my latest projects

Here are a couple of embellished/appliqued items I have made for friends.... got two done in one night! That always feels productive.

Also, I have started a class at a local school. The students range in age from 10 to 15 I think. They are studying the Medieval period. Since that usually entails only European history, I wanted to give them a broader scope of the world, to talk about peoples in other cultures. So we are making 3-D figures, focusing on Asia, Africa or LatinAmerica. The example I started is of a Mayan nobility. Fun to make jade jewelry out of painted cardboard and stones. Feather headdress out of painted corn husks, etc. I want the students to learn a little about the culture in general, and also about what materials were of value (ex: for the Mayans it was jade, gold, quetzal feathers, jaguar skins, etc as well as cacao, shells), what adornment was like and who adorned themselves.

I also want them to push their creativity thinking about what recycled materials to use. Plastic bottle caps for Mayan ear plugs? Corn husks as feathers?

We'll see how it turns out! I am excited about it and I hope I can transmit that same enthusiasm.