Art Unraveled Classes I Took

A Pendant by Paula Hardesty

I took two classes at Art Unraveled, in addition to teaching. The first was "Soldering for Maidens' taught by Paula Hardesty. As you can tell from the title, this class was perfect for someone like me who had never soldered before. Paula was delightfully clear and patient! She provided us with our own soldering irons to keep, wire, solder, and lots of extras!

A class in soldering was definitely outside my comfort zone. I don't know what it is, but though I'm comfortable with painting, collage, and assemblage, I have a lot of trouble with more exact art forms. Somehow, my fingers turn into big old bananas and fight me when I'm doing something like wrapping copper foil around a glass sandwich with an image inside. This makes for some frustrating moments for me when I know what to do but my small motor skills don't seem equal to the task. But, as I've said, Paula was very patient and I did manage to create three pendants! I knew I couldn't do the wire and soldering work neatly at this point, so I exaggerated the lack of symmetry. Now that I've done soldering, I'm eager to do more!

Paula Demonstrating Technique

My Pendants

The second class I took was "Trashy Novel" from Michael de Meng. We took old books and turned them into outrageous assemblages. Michael is also a patient teacher and his humor helped me take myself less seriously as I destroyed and recreated my book. The books were supposed to be able to close, but a few of us made books that stay open. I had a lot of fun in this class. I feel, though, that I stayed a bit much in my comfort level and didn't try all the techniques and ideas I could have. Oh well, guess I'll just have to make more trashy novels!

Some of the Trashy Novels from Class

My piece, called "Private Library."

The title of my trashy novel comes from a vintage bookplate that was affixed to the inner front cover of the book. After it was cut away from the book I used it as a centerpiece.

Michael points out the rich depth this student achieved with layers of acrylic glaze and a deep niche

Here's another Trashy Novel in progress

The view from my table at Shopping Extravaganza.

Two more highlights of AU were the Shopping Extravaganza and the mask-making contest. I loved meeting people and talking about my work at the shopping event. Since I was vending, I didn't get much time to shop, but maybe that's just as well. Thanks to fellow instructor
Annie Lockhart who spelled me at my booth so I could eat and carry out other calls of nature!

I loved this Steampunk Crown by Joanne Huffman

I was one of the judges at the mask-making contest and was too busy with my duties to get pictures of the incredible masks that were created. Part of the contest included a runway walk for each contestant. These were so creative and hilarious that I laughed until I cried all my mascara off.

I hope to be part of Art Unraveled again next year!