning

Whew... things were hopping at The Works today and all day. The squeals and laughter of children are sounding in every corner of the complex and there is wonder in the air....Thank you Howard Le Fevre for your vision. I am tired but what a great day...the hour before I started my class the little ones were learning to write their numbers in Japanese kanje with thick black paints...in one swoop of the brush. All sixteen students were enthralled with the possibilities of sharing their new talents with their parents. (We do have a small opening and gallery presentation on Friday afternoon.) Most of the paints actually made it to the papers :O)!

I then approached our CSI fiber project and went around the room to ask each child what they saw this morning that they believed was Beautiful? The answers ranged from day lilies, the Monarch butterflies, a Lune Moth in flight, their mother's smile, the sunshine....and so forth. I told them about baby woodpeckers investigating the bark on the trees for insects and breakfast for their tummies. We then returned to our self portraits and I urged them to use short , deliberate color strokes so when we applied the hot iron to transfer their portraits onto their fiber evidence sheets. Everything takes longer than you might think and they were hungry once again by 2:30 and needed a bathroom break. After a snack and a short release we began adding the images to the fabrics. They were delighted to have two portraits...one on paper and one on their fabric page. Now we were within minutes before the parents wold arrive for pick up so we gave them curious building sculptural blocks and I just sat and enjoyed their imaginations once again unleashed. Tomorrow we will stamp and stitch our hand prints...this will take some intense one on one attention so say a prayer that I can divide my time and attention in 16 equal parts.

I visited our friend for almost two hours in the hospital ...he is in a real pickle of a situation but with proper medications and rehab we can all encourage him to fight the battle to go home. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

Discovery and Evidence

My workshop opened today with about 20 students and we were on a rolling roar of a start. I gave a small gallery talk about my work and with 7 and 8 year old boys and girls they were very attentive and inquisitive. We talked about drawing with stitches and our needles and threads. We studied portraits done in transparent seta colors and embellishments like buttons and beads and possible found evidence to expose our personal identities and making layers in a CSI approach to our investigation. We made our fingerprints onto white cotton cloths and outlined our hands...to be further developed into a stitched design element. I discover Stazon inks worked the most productively and permanently...the boys were thrilled with making their prints and the evidence remaining on their fingertips. I had hoped to use a new pigment stamp pad with metallic inks but I will have to add a solvent to the pads to rejuvenate their impressionability...I bought some alcohol ink blending solutions so we can play some more tomorrow. We then wet our fabrics and applied three primary colors in a wash of colors and allowed them to dry outside with found objects on top of their first color applications. We then came inside to draw a portrait with a number 2 pencil ...one of my favorite tools...onto the paper we will then color with transfer color crayons ...to make our own personal portraits. After a thick, slow application of the crayons we will heat and iron with a very hot iron our images onto the individual cloth we had painted. Then we play with the "identity" stamps and personal selections to add further design elements onto the cloth. We will have time now to add another layer of intense colors on top of the whole cloth process... and after drying we will need to iron once again with a very hot iron. I took a few photos so enjoy...tomorrow is another day and we will begin a slow cloth process of stitching our hands. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

Happy Father's Day to the men I love in my life....

The day is almost spent and today was glorious as I spent it with my husband and my son in law to rejoice in their loving accomplishments. Ken has made me a better parent from day one with our three unique daughters and their individual paths they chose in their lives. Sometimes you can discover wonderful things when you have no where to go...when I met Ken my life had fallen to a low point and I had to relearn trust... to risk and love once again. As my husband and wife we chose to commit to one another come thick and thin...in sickness and in health...dedicated to creating a family with Joy and laughter and a safe serene environment where each spirit could flourish and grow with here on earth. For twenty four years we have cherished each others laughter as we sometimes muddle through the realities in making our life together. The rituals and small ceremonies we have shared over the years continue in our children's lives as they make their own family legacies. We both were in a veil of a mist today remembering the men who gave us our lives and strength to make the best family for the next generation. Our fathers are gone now but live through us in each new day. We shared the day with Chance and Erin and our wonderful grandchildren with a water gun shower of cooling fun in the backyard and delicious tacos with all the fixings. I realized the joy was in the eyes of my children squealing in glee as they delighted in exhilaration of swinging under the cool shade tree and spending the present moment in their Joy of living. Happy Father's Day to Marshall and James...you may be gone but we carry you both in our hearts forever and our simple rituals of creating a life. I love you both forever and have a debt of enormous gratitude for your gifts over the years.

