AliceBakerBlog

Create Art with Nature in December

Art with nature @ the library

Create Art with Nature in November

Create your own comic art to display at the Alice Baker Library in Eagle

Draw, paint, or color a cartoon panel, comic strip, or comic book cover that you have designed. Foam core board for your artwork is available at the library. Art board provided by Interior Elements. Children, teens, and adults are encouraged to display their work. All artwork must be submitted by June 17th.

Pushing the Limits: Making Connections with Art

Local artists to display distinctive artwork

 

    

Student artists from the Donna Lexa Art Centers, based in Waukesha, will display their artwork in the Eagle Municipal Building adjacent to the Alice Baker Library in Eagle on Sat., February 8 from 1-2:30 p.m. Stop by the community room to enjoy refreshments while visiting with the artists and enjoying their creative talents.

Participants from the Donna Lexa Art Centers not only create exceptional art, but they do so despite, and sometimes because of, challenges they face. The artists who participate in programming at the Art Centers have various disabilities or special needs, but their artwork emphasizes what they can do.

"I love the feeling I get when I accomplish a work of art that I created--it's wonderful!" says Lorraine, a student artist with cerebral palsy. "It's exciting to show others what I do. When I give art away and sell art, it gives me a sense of pride."

The Donna Lexa Art Centers provide opportunities for people with a variety of special needs—including cognitive, physical and mental health challenges—to express themselves visually, to increase social connections, and to build self-esteem through the success and acceptance they receive there. For people dealing with mental health concerns, engagement in art can provide a way to express intense feelings that may be too difficult to verbalize. In addition, research shows that creative expression stimulates the brain to release dopamine, a chemical associated with mood and pleasure. The Donna Lexa Art Centers also offer students a chance to identify creative talent that can lead to a new sense of identity as an artist.

For more information about the Donna Lexa Art Centers, visit their website at www.DonnaLexa.org.

Drop-In Craft Programs

What can you do with a box? Drop-In Craft Programs for all ages on Wednesday, October 9th and Thursday, October 17th from 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Based on a book titled "Not A Box" by Antoinette Portis. Sponsored by the Alice Baker Library in Eagle.

Inspired by Art

I am often asked how it is that the Alice Baker Library offers such a wide variety of adult programs. Usually I start with a lot of ideas and then narrow them down to what I think would work. And where do I find inspiration? Here is one recent example. I have been planning summer programs for adults. I met someone recently with the Delafield Arts Center so I happened to get on their website. There was a listing for classes offered and one caught my attention right away -- Books N' Brush. I spoke with the instructor of the children's class about perhaps doing something for adults. She then told me that she and a poet I know in Palmyra do a class related to art and poetry. I am also exploring the possibility of having a book illustrator/author visit. I thought I was just interested in one program but now I am looking into three or more programs all from books and art. It's interesting how one idea can lead to many and that it isn't always going from A-B-C that pans out.

Baker & Taylor Cat Calendar Winners

Earlier in the year, we encouraged Eagle area kids to participate in a cat calendar contest being run by Baker & Taylor, one of our book vendors.  We received about a dozen entries and proudly sent them in.  The list of winners has been released, along with the winners' drawings.  It's an international group, with one Canadian winner and one from India.  Take a look at the winners here.  Honorable mention winners are here.

Gee's Bend Stamps

                  
Beautiful new stamps commemmorating the Quilts of Gee's Bend are now available from the United States Postal Service. 

The Quilts of Gee's Bend represent a bit of a Cinderella story in the art world.  An art professional sees the free-form quilts made by a group of poor women of rural Alabama. He is blown away by their graphic impact.  Long story short--the quilts are exhibited at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, receiving rave reviews.  Since then, the quilts have received great acclaim in the United States and internationally. 

As stamp images, they enter the iconography of the nation in a unique way. It's meaningful on so many levels--they celebrate art, they celebrate quilting and other home crafts often dismissed as lowly, they celebrate the women who made them, the worth of beautifying one's surroundings, and the unlimited possibilities of making beauty from whatever is available to you.  All it takes is vision and imagination.