A quiet revolution

Cathie Stevenson : Before and After Module 1

I haven’t told you about what’s happening in my Print & Scan workshop. MAGIC! That is what’s going on.

The participating artists are clearly at ease with their art materials and creating wonderful artwork. But most are new to reproducing their work. Learning something new is challenging – especially when it involves a whole new medium. We can so quickly enter into that horrid overwhelmed feeling.

Serena Bridgeman: Before and After Module 1

When you are feeling overwhelmed, it impossible to learn – your brain just can’t take any more info! I see my promise to my students as  not only presenting new skills and techniques in a fun and entertaining way, but also as delivering it in manageable proportions. This comes down to my experience and listening carefully to participants.

Print and Scan is a very new type of class. The material in it is all new and so are the tools we are using for most participants.

But can I just tell you how  PROUD I am of my students. I mean yodel-on-top-of-the-mountains proud! I asked people to be super-responsible and responsive to their emotional state as they are learning in this class. With art, you can sit down feeling el-crappo and being creative will unkink the soul. When you are learning, trying to bravely push through a fragile state-of-mind just leads to overwhelm.

Lisa LaVoi: Before and After Module 1

Instead, each artist is approaching the material in their own time and gaining confidence with each tool before moving on. For a computer-based class there is a lot of fun and beauty going on!

Ely Lugo : Before and After Module 1

Pictures is some of the results participants have achieved from our first Module. I SO wish I had been able to do this class when I first started as an Artist.

Nayana Illiffe: Before and After Module 1

There are so many more success stories I could show you! We are taking work out of our journals, textile arts and canvases and giving it a whole new life. Sometimes the differences are very subtle, but so telling. Other times, there is a huge jump in the artwork. Either way, the artwork goes from private journal page to something you can imagine on your own walls, giving as a card to someone you love or seeing in a book.

I feel like a friend and mentor to my Print & Scan girls.  I feel so excited for each of them! This is my blog, so I tend to turn everything around to be all about me, and I know the purpose of a workshop is so I can give to my students. However, I am the one receiving so much. Inspiration, excitement, joy : the happiest of emotions.

Maybe one day you will join this quiet revolution when you are ready. Maybe you will enjoy the artwork of my participants as it is given a wider audience in the future.

xoxox

Jane

Links Print & Scan Workshop: click Here