Glass Ornament Workshop!

As much as I would have loved to take a workshop with Sara's internship supervisor, the timing simply did not work to our advantage. That did not stop me from my dream of learning the basics of glassblowing though! I researched some other places that offered workshops and came across Chicago Hot Glass Studio. They had a glass ornament class and I had to sign up. What a great idea so close to the holidays.
I walked in to this inconspicuous studio in a very industrial neighborhood and was instantly amazed. The space was HUGE! Very simply set up though, everything seemed quite straight forward. Things were lined up nicely and looked easy to navigate.

To my surprise, we were not working with any of the kilns. My teacher took us over to a table with a bunch of individual torches attached to the bottom and this was where our class would take place. Also, we were not using typical pipes to blow the glass...there were very convenient little bubbles of glass attached to a glass straw that we had to fill with colored glass pieces and there ya go: instant ornament! 

All we had to do was heat up the bubble at the torch until it got red hot and the color melted into the walls of the bubble and then we took the bubble off the fire and put it perpendicular to the floor and blew through the straw and the glass expanded and hardened. The whole process took about 5 minutes to make one ornament. Not as easy as it sounds though! There is a strict blowing to twirling ratio as the glass expands that is actually pretty difficult to perfect. This is also just one 30 minute workshop...I don't think my teacher expected us to be making excellent ornaments. It was definitely fun though!

This is where we had to put the ornaments still attached to the straw so they could cool down. 

Success! 3 of those 5 actually got made into ornaments....3/5 success!

Hyde Park Art Center Tour!

Even though I was not able to find a workshop to do at Hyde Park Art Center, my art seminar teacher, Martina, asked me if I would like to have a private tour of the center given by one of her friends that works there! How could I say no?! We met up early in the morning and had some much needed warm drinks at the adorable cafe attached to HPAC. Martina's friend Darrell Roberts met up with us and took us into the classroom section of the center. This is the portal you go through to get to the classrooms!!!

The coke machine is actually a door! How cool is that! Martina agreed to be my wonderful model. The classrooms are pretty standard and really efficient. They have a darkroom too. Definite plus in my book. They are also in the process of expanding the rooms and changing some of the set up. 

Next we got to see the gallery space. It is so open and bright with a bank of windows letting in a ton of natural light. There is even a walkway above the gallery so you can go upstairs and view it from the top. I was also able to get a really informative view on some important Chicago artists who exhibit their art at HPAC. Here's a little glimpse into the gallery from the hallway...not exactly the best shot of the gallery but this is what the main thoroughfare looks like.

The tour went on to visit another gallery space and the resident artists' hallway. Every corner turned and every door opened seemed to lead to an entire wing. The center is set up so nicely and has a very effective use of space. I also got to meet the director who is SO nice! She actually started out as an intern at HPAC, there is hope for us all! I picked up a volunteer form for the summer. I was so lucky to tag along with Martina to experience this great art venue. I wish I could have taken a workshop there! I am in love. It was a wonderful morning.

Ceramics Workshop

Last week our Art seminar class went to Lincoln Square Pottery Center for a workshop on creating Arts and Crafts themed tiles! I could not ask for better subject matter! I am kind of obsessed with Motawi Tiles. The atmosphere at Lincoln Square is really relaxed and very independent feeling with great tunes playing. The workshop was even cooler because one of my classmates interns at Lincoln Square and she was able to lead the class. First we learned how to roll out clay slabs on a slab roller (I have taken a few classes in ceramics but I am always amazed at how perfectly flat and smooth the roller makes the clay). Then we were each given a small square of clay to carve our creation. Hallie (my classmate) brought out some books on the Arts and Crafts movement to give us some inspiration with our tiles. I love how the motifs are usually of plants and things found in nature but they are also designed in a way very reminiscent of geometric shapes. I tried my best to base my design on the traditional Arts and Crafts ideals and shapes. I can't wait to see how mine turned out!
Everyone's looked pretty cool in the initial greenware stages...greenware is what unfired ceramics is called. Here are some snapshots of the workshop.

My teacher, Martina, and Sara working hard on their tiles!

Hallie showing us different tools to use for different markings.

