Tiny Little Dancers

On Saturday morning I invited my 6-8 year old artists at The Contemporary Art Center of Virginia to observe and draw ballet dancers who were posing for a group of artists who work from the live model. These aren't the best documents of a charming sight but if you look closely you can see the wee ones nestled in under the tables drawing away.

Above is a sheet of the results by Megan. She beamed from ear to ear at the delight of it all.

The Wabi and the Sabi

I was given a copy of Wabi Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers by Leonard Koren several months ago. It thrilled me to have a name for the way that I love to look at the world. A name for a particular aesthetic view. This first book led me on a journey and that inspired me to offer an adult fall Wabi Sabi studio at the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia. My seven adventurers and I are heading into our third week of discovery and exploration.

The first week I showed slide images that I had gathered through my cameras lens. Then we experimented with simple materials like charcoal and graphite on large sheets of white paper.

Yesterday it was time for the artists to share what they had discovered as they wandered through their week capturing images through their cameras. In the studio we played wildly with monoprints. I also gave them the assignment of visiting the blog of Ian Foster to take in the marvelous world view that he shares as artist/photographer. A Google of Wabi Sabi led me to his work and now I follow his blog so I can easily return and enjoy the beauty that he shares.
The main idea behind Wabi Sabi is a simplicity, an imperfect perfection...and that isn't something that can be easily described (I love that) yet it can come to be recognized. The primary element of Wabi is imperfect/natural and with Sabi comes an aged patina...so we could say that which has Wabi Sabi has a natural patina, a gentle aging. I like that. I hope that I personally can accomplish that as I continue to age :-) and in the meantime there are a small band of us at CACV delving into the opportunity to discover and then create our own work based upon what we find. I'll share how it unfolds over the next four weeks.

I thank Kay Hoffler, Lisa Campbell, and Carol Chewning of the Wabi sabi studio for these images.

Jack Russell News

Thanks to Mary Reid Barrows , the Virginian Pilot Nature writer, for this piece reprinted here from Sunday's paper and today's online post:

Artist gives new meaning to dog's paper-training
The Virginian-Pilot© October 6, 2009
By Mary Reid Barrows

Had artist Donna Iona Drozda tried, she could not have come up with a more creative depiction of Val, her Jack Russell terrier.
The papier-mache pup, in a play bow, mouth wide open, red tongue lolling off to the side, and a ball between its paws, has Jack Russell terrier written all over it.

The sculpture of Val will be one of three papier-mache animals that Drozda is entering in the Virginia Beach SPCA show, "Once is Not Enough," a show for art made with recyclables.
The show opens from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9, and runs through Sunday, Oct. 11, at the shelter.

What makes Drozda's art show entry even more special is that her droll dog is made entirely of recycled materials, the bulk of which are plastic bags.
Her other entries, a fox and a whimsical raccoon, also are made from plastic bags.

The art show is part of the SPCA's green event this weekend called "There is no Planet B."
In addition to the show, the SPCA is sponsoring a household hazardous waste collection, a blue jean and denim collection and a plant and book swap on Saturday.


Hazardous wastes include items such as pesticides, herbicides, paint and harsh cleaning products, mercury and propane tanks. Denim, collected separately, will be recycled into insulation. Visitors also can bring a plant or a book and swap it for another.

As for Val, the Jack Russell, her sculptured image is not only made of recyclables, but Val herself also is "recycled," because she was adopted by Drozda 9 years ago.
Drozda works in her studio with yet another "recycled" pup under her feet, Ruby the rescued Airedale.
Drozda made the body of her recycled art critters by stuffing a used paper bag tight with plastic bags, also used, and wrapping the paper bag with masking tape.
The legs are old paper towel or toilet paper rolls. Cardboard from discarded cereal boxes make good ears and such. Eyes are found items little like rubber bumpers, or seeds.

