Coming Up at Eyes Aflame

Portland Area Classes:  I will not be teaching local art classes during the Summer of 2009.  Regularly scheduled art classes will resume in the Fall of 2009.  In the meantime, you can get together with four of your friends and schedule a custom class - almost any workshop I teach can be adapted as a custom class.  Go here for details.

Shows & Sales: Leave No Plastic Behind (LNPB), a great non-profit organization dedicated to reducing consumption of single use plastics, is sponsoring a show at SCRAP's new RE:Vision gallery space at 2915 NE MLK in Portland, OR.  It's attached to the store - check out the quilt squares made from reclaimed plastic materials by LNPB participants, then peek into the lobby of the office building next door and see my plastic bottle cap chandelier!

Out of Town Classes: And hey, I'm teaching two classes at the Art Unraveled Mixed Media Art Retreat in Arizona in August!  I'm teaching Washed Up and Worn, a junk jewelry class, and the encaustic class Wax and Fiber (SOLD OUT - WAIT LIST ONLY).

Eyes Aflame is all about Creativity.

And creativity is a skill. 

For those of you who've ever said "I wish I were creative" or "I just don't get creative people" or "My creativity is totally blocked," here's the deal: creativity is like riding a bike. 

Just about anyone can learn to do it, and the earlier you start, the easier it is.  Not everyone is going to be Lance Armstrong or win the Tour de France, but almost anyone can learn to use a bike to get from Point A to Point B and most likely have a good time doing it.

With riding a bike, half the battle is learning the mechanics: how to balance, how to shift gears, how to brake.  The rest is faith - trusting in those two skinny wheels and your own momentum, and knowing that if you fall, you can get back on and try again.  Learning creativity is the same way - it's a mix of building concrete skills and developing the attitudes that make it possible for you to use those skills effectively.

And I'm here to help you hop on that ten-speed and fly.