My tile!

Cupcake Boot-Camp!

I think my stomach is going to burst...and I do not regret any icing eating that lead to this silly stomach ache. Earlier today I took a cupcake baking workshop at The Chopping Block-Merchandise Mart and it was beautiful and delicious and educational! Absolute trifecta. We all got into groups of 3-4 people and headed to a little kitchen station where we found a packet of recipes. I knew it was going to be a good class when the first cupcake we were making was a tiramisu cupcake. Wow, so good. As we were baking, our instructor would walk around and make sure we were doing everything right. Heating the ton of butter correctly, chopping the ginger small enough, using the egg beaters right, things like that. He would give us little pointers too about short cuts to cooling icing (moving the mixing bowl around the counter so it does not continue to heat) and other hints. We made enough different types of cupcakes so each person in our group got to do everything: melt ingredients, stir ingredients, measure ingredients, rest, pipe the icing, and clean the bowls a.k.a. just an excuse to lick the spatula. I loved taking a gloomy Sunday morning/afternoon and turning it into a fabulous day of creating gorgeous cupcakes. My groupmates were super nice too, they know their way around the kitchen well so they helped me out and answered any questions I had. My favorite part was definitely the icing part. I also felt like that was the most "artsy"....

Check out how great my Sunday was:

The adorable classroom. And that blur is our teacher.

Apple spice, fudge brownie, and tiramisu cakes

They also served us lunch! Salad, pork tenderloin, and pasta.

Hard at work? Yes.

I though we would maybe get to take home 4 or 5 cupcakes...I HAVE A WHOLE OTHER BOX! Help me eat all of these or I will have to finish them all myself and I have a feeling my body would not appreciate that, I have to save room for turkey!

Soap-ery!

Last Sunday (November 14), my friend Sara and I attended a soap making class at Abbey Brown Artisan Soaps. The place is great! The store has such a rustic feel to it and almost everything sold there is locally made. The soap process we learned about is called "cold process" which involves saponification...our teacher's favorite word...and saponification is a chemical process that allows oil and water to mix by using lye. By the way, I had no idea how dangerous it is to use lye! In fact, it is so bad that our teacher had to mix the lye water before we got to the workshop. I also had no idea how precise everything has to be measured and weighed out before it can be mixed together. Anyways, in layman's terms, the cold process of soap making calls for about three weeks before the soap can be used. Unfortunately that also meant that Sara and I could not take home the soap we helped make...but we did get to pick out a bar from the last class' batch. We made Lavender, Lemongrass, and Mango (I chose Mango, definitely a good choice).

Here are some photos from the day!

Those drawers next to our teacher are what the soaps are stored in! We made enough to fill three drawers: 300 bars of soap

The additional oils. These are added to the essential oils and the lye water mixture.

The staging area. 

Scraping the soap to get every last drop out. I think that is the Mango soap.

This class was definitely the most informative workshop I've taken so far. I think the Abbey Brown soap class is really meant for people who are seriously interested in continuing on to make their own soaps/ those who already have a background in soap making. A lot of the time was devoted to the teacher going into great detail about the processes and oils and where to get material and safety measures; all extremely important, it just was not what I was expecting. Still totally cool though. Now I understand how very hard and complicated it is to make one's own soap.

Basketry Workshop!

Saturday November 13th's basket weaving workshop at the Chicago Weaving School was absolutely fabulous! It may be my favorite workshop/art endeavor as of yet! The owner of the school, Natalie Boyett, is such an amazing woman with an immense drive to bring the art of weaving into every Chicago-ite's life. She is also a huge advocate for the ACM program (which is great) because she had an ACM intern at her site last spring and Natalie said it was a really wonderful time.

