Jan 6th Meeting

Meeting starts at 12:30 pm 

Chinese Paper Cutting  Art  and the  Artist Lucy (Ping Liu)

  Chinese Paper Cuts also called Scissor-cuts (jian zhi), it is a type of traditional folk artwork with rich local flavor popularized by numerous people. Chinese Paper cutting started during the period of the Han Dynasty, about 1800 years ago, after paper was invented in China. Starting from 14th century this art was spread to the other parts of the world. Artists developed the paper cutting art while merging with the local culture.

In the ancient times, the art pieces were made to decorate home windows and doors for a happy Chinese New Year & for a good new future.  One of the most popular paper cutting schemes is the 12 Chinese Zodiac, is a scheme that relates each year to an animal and its reputed attributes.

 In modern China, the hand cut paper art is also used as one of the valuable gifts for the important events. Chinese governors always choose Chinese hand cut paper art work as one of the gifts when they visit the other countries. It symbolizes great perspective wishes and good future. Each of the individual cutting pieces is created over several hours of very intricate hand cutting with scissors from a single sheet of paper. All parts of the design interconnect. Due to the handcrafted nature of this art, each piece may have subtle differences. No two pieces are exactly the same. These are "One of a Kind" Unique Artwork, NOT "mass produced" or cut by modern laser techniques.  Original Paper Artwork Pieces Have Been Known to Considerably Appreciate in Value Over time. People also frame them and hang them on the home or office walls. Smaller pieces are always put on the tables, desks or book shelves as beautiful decorating pictures.

About the artist:

Lucy (Ping Liu) is a Chinese Paper cutting artist. She started learning this art when she was 6 years old. She has been creating and designing this art work for many years. She is also a paper cutting art teacher.  Her art work has been exhibited in many galleries and libraries in the United States, and has received critically acclaimed reviews & her very intricate style of cutting is highly recognized. She is also a member of Chinese Fine Art Society in the United States. Her greatest motivation is that she has been very blessed in doing what she loves and loving what she does. She has many dedicate paper cutting artworks. She will demonstrate and cut a very vivid Chinese Dragon in less than 20 minutes, which even to an artist, painting or drawing this dragon within this short time is a big challenge. She also will teach us to cut a snake for the year of snake for Chinese New Year 2013 celebration!

You can see her work on exhibit at the Woodridge Public Library throughout the month of January.  

 

Midwest Collage Society Xmas party 2012

Just a quick little taste of the wonderful fellowship going on.

 Jerri our president starts us off with great guidance each meeting.

 I didn't get a head count to see how many really did show up but it was better then last year and we had more people then before.

 What a great group of artists Many thanks were given to all the members that worked so hard to put this big spread on especially Barb and Jeanne who took charge of the hospitality for this event.

 

 From the left to the right, Gale, Sally, Nancy, Tania, June and Margi

 

 Laura, Joan, Tammy, Maureen, Nadine and Jo Ann

 

 

Our token Male, Dennis who's been our driver back and forth to Freeport Museum for our last big exhibit and Eve, Dianne, Jerri and Pat. 

 

I know we didn't get everyone in on the photo's but this is a start and the few that were available for a quick photograph. 

 

What a great party everyone..can't believe it's December with the 60 degree weather we had today and all the sun. 

 

 

 

And we all got a good laugh at the gift Tania received, Our Mary  the jokester that she has a suprise of Creative Pants.   Tania took it oh so well...and we kept the laughter going for a few minutes.

December's Meeting.

Here is your Midwest Collage Society Newsflash! Lots of interesting info this month, so please read carefully.


1. Freeport Art Museum Exhibit
The MCS artwork has been picked up from Freeport and is back at Tania's and Dennis/Dianne's homes. Please contact the person who dropped off your work about when you can pick it up.


2. MCS Holiday Potluck and Gift Exchange
Our annual "Eat, Gab and Grab" meeting will be Sunday, December 2, from 12:30 - 2:45 PM at the Darien Municipal Center. There is no studio fee for this meeting. Come and reconnect with people you haven't seen and meet some of our newer members!


