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Artist mother – Mother artist

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We are so excited to have artists Suzi Banks Baum and Karen Arp-Sandel (the duo that make up FeMail) present their workshop The Dailyness of Art on April 28th. The day will be filled with inspiration and art-making, and then if that wasn’t enough, participants and the greater community will watch the film “Who Does She Think She Is?” with a panel discussion of Berkshire professionals (all mothers and artists).

FeMail has been a vendor, selling artwork at our Handmade Holiday Festival for the past two years. When you meet Suzi and Karen you feel instantly inspired. They have this positive energy that is contagious. I am thrilled to bring FeMail back to Alchemy Initiative in a teaching capacity, especially one that is about inspiring our community to create daily.

FeMail ask their students:

* Do you find yourself wishing for deeper connection, sisterhood and the thread of meaningful conversation?

* Is time the factor against which you struggle to carve out a little space for your desires?

Karen Arp-Sandel says:

“Honoring myself as a creative individual, while honoring all my other jobs, including my mothering, is the most important work I do. Since my children have recently fledged the nest of home, I acknowledge this truth: one never stops being a mother. I am dedicated to bringing creative people together, especially groups of women, in order to elevate the joy and sustenance derived from authentic artistic self-expression. This serves to keep alive my mantra: ‘Art is not Separate.’”

Karen and Suzi, will share their traveling exhibition of miniature artworks in the form of collage/mixed media post cards spanning five years of correspondence. During their artist talk, they will share the stories within this exchange, which they call the “front and back stories.”

Under their nurturing guidance for using Yogic breath techniques, students will clear their minds and deepen their focus for visual self-expression. Next, they will learn easy collage techniques and experiment with paints, mark-making and tape transfers. Soon they will be absorbed in the world of their own visual dialogue.

Creating mail art will enliven creativity and help you find your authentic voice. As you explore the process of collage, you will discover how to stay in touch with the muse through daily creative practice.

At 6pm we will screen the award-winning documentary by Pamela Tanner Boll, “Who Does She Think She Is?.” Viewers will deepen their exploration of the gender line so often encountered by women artists who are juggling many concerns in the process of actualizing their artist selves, as they talk with the panel of Berkshire professionals, all mothers and artists. The panel discussion will be led by Suzi Banks Baum and Karen Arp-Sandel and will include Janet Elsbach, Hope Sullivan, Gina Hyams, Ronna Ostheimer, Angelique Walls, Stephanie Iverson and Laurie May Coyle.

Panelists:

Karen Arp-Sandel:
I am a woman who wears many hats: artist, educator, yoga teacher, workshop presenter, Mother, wife, aunt, daughter and sister. In my role as a collage artist, I make art in my home studio and teach classes at IS183 Art School of the Berkshires, where I am on the faculty of the Painting, Drawing and Collage department. When I am not working in my studio or instructing adults, I implement an exciting Learning through Arts programs in the public elementary schools using the skills in my “visual artist toolbox”. Each spring I lead a weeklong immersion retreat for women at Kripalu Center, called Vibrant Visionary Collage. Through this transformational work, I exercise my passion for yoga, creativity, and community.

Suzi Banks Baum:
Suzi Banks Baum is a full time Mom living in Great Barrington, MA. She is also a mixed media collage artist specializing in postal art and artist books. Her five year collaboration in postal art called FeMail with Karen Arp-Sandel has generated an exhibit of over 90 pieces of original one of a kind postal art, Dailyness of Art workshops, FeMail Bonding: mail art merchandise and facilitated discussions of creativity and motherhood. Suzi is a writer, currently completing her non-fiction book about creativity and motherhood titled Laundry Line Divine: A Wild Soul Book for Mothers. Suzi produced ‘Out of the Mouths of Babes: An Evening of Mothers Reading to Others’ for The Berkshire Festival of Women Writers in March, 2012.