We started out learning all about the different kinds of reeds involved in making a bread basket. The materials are predominately wicker or rattan and the reeds come in flat or round styles. Luckily, Natalie started our baskets for us already so we just had to continue on what she did. Although, we were taught how to start our own baskets too for further reference. Here is what a barely started bread basket looks like:

The wrapping of the round reed is called twining and it is basically an under/over weaving exercise...quite simple once I got it. It's really entrancing. Once I got my base done, we learned how to bend the spokes, the flat reeds in the wagon wheel pattern, up to start the walls of our basket. That looks like this:

I had to keep wetting the basket and the twining reed so it did not get dry and crack. Though, of course, there were many cracked reeds. Thank goodness Natalie taught us how to fix those and weave in new round reeds. The flat reed in the above photo was added as a design element and that was woven in just like the twining reeds. After about three hours, we had a finished basket!

Art Endeavors...From Last Week...

Last Thursday (Nov. 4th) I was invited to the opening gala for the SOFA, which stands for Sculptural Object and Functional Art, show at Navy Pier! SOFA is an annual art show displaying absolutely gorgeous and absolutely expensive pieces of art ranging from glass to ceramics to wood sculpture. I went last year with my school's art club and as soon as I found out I was doing the ACM Chicago semester this year, I promised myself that I would go again and experience the beauty. This year was different though because we went the night before it opened to the general public; the night when the rich and "important" come out and view the artwork. I was just as pleased looking at the passing outfits of gala go-ers as I was looking at the art. Everything was so fancy with elegant cheeses and bruschetta and drinks galore. My favorite pieces were definitely in the glass category. The pure size of some of the sculptures was unbelievable! They were either so large or so small, unfathomable to me how a glass artist would do such a thing. Also, the colors looked like something you could only see from Hubble telescope photos. However, the jewelry was breathtaking as well. The pearls and jewels were the size of grapes and the metalwork was flawless. There was a section of "outsider art" as well that dealt more in the realm of folk art and was done by unconventional artists. Very interesting to look at and one could tell exactly where the more classic SOFA show ended and the "outsider art" began. One of the coolest things that night was walking by an artist booth and realizing I had just packaged that artist's pieces from Lillstreet's recent art show and readied them for sending back to her. I am still regretting not going up to her and introducing myself. However, I did see almost all of my colleagues from Lillstreet and we schmoozed about art for a couple minutes, so that made up for things. I was so lucky that I was able to make it that night; I was planning on going anyways, but my friend offered me a ticket to opening night and I could not pass that up.

Here are some pictures I quickly snapped inside the show, sadly I was not sneaky enough to take any up close photos of the outrageous outfits of the night:

Tim Tate's glass vanity terrarium (Sara and I)

The art fun did not stop there! On Friday some friends and I went to an art opening for Bill Frederick at Zg Gallery in River North (which also happens to be a gallery that supports my art professor Martina Nehrling). Frederick's work is all water color although, at first glance, it looks just like a black and white photograph. His detail work is meticulous and the shading is perfect. Martina knows Frederick fairly well so she coaxed him into coming over and talking to our little group of students. He is really down to Earth and explained his usage of black and white and gray tones in his work instead of color and his use of varying perspectives. It was First Friday too so many of the galleries around the neighborhood had openings. Zg is also quite close to another gallery which is right across the hall. We all went to view the artwork there as well. I fell in love with a photographer named Lauren Simonutti who does simple contact prints (placing the negative directly on the photo paper and shining light onto it) and toning them beautifully. Another very successful and beautiful art filled night!

Bill Frederick's Gallery Postcard

One of Lauren Simonutti's prints

Sunday I went home to help out with my grandmother's weavers guild show at the Botanical Gardens in Glencoe-the Fine Art of Fiber Show. It happens every year during the first weekend in November and I always used to help with the pack up after the show finished, but since I've been at school for the past 2 years I have not been able to make it in for the show so this was a special treat.She does gorgeous women's clothing and accessories all hand woven with the most fabulous color combinations. The woman has a gift with color and I'd like to think I inherited just a touch of it. Everyone's work was wonderful this year and it was so nice to see all the ladies displaying their work. They liked seeing me back there too...I'm convinced its because I can carry their heavy bags of product back to their cars haha. The space was great as always and the show went really well. My grandma sold more of her vests, capes, jackets, scarves, and necklaces than last year!

Entrance into the Botanical Gardens

This. Is. November.

Some of grandma's handwoven vests

Grandma Nancy and her garments

I got to wear one of her cloaks around and model!