For the potluck, bring a dish to share (appetizer, entree or dessert) and our amazing hospitality committee will provide everything else. When you decide what you're bringing, please drop a quick email to Barb Arntzen at jarntz@wideopenwest.com to help her plan. If you find you can come at the last minute, don't worry about the RSVP. Coffee, tea, and water will be the drinks of the day. We do have some members who have some specific allergies (gluten, etc.), so if you have a dish that works for everyone, you might consider bringing that.


For the gift exchange, create (or purchase) a small piece of art or craft work and wrap it up. Each wrapped gift will be given a number, then participants will blindly draw a number to receive their gift. This is always a highlight of our meeting!


We will also take time to discuss the future of MCS, the kinds of programs and exhibits you're interested in having, and how we all can continue growing and moving forward as artists and as an arts organization.


3. April 2013 Exhibit
For our April 2013 exhibit at Downers Grove Library, we have chosen the theme Book/Art. We are asking that each piece of art have some connection to books in it - whether that's using a book page or cover in your collage/assemblage, an altered book, or a reference to books in your work. Just keep in mind that most work will need to be hung, so if you alter a book you will probably need to mount it to a backing that can have hanging hardware attached. More info will follow as we get closer to the exhibit date, but we wanted to give you ample time to create.


4. 2013 Retreat
The MCS Retreat for next fall is already set for September 25 thru 29. The cost will be $215 for four nights and 11 meals. Mark your calendars now!


5. January Meeting
We WILL be having a meeting this coming January, on Sunday, January 13. Details on the program will be sent out soon.



Hope to see you at the Holiday Potluck and Gift Exchange on Sunday, December 2!


Jerri

More Call for Art

Call for Art Bridgeport Art Center

Citra Solv  Call for Art

marketing and pricing

 Jane Hamill came into our group today and we are all fired up to Focus!! 

 The white board behind Jane came in handy for her presentations we really got a good feel for what we need to know.

 Even though Jane is a designer in the fashion world the information she presented to us works for all creative types. check out Jane's website.

 

At least there were about 26 members that came to this great meeting. Jane is a awesome speaker and loaded with tons of great information...for all that are looking to sell their product.

November Meeting Don't miss it!!

The next MCS meeting is Sunday, November 4, from 12:30 - 3:00 pm at the Darien Municipal Center. Our guest will be Jane Hamill, who helps creative types with low-cost, high return strategies to market their business and sell their work. She also helps with costing and pricing and the confidence needed to sell.

We have asked Jane to address pricing our artwork and ways to maximize our sales.

As always, you may bring treats to share and any art materials and collage/assemblage fodder you'd like to swap. Hope to see you there!

 

Here is Jane's bio:

Jane Hamill helps creative entrepreneurs start, fix, or grow their business -- even if they hate selling, flunked math, and have no idea to market themselves. She’s the creator of several online courses including "How to Sell Your Line to Boutiques" and the "New Designer Program: How to Start a Fashion Business”.

Jane designed her own women’s clothing line, Jane Hamill, and owned a boutique in Lincoln Park for many years. Her work has been seen on CNN, Fox, inStyle, Lucky Magazine, WWD, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Magazine, McCall’s, NPR, etc. Her product was carried in Macy’s. Saks Jandel, Bloomies by Mail, and Saks Folio. In 2007, Jane sold both her wholesale and retail businesses (14 years and 2 kids later) and founded Fashion Brain Academy (www.fashionbrainacademy.com). Through FBA, she coaches creative entrepreneurs to have a manageable, profitable business, while focusing on the BUSINESS side of things like pricing, marketing, and selling your work. She’s an adjunct faculty member of Columbia College Chicago and collaborates with the Chicago Fashion Incubator as the Director of Design Education.

Jane offers a 5 Day Mini Course to Help You Sell Your Line. You can get it at no charge at this link: http://janehamill.com/blog/free-sales-course/

Tania Blanco's Collage work at Downers Grove Public Library

Stopped by the Downers Grove Public Library last week to view one of our own Members of MCS and Past President and Vice President's work. Wonderful show of Tania's work,  a must see!

