Field Trip!

One of our students (we'll call her Diane), has been asking (constantly nagging) us to go on a field trip to see a museum. So, given the fact that we like to give our students a well rounded education, (and like to have fun) one day we just said ROAD TRIP!!! And that is how we ended up in Deland last Wednesday instead of the usual class room. Our first stop was the Florida Museum for Women Artists (FMWA). Above you see Nancy looking at one of my personal faves, by Libby Ware titled Atlantis. You can't tell from this photo, that it's entirely made of clay. I love the white on white and the opposing shapes and textures of this piece.

Below is a detail of a painting called Daybreak. I am showing you one portion of it (apologies to the artist Chris Kling) so that you could better see the exquisite rendering of the palm trees. When you've lived in Florida as long as I have, palm trees are a dime a dozen. Carlynne and I both zeroed in on the loose but lovely quality of these.

This is another that was love at first sight for both Carlynne and I. Called Distance, this painting by Laura Varich is the most perfect blend of loose brush strokes, color, and shapes. Kudos.

Here you see one of our students, Johnie (aka Mom to me) viewing her favorite piece by Karlene McConnell titled Intersections. The artist may or may not have intended it to feel like flowers, but that is the way my Mom interpreted it. (Notice the flowers in her blouse.) I like the colors and the mix of straight and curvilinear elements.

Part of our group, Johnie, Diane (yes that one) and Cindy.

Diane, hiding.

Another fave of both Carlynne and myself. Grace Leal, the artist of this piece called Weeds, gave the curators license to arrange these small encaustic pieces any way they wanted and this is what they came up with. See closer view of individual pieces below.

Encaustic (painting with pigmented wax) is another thing that I would love to do if it didn't involve new materials and tools that I do not have. I am already crowding myself out of two studios. If only there was enough time, money and space to do everything I want to do!

Our second stop after a really nice lunch at the Mainstreet Grill (they had to put us in a separate room on the lower level so we didn't disturb other patrons), we headed to the Museum of Florida Art. Here you see Cindy playing curator in the M & M Exhibit by John Wilton. It's a wonderful interactive display of canvases all same shape in various sizes that the viewer is encouraged to arrange any way they want. Where else do they allow you to touch the artwork, (I've come close to being arrested for this)? And below you see the arrangement that Cindy and Nancy felt was just right.

I think we are fortunate in our fairly rural part of Central Florida to have as many high quality museums as we do. We have all decided that there are more field trips in our future. Hope you can join us next time!

Make art, not war.

Kelli