Art for Sacred Spaces
What a wonderful summertime class we had. Beautiful weather, great company, and lots of art happening!
We shared the Guild with calligrapher Mary McLeod and students, glass artists Gail Kelly and her following, and architect Paul Barribeau presenting on “Sacred Space” to his students. Photographer and poet Mollie captured us all beautifully. Check out this beautiful video of the whole week.
I just returned from teaching a 5 day silk painting workshop as part of Sacred Arts Week with some other incredible faculty at the Grunewald Guild near Leavenworth WA. It was a wonderful time of silk painting, pottery, exploring the connection between image and word, and creative journaling, not to mention labyrinth walking, chatting late at night, bridge strolling and worshiping together. Vonda Drees, one of the directors, took these photos and made them into a slide show. Songwriter and Guild member Cheryl Branz wrote the accompanying song.
The overarching theme of the week was “Wonder, Discover, Begin”. This gave us a chance to delve into the creative process first by sharing how this theme applied to individual faculty’s creative and spiritual lives. Hopefully this sharing strengthened everyone’s courage to create boldly. I think it worked, based on the new artwork displayed at the end of the week.
Here’s the classes taught and the faculty facilitating:
Silk Painting: Color in the Wind with Kristen Gilje
A Journal of Wonder, Exploration, & Beginning with Mary McLeod
Handbuilt Ceramics for Hospitality & Liturgy with Sarah Jane
Image to Word & Word to Image with Laurie Rudel & Scott Burnett
Last Sunday I returned from teaching a week long silk painting workshop at the Grunewald Guild, August 3-9 2015. Â We had a wonderful week with 11 students, many of those returning students and a few brand new silk painters. We all learned from each other, pushed our own boundaries, made wonderful friends, enjoyed someone else cooking for us, and saturated ourselves with color.
Our class, entitled Color in the Wild, focused on seeing color combinations that nature provides and learning about these combinations with the help of a color wheel. We talked about complementary, split complimentary, and triadic color schemes, use of neutrals, and dominance, to name a few color thinking structures.
Each student was asked to choose a primary triadic “pallet” from colors they saw in nature, and reproduce it with the dyes we had available on the above grid.
You will see from the photos below how diverse each person’s work was. Whether a newby or a seasoned silk painter, I was very proud of the depth of challenge each person took on.
Here are some pictures of the work we did last week. Be patient; it’s a slide show with 6 seconds in between pictures.
And here we are below, all working in the Fiber Arts Building.
One more tidbit for you: A short video that Susi Franco made for our class
We missed you Janell!!! , and all those unable to come. Hopefully you will be with us next year.
Thanks for a wonderful week everyone. Kristen
Grunewald Guild, Leavenworth, WA, August 5-11, August 12-18, 2013
Here’s what Jan has written about our theme “Between Heaven and Earth”:
“In the physical landscape and in the turning of the year, there are places where the veil between worlds becomes permeable. Past and future come together in the present, and heaven and earth meet. It’s not that God is somehow more present in those places—“thin places,†as Celtic folk have called them; rather, something in those places and times invites us to become more present to the God who is always with us. A veil falls away within us. We open, and we see.
Join us as we enter and explore these thin places, the spaces that open before us as we engage in worship, in our communities, and in our daily lives.”
Silk Painting: Exploring Color and Line as a Thin Place
I will be teaching two weeks of silk painting classes during this time, with one building on the other. In Week I everyone is invited, beginners through advanced. During Week II former silk painting students of mine (including Week I students) are invited for more in depth exploration. For more info, visit Liturgical Arts Week on the Guild’s website.
Full information & registration for Week I Silk Painting, August 5-11
Full information & registration for Week II Silk Painting, August 12-18
See you AT THE MEETING OF HEAVEN + EARTH
Silk Painting Workshop
We had beautiful hot sunny weather at Grunewald Guild this summer. A lovely, lively group of 14 students, from age 12 to ?65? or so, we helped each other make some wonderful silk pieces.