"The fox might have acorn eyes or wisteria seed eyes," Drozda said. She was working on the fox legs that day.
Drozda made the papier-mache that covers the bodies with torn scraps of more old paper bags and white glue. Glue and the final paint jobs of acrylic are the only real "artist" materials.
"It's so much fun," Drozda said.

This is not Drozda's first foray into recycling materials through art.
She taught a children's camp for The Contemporary Art Center of Virginia at the Virginia Aquarium recently. Campers created sea creatures out of plastic bags and other recyclables. The colorful whimsical stuffed sea stars, fish and other sea animals belie their beginnings.
Drozda began using recyclables in some of her art after thinking about how to use more inexpensive art materials.

"I think I was just looking around to see if there are materials available to use for the creative process that are not so expensive."
She began saving toilet paper rolls, cereal boxes, paper bags and the "plethora of plastic bags everywhere to see if we could recycle something wonderful out of something we would throw away."

Val, the papier-mache dog is one of those wonderful things.Throw the ball quick or else she might bark!

I think I Could Turn and Live With the Animals

There's a Walt Whitman poem that BD and I read whenever one of our four leggeds leaves the planet:

I think I could turn and live with the animals, They are so placid and self-contain'd,
I stand and look at them long and long.

They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.


This past summer my dear soulfriend Karin had to say goodbye to Zack the Cat, her constant companion of 18 years.

This event inspired me to honor the deeply rooted friendship that K had with Z and that we can be blessed to have with the companion animals that share our life for a little or a long time.

Looking through my sketch books I found a series of drawings that I had made of my sweet little LuLu the Cat. She died in 2001. From these original drawings I enlisted LuLu as my cat icon and hand stitched, then stained with India Ink, a series of cat portraits on small flags made of Kona cotton. The cat flags were inspired by Wind Horses also known as Tibetan Prayer flags. Each flag included good words about the nature of cats.

Since then I have continued to experiment and play with materials to gentle the idea of paying 'Homage to Companion Animals'.


Each 5 x 5 inch piece shown here combines Acrylic mono print, gesso, India Ink, hand stitching, and bees wax to create the trio: Spirit Cat I, II and III all mounted on canvas blocks.

Maps as Metaphors

Today I was at the Rawls Museum Arts in Courtland, VA presenting 'Maps as Metaphors: Charting Your Own Identity' using the inspiration of Sun Bear's circular Earth Calendar/Medicine Wheel as our entrance point.

With the wheel plus Angeles Arrien's Signs of Life the eight artists participating went off into the beautiful afternoon to create works inspired by the creative journeys they are currently interested in mapping.

Bravo!! to Sandy Lupton for all of the organizing skills that made the day hum. And thanks so much to the other artists in the circle: Donna, Barbara, Brenda-Gail, Twila, Jill, Ragan and Jenine. The works that came out of our studio time were an inspiration for this entrance point into the 'Underworld' of the feminine that is upon us for the coming six months.

This is a powerful time to consider what you will invest in between Fall Equinox and Spring Equinox. See if you can let yourself 'BE' as often as possible.

SPCA Animal Artz

The Virgina Beach SPCA will be having a fundraiser and there is a call for art made from recyclables for an exhibition titled 'Once is Not Enough'.

I'm throwing my hat into the ring with these three entries. The Jack Russell is fashioned after my pup Valentine. The 'rac-a-wan' is to honor my friend Sir John and his band of bandits living in his back yard for 16 years. And the fox to express my delight and surprise when, last week, an adolescent followed Val and I down the dark winding road for more than a quarter of a mile, right to our driveway....curious of us as we were of him.

All are made from recycled materials, the fox has wisteria seed eyes and nose.

'Val' 12" high x 25" long: plastic shopping bags, cereal boxes, paper towel rolls, brown paper bags.

'Fox' 13" high x 19" long: plastic shopping bags, cereal boxes, brown paper bags, wisteria seeds

'Racawan' 7.5" high x 30" long: plastic shopping bags, cereal boxes, brown paper bags, toilet paper rolls, found rubber discs

All are painted with Acrylics.