Our dear friend Don at 86 is back in the hospital instead of sharing a Father's Day brunch with Ken and myself. We saw him early this morning and late in the day to check on his comfort levels and progress. I am feeling he is in the most appropriate place for this night and his recovery will show some progress in the morning. Don is a generous spirit and a model for an artist living his dream for his faith, his family and his community's well being. Sleep well dear friend and we will cross the bridges and face the challenges together tomorrow. You have blessed my life. Imagine and live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

Sky Within Us

Oh, not to be separated,
shut off from the starry dimensions
by so thin a wall.
What is within us
of not intensified sky
traversed with birds
and deep
with winds of homecoming?
Rilke

Friday and Saturday recap...more hot and humid and hazy weather....

Yesterday I attended the most sacred and beautiful celebration of my dear friend Matthew's brief but oh so valuable life here on Mother Earth. The church was full to the brim and even the balcony seats were almost full...no parking spaces in either church parking lots. The music and the letter written and read by Emily...who at 20 years has incredible poise and grace as she says farewell to her only brother. The many actors and musicians sang and played their praises to us all and lifted our grief up to the heavens. I felt Matthew's warm smile on us all ...I know those without faith cannot understand this holiest of energies and both ministers shared light-hearted stories of how they enjoyed having him in their congregation at First Methodist Church. Yes there were tears but there is incredible pain in this loss and the grief of losing such a young articulate loving man seems almost too much to bear. But with the realization that we are all on a sacred journey increases our understanding and strength knowing we are never alone. Barb Shoalis the minister with Reverend Mark Chow both agreed that this service needed to end with the Hallelujah Chorus with a full glorious choir. The room resonated with a sense of real peace...yes we will all have more dark days of tears but somehow we came to realize what a gift it was to have Matthew in out lives and our community! The church congregation went downstairs for a lovely homemade dinner and the stories of our M.A.D. Matthew continued throughout the next hour or so. The sense of community radiated through the multiple generations gathered together to break bread with Matthew and his beloved family.

I came home exhausted from the heat mostly and took a nap. Naps are so good! I did not sleep well the night before for worrying about the young distraught lady running back to the abusive boyfriend. When I woke up Ken and I attended the very first "Party on the Roof" at our small parking garage in downtown Newark. Arnett Howard and his Creole Funk Band supplied hours of wonderful music filled with memories for the people gathered to raise funds for our Mopar event in August and Music in the Parks. It was an evening of just plain good summer fun and friendship as the sun went down on a hot time in the old town of Newark. I came home and slept like a baby and when morning arrived I wanted to stay in my comfy bed and renew my strength.
Later I went out and actually found a floor sample futon for my office ...as is...but comfy for a needed quick nap when I am down at the studio :O). I promised Ken I would not buy a single thing more until we get what I already have here moved 6 miles down to my home away from home. I also now have 16 students next week so I hurried to buy and wash some more white fabrics for next weeks "Forensic CSI Art Fiber Workshop!" I now think I have everything I need to have a good time plus I found a few more colorful buttons in a variety of sizes to add to our stitched slow cloth. Well tomorrow is Father's Day so I need to get some cards made tonight and sort my assortment of materials for Monday. Stay cool in a pool if you cane :O). Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

Matthew was our Miracle Worker....

I attended my very cool summer of magic...Weathervane Playhouse and purchased the remainder of the season's productions ...tonight The Miracle Worker...The Producers....Alice in Wonderland and the finale is ...Hairspray!!!!. I am sitting in the front row seat 105 center stage so I have perfect seats to take in the best of our theater's offerings. My little friend Alivia McKenzie...a first grader who dreams to dance and act and make ART... had a small part in the cast of the blind school children where Anne Sullivan graduated to becoming a teacher. This was a wonderful production and dedicated to Matthew Trombetta's hard work, passion and vigorous approach to making a LIFE! The play is a extremely physical and I was exhausted just sitting so close to the stage. The theater is a very intimate place but I will have to find out how many seats there actually are but everyone has a wonderful view and this year Thanks to Matthew we have air conditioning for the very first time. There is a special gathering after the opening nights but if I try to go to the service tomorrow I need to get to get home and to bed. There is a small crescent of the moon...and I was once told that this image of the moon is "the thumbnail of God". I find myself comforted by this metaphor of God holding us all together tonight and for the many nights when we will need comforting because we are missing Matthew. He is so loved!