Workshop in Oil and Cold Wax with Dianne Martia

Oil and Cold Wax Level I WorkshopNovember 16-18; Friday-Saturday-Sunday; 3 days
9:30am - 4:00pm

Explore the technique of combining oil paint and cold wax. Unlike encaustic, cold wax is used at room temperature, without heat, to extend the oil paint and act as a medium. Incorporate other media such as oil sticks and pigment to create dynamic paintings. You will use an array of non-traditional tools to build layers, create texture, and add depth. This class emphasizes the process and is experimental in nature.

LaGrange Art League
122 Calendar Ave.; LaGrange, IL 60526
(708) 352-3101
www.lagrangeartleague.org

Our October meeting.

 Mary W. demonstrated today with alcohol inks and the technique could be use for many other projects.

 In this photo a member is dabbing the inks on the counter top sample, I think there called Counter top tile chips. Using felts cut up in little squares...pick a clean one for each color so you don't get a mud background...Mary suggested to use just maybe three colors.

Mary is sharing with us about using the small spray bottle of rubbing alcohol too to spray on afterwards to get different effects. 

She has little wooden blocks cut to a nice size and then some Velcro stuck on there so that it hold the felt pieces nicely and you don't get your hands all inked up.

Samples of what Mary and other members have made with this process.

Mary giving a demo with the wiping off some of the inks to make room for other colors, if one would like.

Second table Mary is sharing the technique of using the paint markers to edge the tile chip, makes for a nice finished look but you have to work on it now at this stage so instead of at the very end. 

Stay on ink pad is what Mary used for the stamping of nice detail with the rubber stamps. Looks great Mary.  One could do stamp before the collage papers are added or after.  Might be a good Christmas gift..good way to use up some of the old Christmas cards.

Here Joan is gluing on some of her collage papers to the counter top tile chips.

Or some might want to make there own Name badge...Great Idea Joan.

Here is the lacquer used after all details are done...brush on.

Mary is sharing more great tips.

Her tile chip is on a piece of cardboard, makes for moving it around a lot safer as the final coat takes a few hours to dry. 

 

Mary is finishing up with her coat and then adding some embellishments like glitter or buttons this will set in nicely with the final coat.

 

 

The Fiskar Drill for anyone that was interested in this handy tool, it was used to drill holes in the tiles for added embellishments hanging from the bottom of the tile chip.

 

It was a great meeting Thanks Mary we really enjoyed it.

October's Meeting

Our October meeting is Sunday, October 7, from 12:30 - 3:00 pm at the Darien Municipal Center, 1710 Plainfield Road, Darien. Our own Mary Warner will be teaching a mini-workshop on the use of alcohol inks, and the studio fee is $5. Below is what Mary sent about the workshop and the items you need to bring along.

We’ll be making some small, ornamental collages on laminate (sample) chips, using alcohol inks as our background media. Alcohol inks are translucent colored inks that work on non-porous surfaces.

The main supply to bring is sample laminate chips found in the flooring section at home improvement stores such as Home Depot and Menards. The stores don’t mind you taking a few samples; try to bring 3-5 pieces, and more if you’re able, to give to those who don’t get a chance to get any. Lighter colored chips show the colors a bit better. To save time, if you can, prepare your chips by sanding off any printing on the front and then painting the back of your chips with gold or silver paint. (That painting can be done afterwards, too, but it’s nice to have it already done before starting.) I do have some extra chips for those who don't find them. Besides the laminate chips, bring a flat box and lid – like a Fannie May candy box to carry home your chips. The finishing glaze takes a good while to dry.

After we add the color of the alcohol inks, we'll do some simple collaging with small images. Things you might be adding later to your collaged chips are charms, beads, glitter and the like. I'll bring several things you can add. Some of these will hang with jump rings. These can’t be added until the final glaze is dry, so don’t feel you have to bring these to the meeting.

