CREATIVE CREATURE ENCOUNTER COME TO A CLOSE..........................

As you probably can tell by the long silence from me on this blog, I have been very busy with my grant project.  My Creative Creature Encounter has officially come to a very successful end. Over the summer, I had over 300 children and some adults paint with me at Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, Michigan.  I had all the supplies available for the kids to sit down and paint with me, and we painted tigers, ducks, butterflies and giraffes.  Everyone that participated went home with a painting. This was all made possible through a grant from the Arts Council of Greater Lansing and thanks to them, I was able to supply paint, brushes and canvases for everyone to paint with.

I met a lot of awesome kids and great painters during my project.  It amazes me what great paintings the kids did with just a little direction from me.  I hope I inspired at least a few young people to follow their creative spirit.

During the times I was not at the zoo painting I was in my home studio painting 10 of the animals that reside at Potter Park Zoo.  I also managed to fit in time to paint an exhibit for the Golden Lion Tamarins that the zoo acquired. Now they have a new home with a mural of the rain forest canopy as their back drop. My daughter Katie and I worked on it together  and I think it looks pretty good for our first attempt at a mural. 

Potter Park Zoo is a lovely park with great staff who are very friendly and helpful. They made me feel at home and welcomed me into their family (human, that is). They have a very wide variety of animals for all to see.

My Creative Creature Encounter project ended with an exhibition of my 10 paintings in their Safari Room.  On September 15th there was a free reception open to the public. We had a great turn out. The paintings continued to be on display until October 5th.

As a result of the grant from the ACGL I will have an outdoor billboard with the Lion on it somewhere along the highway! The Arts Council has partnered with Adams Outdoor Advertising to produce billboards for artist member grantees of the Arts Council. I am very honored and excited about this and as soon as I know where it will be I will let everyone know of it's whereabouts!

What I learned from this project:

Kids are great, creative, energetic and inspiring (but I really already knew that!)
This project enabled me to share my passion for art with others.

I was challenged and I stepped up to the challenge.

I was able to hone my craft over the 6 months of the project.

Painting wildlife is still my favorite subject to paint.
Don't stand too close to the Mandrill's cage as they have very long arms! lol

Most important lesson of all: 
I would like to acknowledge and thank my family and friends for believing in and supporting me!

CREATIVE CREATURE ENCOUNTER HAS BEGUN...............

On June 1st the Greater Lansing Visitors and Convention Bureau coordinated "Be a Tourist in Your Own Town" by convincing over 70 businesses and attractions to waive their admission fees and hold special events - all to celebrate how much art, culture and entertainment our city has.  At Potter Park Zoo they threw a truly wild party by celebrating International Migratory Bird Day on June 1st as well!  One of the main components of the Individual Artist Grant that I received from the Arts Council of Greater Lansing was "community impact".  I couldn't have picked a better day or a better place to get more people in our community as passionate about painting wildlife as I am. I knew it would be a busy day, but I had no idea how busy!  I prepared over 70 canvases, did line drawings of a Bengal Tiger, a Wood Duck and numerous varieties of butterflies for children of all ages to create art with me.  I also brought my trusty side kick and sister Christine along, and thank goodness I did!  4,687 visitors came to the zoo that day!  I was set up down by the duck pond on a deck with a canopy in case of rain.  The rain held off all day and we had a great time painting.  I don't think any kids that passed by didn't stop to paint.  I did a line drawing of a Wood Duck in honor of Migratory Bird Day and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service asked me to promote their Federal Junior Duck Stamp contest. We had so many kids painting that 2 hours before the event ended I ran out of canvases and paper to paint on!  The last few kids that came through painted on the copy paper I had printed the line drawings on.  Christine kept them supplied with paint, brushes and paper while I gave them direction but they knew what they wanted to paint and they did a great job with or without my guidance. We had all ages from 2 years on up, even had a young couple sit down and paint the Wood Ducks together.  I was very impressed with how well behaved and eager to paint the children were.   I am looking forward to another great turnout when I return to the zoo on July 19th, August 17th and again on October 5th.  
Come paint with me and try your hand at art! 

                                                      Painting Tigers at the Zoo

        Made possible by:

      

 

CREATIVE CREATURE ENCOUNTER.........

is a go at Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, Michigan!  It is official - I got the grant I applied for back in January.   Thanks to the Arts Council of Greater Lansing for believing in me and my project.  There were 2 categories of grants; emerging artist and established artist.  I actually fall into a category of re-emerging artist but that wasn't a choice so after looking over my resume, publications and awards the director decided I would fit in the established artist category.

The day the letter came telling me of my award my grandson became ill and was rushed to the hospital.  It is with a heavy and broken heart that I tell of his passing.  I read the letter in his hospital room and one hour later he took his last breath!  I will continue on, for and because of Ethan, but this is going to be very hard as I have lost the love of my life!  Ethan would have loved to be at the zoo with me and all the kids around us.  His room was full of animals - stuffed and painted.

As I said before my project will be an Artist in Residence at the Potter Park Zoo.  I will be demonstrating acrylic painting techniques to the public during "Tourist in your own town" day on June 1st.  Then again on July 19th and August 17th.  I hope to encourage young and old (and those in between) to pick up a brush and apply paint to a canvas.  I will be providing paint, brushes and small canvases with help from the grant.  Just picking up a brush and applying paint to a canvas is a big step for some.  I will enjoy sharing the awesome feeling I get everytime I pick up my brushes to paint. It can be relaxing and/or therapeutic,  it can be an escape or an embrace.  You can tell stories with your art or just paint something because it is pretty or interesting.  I hope to help many take the first step to picking up a brush and putting paint on a canvas.  I hope it will be the beginning of many journeys for me and them!

              Made possible by:

New studio

I am in the process,with a lot of help from my Son-in-law Scott, of remolding an adjacent garage into my art studio. This will be my first studio outside of my home even though it is just 50 feet or so away. I hope to be teaching art classes by this summer. We are basically starting with the shell of a garage and building it from floor to ceiling, I'm learning a new trade in the process. lol In the past my studio has always been in my basement along with the kilns. I will have a kiln room, storage room and studio with a separate work space for Scott to work on his toys. That is the least I could do for all the work he is putting into my studio. I will not only be teaching porcelain art but painting and drawing classes too. You can check out some of my art work at http://catherinetonning.com or my Facebook page at Catherine Tonning-Popowich - Porcelain Artist