Janet Reich Elsbach:
Janet Reich Elsbach is mother to three excellent children. Her chief interests in life include, but are not limited to: what her family will have for dinner tonight; what her family will have for dinner tomorrow; whether her children are rested, fed, encouraged and aware; getting out of the grocery store with as much dignity and as little plastic packaging material as possible; assessing the real chances that we the people will come to our senses in time to save the bees, the oceans and the last vestiges of true democracy; and the very powerful and inspiring ways all of these things connect. With her husband, the artist Bart Elsbach, she am managed by a small sheep farm, and she writes about all of this when she can stay awake long enough to string four coherent words together.

Hope Sullivan:
Hope Sullivan is Executive Director of IS183, Art School of the Berkshires. She has an MFA from Columbia University, a BS from Ithaca College and lives in Pittsfield with her daughter and dog.

 

Gina Hyams:
Gina Hyams is an author and editor who specializes in mysterious and confounding subjects, such as pie, nannies, incense, folk art, facials, death, and room service. She is the creator of the Andrews McMeel Publishing “In a Box” series of food contest book-kits, which includes Pie Contest in a Box, Chili Cook-Off in a Box, and Christmas Cookie Contest in a Box. Her other books include the bestselling travel-design titles, In a Mexican Garden and Mexicasa, as well as Pacific Spas, Day of the Dead Box, and Incense –- all published by Chronicle Books. She is also co-editor of the anthology, Searching for Mary Poppins: Women Write About the Relationship Between Mothers and Nannies published by Hudson Street Press and Plume, divisions of Penguin U.S.A.

Ronna Tulgan Ostheimer, Ed.D.:
Ronna Tulgan Ostheimer is in charge of planning and organizing the education programs for the general public at the Clark. In this role, she runs the school, docent and community programs. The Education Department at the Clark is proud to engage thousands of school children and families each year with the collection, and to teach them how art can enrich their day-to-day lives. Ronna has served as a consultant, presenter and advisor to many educational organizations and has published extensively in the field. She developed the award winning RAISE (Responding to Art Involves Self Expression) program, a model for working with adjudicated youth in an art museum which has been replicated at many other museums in the United States and abroad. Before coming to the Clark, Ronna was on the faculty of the Education Department at MCLA and served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Ronna lives with her three children, husband and dog in Williamstown, MA and is a native of Pittsfield.

Angelique Walls:
Angelique Walls is an artist, writer, seeker, mother, and fierce advocate for girls and women. Weaving her passions for Women, Social Justice, Birth Activism, Community Building, Charity, Sustainabilitiy, and the Arts through her life, Angelique got her BFA in 2002, became a mother in 2008 and cofounded Gathered Resources Of Women: GROW, Inc in 2010. In addition to her work as the President and Director of GROW, Angelique works in a residential program for homeless teen mothers, is a full time single mom, is writing a couple of books, forages, gardens, and loves to create with her hands. “My story is the story of every woman, and every woman’s story is mine.”

Stephanie Iverson:
I am an artist and bookbinder who has recently started designing and selling jewelry and other wearables after moving from the City to the Berkshires. The urban vibe of the Berkshires, along with its laid-back style, inspired me to create an elegant and sophisticated line of jewelry that retains a raw, elemental edge. Iverson Studio jewelry is understated enough to wear every day but remarkable enough to “make” a look. Current retail outlets include Twigs, the Berkshires’ premiere upscale clothing store; Local, a gallery featuring the Berkshires’ most talented artists and artisans; Germain, a beautiful home and design store, recently featured in ELLE Decor; and the MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) retail store.

Laurie May Coyle:
Laurie is an artist and mama with a penchant for simple, modern and meaningful design, living and working on a hillside in South Lee, Massachusetts. She works in a variety of media, including painting/drawing, printmaking, surface design, photography and graphic design. Things she can’t live without: local food, playing with dogs, making art with children and watching the seasons change.

Don’t miss out on this day of inspiration and art-making! Email to register Alchemy.Initiative@gmail.com. $100 for the workshop (includes materials, lunch, light dinner and the film screening) and just a $5 suggested donation for the film.


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