I will bring the inks and other supplies we need. Hopefully I’ll have time to mention some of the other ways to use alcohol inks. If anyone has any pieces using alcohol ink, please bring along to show. Or if you want to bring a few white dominos on which to add color, bring them too.

2. A Little Story from the MCS Retreat

Following the retreat, one of our members sent me the following story for your reading enjoyment:

From Cracktoe to Toeledo and Toeronto: The Toe Story (not written by Tolstoy)

The unexpected episode of the stout gray-haired grandmother at the Art Retreat at Camp Mac in Indiana.

It was a dark and stormy night (oops, wrong story)...

Sunday, last meal, last day. Mary (complete name withheld) got dressed and was ready for breakfast. Fully dressed is a blessing because the sight would be a stomach turning event, although it has started many people on a successful diet. Going downstairs proved to be her downfall. Broken toe, the rest just bounced.

Rescue occurred and ministrations of coffee and sympathy were applied... also suggestions of a toe truck (turned down in place of a wheel barrow with cushions). Various offerings of water and food (turned down-because of undetermined distances of return trip facilities). Other suggestions of various pain relievers and to elevate the toe while

driving.

Driving back an Urgent Care Center appeared, unfortunately closed on Sundays. Also it was unfortunate that driving with your toe elevated on the dashboard, although being rather comfortable, did get unexpected results from other drivers who thought I was giving the the finger.

Once home, pampered ministrations and art inspiring colors of blue, green and yellow occurred. I do not have toetle recall, but this is my toe tale. M

PS: I have inquired to join the Black & Blue Plutoenium Tribe.

Some collage artists arrive for MCS retreat

Top to bottom: Some of the artists ready to make art. An evening out on the town to the theatre. Maureen demos a pouring technique.  June demos a odoriforous technique with Citrasolv.

From our Friends a Blick Art Materials

just sharing a coupon.

September and October Meeting Schedule.

1.  SEPTEMBER MEETING
As most of you know, we do not have a September meeting at the Darien Municipal Center in September due to two factors:  the first weekend is usually Labor Day weekend, and the second weekend the room is in use by the police for Darien Fest.  So we generally plan a field trip for the members.  This year, the field trip is on Sunday, September 9, at the home of Mary Warner.  Details about the field trip are listed below:

MCS Field Trip for September:  Sunday, September 9th from 1:00-3:30 pm at Mary Warner's studio.  See what Mary has had going on in her living room, dining room and den for the past 39 years!  There just might be a pile of swap items to grab; Mary never seems to get them over to Darien!  Tables will be cleared so we can sit for some good social time. And if you want to enjoy making a mini-doll project, bring along some permanent markers!

If you care to,  bring munchies to share.  Before or after coming, you might want to stop by Laura's Outdoor Studio Exhibit that runs September 7-9 from 10A-4P each day. She's a straight 7 miles south of Mary's. Address 6718 Dale Road...Darien IL  

Mary's house studio is at 220 E. Highland, Villa Park. That's about 1/2 mile west of Rt 83 (or a few houses east of Summit, which is Cass/Midwest Rd) and 3/4 mile north of Roosevelt Road. Call Mary if you need directions (630-833-0125.)  Please park on Mary's side of the stree.  If you're coming, send Mary an email at m.warner5@sbcglobal.net

2.  MCS RETREAT
There are still several places open for the MCS Retreat being held September 19-23 at Camp Alexander Mack in Indiana.  If you'd like to attend, please contact Tania Blanco ASAP on her cell at 630-464-3749.  If you've expressed interest in the retreat but have not finalized your registration, now is the time!  

3.  OCTOBER MEETING
Our October meeting on Sunday, October 7, will feature Mary Warner teaching a mini-workshop on the use of alcohol inks.  Details, including a supply list, will follow soon.

4.  CALL FOR ART
"Evocative" at Prairie State College in Chicago Heights.  Entry deadline is October 1, show runs January 7-31, 2013.  Find the prospectus at www.prairiestate.edu/artgallery/prospectusandentryform.pdf


5.  ENRICHMENT OPPORTUNITY
Lemont Artist Guild is hosting what sounds like a very interesting meeting this month and has invited other art league members to attend.  The info is below.