As I made my way home I found a young woman in distress in the middle of the road leading back to my house...she was crying hysterically and attempting to pick up her belongings from the street and put them back into her purse. I asked her if I could take her home and to get into my car...of course my front seat was a disaster. My neighbor's daughter pulled up behind me and offered to help "Star" also. In a flash the abusive boyfriend reappeared and the young distraught woman jumped out of the car and ran toward his silver Intrepid...I called after her that this was an abusive relationship and we could help her and take her home safely. Nina and I decided to pray and hope that she would make it home safe...why does this young woman think she deserves this abandonment technique to keep her under his control. Now I hope I will be able to sleep! Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

saying goodbye never gets any easier...

Ken and I attended Matthew Trombetta's calling hours and the room was full of patrons of the Arts here in Licking County. My salty hot tears just will not stop...I am angry and saddened and so confused. The newspaper put the boy who killed Matthew obituary right next to each other. I am sure his family is just as devastated but reading them side by side added salt to my heart's wound. I need to try to forgive him but right now this is impossible...maybe in time. I met Matthew's parents and sister and cousin and when I said i was the ART Lady she smiled and said she felt that she had known me through her son's kind kind words. Tonight i am attending the "Miracle Worker" in honor of opening night and a young artist friend who is five is playing a blind child in the production...I know Matthew will be there with us all. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

the heat is getting to me....storms continue to prevail

I have been collecting information about accountants...lawyers for limited liability corporation developed... information about whether 501 3 C non profits would be more applicable? Oh what a tangled web we weave when we begin a new avenue down a totally different business plan? I also went to look and examine surplus furniture for my small office even though the previous renters took out the counter top I was praying for a chance to recoup and reinstall for my general usage. I then went to our Goodwill thrift shop and discovered a pretty nice library table and an end table complete with beveled glass inserts. They will work perfectly under the remaining oak cabinets so I am on my way to organization for this small intimate space.

I came home to assemble my forensic science workshop for next week where I will thumbprint flowers... stamp "Identity"....color crayon portraits that will be heat transferred onto fabric...to stamp, swirl and splatter with acrylics ...then finalize with simple stitches. Lyn will also be working with sun prints with collected "evidence" collected from the surrounding courtyard grounds. I will be working with a young painter Hayley Lavender...I met with her yesterday and decided to install her first solo exhibit at the end of August in the central gallery outside my studio space for about six weeks. She is just as lovely as her name...lavender is soothing and she is a gentle spirit eager to learn new processes. She needs to perform 40 hours of community service for her school requirements so why not do what you love and love what you do. I am hoping the weather cools a wee bit down ...but we will do what we are meant to do...create an example of forensic artwork :O). I found a small table top ironing board which will be perfect for our portraits and the heat transfer...we are going to have so much FUN!

Tomorrow Ken and I will attend calling hours for my dear friend Matthew. They are planning to have a local service on Friday morning here in Newark and then his family will have a celebration of his life in his hometown in California. I can not express the sadness that I am carrying in my heart and my body. I am asking myself what Matthew taught us all in his very short life and it comes to making every day count and move forward. Never be afraid to take a risk to do what you love and love what you do. Our community theater is moving forward with its production of the Miracle Worker...that is what my dear friend would have wanted. I carry you in my heart Matthew...your courage...your energy...your passion for the Arts.

I spoke to over 30 persons in the gallery about the stories and narratives that inspired my quilts...90 minutes of intense dialogue...I was totally spent but I felt honored to have so many interested in what I am doing with my stitches. I came home to ideas for small books to make and display in my studio space. The name of my studio is still cooking on the back burner but even though this is exhausting in developing a business plan and lay out and possible color selections for the walls that are exposed brick...any ideas out there? I know white is always ...blah blah blah...but I want a warm inviting energetic color for the few walls available. I will be 60 in September and this is my birthday gift to myself...now or never so keep me in your prayers. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

my new space... bare bones but so much promise and great light and a great location!!!

the first group in my gallery tour... two groups more arrived at the end of over 90 minutes....