Art: A Universal Language

PLC Kindergartners perform a "dragon dance"! A student's first attempt at scroll painting...bamboo for good luck!
The student's "shadow puppets"...low tech entertainment! My favorite!

January 1st marks the start of our New Year of course. It is a time for rejuvenation and renewal! For me, it is when I begin my celebration of multicultural arts and crafts in my school art studio. This month has been devoted to the richness of Chinese Art. My Kindergarten artists have tried their hand at "brush painting", creating images of bamboo with minimal and effortless strokes,(well obviously some of my 5 and 6 year old friends were more successful than others),lanterns and shadow puppets. The culminating event was our "Lunar New Year" celebration,complete with dragon dance,storytelling, shadow puppet performance and parade...all organized by the special area staff, myself included.

Studying and celebrating world cultures, reveals the universal importance of art as a vehicle for expression,recording history and as a means of beautifying and elevating the seemingly mundane.Art was integrated into every aspect of life, but particularly into the ceremonial events that marked the passage of time.Despite my passion for the fine arts,(painting,drawing and sculpting),the crafts of world communities have been most inspiring to my own work in recent years. The graphic nature of printed Adinkra funerary cloths, the colorful whimsy of Oaxacan animal figurines or aboriginal dreamtime dot paintings and the delicacy and ballet like movement needed to create Asian calligraphic strokes, never cease to fascinate me.And it is that which I share with my students.The aesthetics of the lines,patterns,color,textures and symbolism evident in these crafts, can be described as "simple sophistication." Art + children = Pure inspiration

Let me ask you something, what is not art? ~Author Unknown

Relay For Life -" Jump and Jive At Year Five!"

Brick Township will celebrate it's 5th year participating in the very worthy, "Relay For Life" event which is the American Cancer Society’s signature activity.Entire communities gather for an overnight, 24 hour long event, aimed at celebrating,remembering and fighting cancer."Teams of people camp out at a local high school, park, or fairground and take turns walking or running around a track or path. Each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times during the event." The "Relay" events, are life changing for all who participate.

In Brick, we held our "kick-off" event this past Sunday. In an effort to engage the children of the community, students K-12 were asked to submit artwork, inspired by the annual theme.This year, in recognition of our 5th successful year as participants, "Jump and Jive at Year Five" was the selected slogan. The winning image is used for the invitation and other promotional material for the Relay event. Well this year, out of some 280 submissions, one of my Kindergarten artists,Miss Tyler O., tied overall for 3rd place. What an incredible honor! Kindergartners tend to create with an immediacy and freshness that is hard to duplicate. Typically,there are no preliminary sketches. It just happens. Tyler's image is alive and beautifully reflects the concept of joy, life and celebration! Check it out! Brava Tyler O. and congrats to my other 4 students whose work was selected as honorable mentions! Kindergartners rock!

For further information on the event, please visit RelayForLife.org.

“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child”-Pablo Picasso

Laura Trice: The Power of Saying Thank You

"Serendipity": Solo Exhibit

Hanging show in 9 days and about 10 paintings to complete.
So you are all invited. I wonder if viewers will be able to detect which paintings were created in my most "colorful" states of pure, unadulterated frenzy.

What If The Mightiest Word Is Love?

Fly: Giver of Life and Light

"Rosa Parks sat in 1955: Martin Luther King walked in 1963: Barack Obama ran in 2008,that our children might FLY."



Jude Harzer "Fly: Giver of Life and Light" oil on canvas 48" w x 36" h
Although created in 2007, this image seems perfectly suited as a commemoration of this day in our history. It celebrates our children and all that Obama represents: promise, life, light,persistence and the ability to fly based on strength rather than weakness.This is an extraordinary "moment"...January 20,2009

Faith Ringgold: Finding Inspiration

"I have set my life up so that I don't have to worry about [my work] being accepted. If I do it, and it's there, people will come around at some point. And they have." Faith Ringgold

When I first rediscovered my art three years ago, I was encouraged by my colleague and friend Susan MacDougall, just six months later, to attend a University of the Arts workshop where NJ based artist, Faith Ringgold was presenting. Although I instruct my students about Faith Ringgold's work and would actually have the opportunity to meet this living:) artistic legend, I didn't relish the thought of spending all day Saturday in Philadelphia participating in a "class" for which I would have to pay....Well that Mrs. MacDougall is very wise and persuasive. Fortunately I went to the UArts event and it literally changed my life.It also made me think twice before passing up opportunities...especially those that seem to fall into your lap.

You must take chances. If you do nothing, you reduce the possibilities you have for greater joy.—Walter Anderson

In addition to meeting Faith and her daughter Barbara Wallace, I met my friend Trish Maunder, a dynamic and smart artist and educator.I can never get enough of her British accent( I love the sound of certain people's voices):)She prompted me to show Faith Ringgold some images of my own work that I had with me. At first I was intimidated and embarrassed. Faith was certainly not there to conduct portfolio assessments. But if you have ever met Faith Ringgold(and many artists have because she is so accessible and generous with her time), she is simultaneously regal, gracious and "real".There is no artifice or pretension.

Not only did I share my work with her but I conversed with her about the seriousness of my intentions to become an artist and she in turn told me her story of rising early before her daughters every morning to paint and the need for discipline, devotion and a dedicated work space.She talked about every woman's struggle to balance home,children and work...and, I am a good student and took her words to heart.The following week, at the invitation of Faith and her daughter Barbara, I auctioned my first ,"Fly" painting at the ACA Galleries in Chelsea, NYC on behalf of her Anyone Can Fly Foundation. I haven't stopped painting since and I rise nearly every morning all year long at 5 am to paint.It has become second nature...effortless because I rediscovered through this process my true passion for art. At 5 am it is peaceful and everything begins anew for me... It has been magical!

I have also been very fortunate to maintain contact with Faith and Trish.Faith Ringgold has a children's museum opening in Harlem in 2011.I'll keep you posted on the progess. Today Trish Maunder forwarded an article about Ms. Ringgold and her support of our newly elected President Obama. It was with great confidence that I voted for him in November. We are in need of his guidance as a nation at this moment in history. He will lead us with strength, dignity,fairness and intelligence.And his wife Michelle, his equal in every way,will do the same. I know it! I can feel it:) Faith Ringgold believes it as well.

Tomorrow will be historical as our 44th President, Barack Obama, is inaugurated.Here is an article that Trish emailed me earlier this evening. As artists we are always seeking inspiration.Obama will inspire us.Read how he has inspired Faith.
CLICK HERE TO READ!. May you always find beauty and inspiration!