The September 19 Lemont Artists Guild  will meet at 7 PM at the Lemont Public Library, 50 E. Wend Street.   Renee Tabor, from Metamorphosis, will present “How to Get Motivated,” designed to help motivate you to make art and help rid those blocks that hinder the flow of your creative juices.
Renee Tabor is a native of the Chicago South Suburbs.  She attended Roosevelt University where she studied Musical Theatre and Vocal Performance.  She graduated from Governors State University with a B.A. Liberal Arts focusing in Communications.  Her journey led her to own her own storefront in Tinley Park called ‘Angels Among Us’ where she facilitated many workshops and saw an opportunity to help others in the surrounding communities.  She is now Owner of ‘Metamorphosis,’ a consulting business with the intention of educating and empowering people to transform themselves into being something better than they thought they could be.  Renee’s belief is that everybody has a voice and she enjoys helping them find it.
The public is welcome, a donation for the local food pantry is appreciated.  Free parking.  Refreshments will be served.  For more information call Liz Popp 815-341-1145

Passing this along to you all~

Hi, Laura! and to the Midwest Collage Society 

Since you're on my list, you've probably heard by now,
 but I wanted to make sure you knew about the art
 marketing workshop I have coming up in Naperville, IL
 in October.
If you are ready to invest time, energy, and
 resources for a more fulfilling art career, join us!
It's super critical I write you now because the early
 registration deadline ends this Wednesday - August 15!
Since the last time I gave a workshop in Illinois was 2008
 - and who knows when I'll be back again - I thought
 you might want to take a look.
Here are the basics:
- - > SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION < - -
No-Excuses Art-Marketing Workshop
All Artists, All Media
Friday-Saturday, October 19-20, 2012
Naperville, IL
http://artbizblog.com/nal
Organized by the Naperville Art League
As I said, I'm writing now because early registration
 ends on August 15. You'll save $$ and get a bonus gift
 if you sign up by that date.
I'd love for you to come!
Whether you can or can't make it, would you be so kind
 as to do me a favor? I'm trying to help out the committed
 artists who are organizing this event. I also don't want
 artists to find out about the workshop AFTER it occurs!
If you know artists or organizations that should know
 about this workshop, could you please share the
 information?
I've included some cut-and-paste text that you can use
 (below). Or you can make up your own.
Thanks for your time.
With appreciation,
Alyson
- - - - - - BEGIN BLURB FOR YOUR BLOG OR EMAIL - - - >
SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION
 No-Excuses Art-Marketing Workshop
All Artists, All Media
Friday-Saturday, October 19-20, 2012
 Naperville, IL
http://artbizblog.com/nal
Organized by the Naperville Art League
SAVE A BUNCH BEFORE EARLY REGISTRATION ENDS AUGUST 15
You'll learn:
--The Do's and Don'ts of artist websites
 --Five email secrets that produce results
 --How to improve your blog
 --How to use Facebook and Twitter for effective marketing
 --And much more
AND, you'll have a customized action plan to put your new
 knowledge to work—rather than struggling to see how
 it is applicable to your situation.
Workshop leader Alyson Stanfield, author of I'd Rather
 Be in the Studio! The Artist's No-Excuse Guide to
 Self-Promotion, is flying in from Colorado for this special event.
Don't miss out! And register by August 15 for big savings.
 http://artbizblog.com/nal
- - - - - - END BLURB FOR YOUR BLOG OR EMAIL - - - >
Alyson B Stanfield | art biz coach
Stanfield Art Associates, Inc.
P.O. Box 988
Golden, CO 80402 USA
303.273.5904
http://artbizcoach.com

One of our own

Illinois Art Educators Association
Newsletter

Distinguished Service in the Profession of Art Education - Nancy Staszak

Congradulations Nancy!!!

Interesting exhibit at the Little Red School House

Treewhispers