Bringing creativity out of the shadows…

Hello! It’s sweater weather and that time of year when the sunrises and sunsets are glorious in the Bay Area. I hope wherever you are, you’re warm and cozy. This month’s newsletter is all about friendship, working in multiple ways and pregaming the holiday season. I hope you enjoy. Let’s get into it…

Pictures & Words

2014 2017 2021 2023

Since the beginning of our friendship Nancy and I have been creative collaborators. For a long time we were secret collaborators. As public school teachers (Nancy - Special Ed, me - Art) it can be a struggle to maintain a personal creative practice. We guarded our creativity by keeping our collaborations private.

Over the years we built a rich creative community with other educators, artists and writers, slowly bringing our work out of the shadows. Nancy wrote poems for my puppets and I drew illustrations for her poetry. In 2020 our collaboration took a big leap with the publication of our first children’s book- Brown: The Many Shades of Love. We were finally stepping into the light. To date, Nancy and I have created three books together.

Now, Nancy lives across the country, but we still connect about teaching and our ongoing creative collaborations. We’ve also branched out on our own. Our first solo picture books are both biographies about African-American women artists. Nancy’s book is Dream a Dress: Dream a Poem, beautifully illustrated by Diana Ejiata is about dressmaker and poet Myra Viola Wilds. It’s out now and available through Abrams.com. A Language of Stitches: The Radical Quilts of Rosie Lee Tompkins will be published next year. With our books, we hope to shine a light on these amazing artists so future generations will know them.

Dream A Dress: Dream A Poem

Art in School

How do artists get serious about play?

Upper grades finally finished a project inspired by Lebanese poet, journalist and painter Etel Adnan. We focused on two “rules” of play: 1) make multiples - try something over and over, 2) try it a new way - use different media.

“I write what I see; I paint what I am.”

-Etel Adnan

Students started with three simple marks seen in many of Adnan’s paintings: a circle, a horizontal line, and a wobbly line.

I found this intro lesson online. It provided a great starting point for the multi-part project that developed.

On a paper folded into sections, students drew the three marks in different configurations. The marks in each section were colored with crayons. Next, students chose one of the sections to recreate in both watercolor and collage.

Finally, students cut up their original small crayon drawings and put them into an accordion book. The image they selected to recreate became the cover of their accordion books.

Students played with color across the different media, experimenting and learning how things change depending on the material being used.This project required students to stay engaged with one image as it transformed with each iteration. In the end, they were amazed and pleased with their final works of art.

Studio News

The last chance to see Material Worlds, my solo show at Mighty Mighty Studio Gallery is Saturday, November 15th at the closing reception. The show will close Sunday, November 16th.

THANK YOU to Desiree Alexander, friend, owner, and visionary behind Mighty Mighty Studio Gallery.

If you haven’t taken a class at Mighty Mighty yet, head over to the website and sign up. Take a class! Join the community! You’ll love it!

The show is over but there’s more art ahead…

Craft fair season is here, and my friends and I are starting off with a fun one! Please stop by 530 36th Street in Richmond on Sunday, November 23rd from 11-4.

There will be art, jewelry, handmade books, clothing, weavings, sewing patterns, prints, textiles, collage kits, children’s books, AND tamales, fresh salsa, aqua fresca, cake, wine and more!

If it rains, we’ll have to call it off, so here’s hoping for a nice day!

Come say “Hi” and shop from e Bond, Poppy Dodge, Perla Mendez, Sonya Philip, Kaci Smith and Erin Wheeler

A great opportunity to get ahead on holiday shopping and support local artists, all while eating delicious food. If you’re in the bay area, I hope to see you there!

You can take a class with me on Creativebug.com. Inspired by Picture Books is a daily practice that will spark your imagination with prompts based on a new picture book every day. This is a class for curious creatives of all ages.

I am so GRATEFUL to you! Thank you for taking time to read the newsletter. If you know anyone who might enjoy a monthly dose of creativity in their inbox, please forward this newsletter to them or send them over to constancemoore.com to join my list.

I truly appreciate your support.

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