Put the Garden on the TV, April 2020

I started working on this little embroidery of a garden and my son said, "Put the garden on the TV.  That would make it better." I thought, "Wow!  Everything right now is on a screen.  School, friends, grandma, the news, games." So, I put the garden on the TV and it fit the time.
 

March 2020

When the pandemic hit and we were in lockdown, there was more time to be outside and to paint.  We started visiting the Chesapeake Bay and the Gunpowder River.  We went on long walks in our neighborhood, seeing sights we had never taken time to see before.  It was a time of uncertainty and fear, but of peace and family togetherness.  Here is a watercolor I painted at the Gunpowder Hammerman Area of my son, Jin, playing along the shore of the river.

 

January 2020

A reduction print for my mom's 80th birthday party invitations.

 

Action Art Adventure Week, November 2019

I had mentioned in a prior post that I'm an art teacher, so there is always art making happening, but not always personal art making.  In 2019, I applied for and was awarded the Larry Marone grant through Special Needs in Art Education (SNAE) of the National Art Education Association.  My grant proposal was titled Action Art Adventure Week and I envisioned a week of action art making in our school's gym.  Here's a sketch of what I had planned: drawing robots, a weaving wall, bowling painting, catapult painting, and so much more!  It all happened in November of 2019 followed by an interactive pop-up art show for the school community.  It was a major undertaking with lots of planning and so much help from my colleagues.  Below is also a video about Action Art Adventure Week.  I really hope we can do it again and I'm so glad it all happened before the pandemic. More photos can be found here:  (2) Art @ Ridge Ruxton School (@TriciaLaneFors1) / Twitter 

 

A Fan for Jesse, 2019

In February of 2018, a friend from work died suddenly, shaking everyone to their core.  His name was Jesse and he was kind, funny, and brought a lot of joy.  In a dream, I made this fan for Jesse, later creating it in real life (June, 2019).  Red, blue, green, and an undercoating of glow in the dark paint, with embroidery and applique on linen.  

 

2018

 I didn't make a ton of artwork in 2018.  I'm an art teacher, so there is always art making happening, however it is not always "my art." Examples, demonstrations, and little studies are par for the course during the school year.  The personal artwork I made were again lino-cut prints.  Overwhelmed with caring for my mom, my son, and work, the lino-cut continued to fit best.  I always create a series of prints or collages for Christmas cards every year.  In 2018, the theme was a Lego Ferris wheel my son had built and our cat Jojo.

We celebrated the Chinese New Year in 2018 with our friends, the Dovers,  on a snowy night.  It was an amazing, warm, beautiful celebration that brought me so much joy.  There were oranges, fish, dumplings, lanterns, laughter, music, fireworks, and just so much joy!  The night stayed with me and in June of 2018 I carved "Chinese New Year with the Dovers." 

Here are photos from that night and the print.

The Lives You Touched-Atwater's in Towson September 2017

 My 12 prints were on display at a local restaurant in Towson, Maryland for two months:  September and October of 2017.  My friend David framed the prints to resemble slides.  They were just as I had envisioned and then he helped hang the show! There was a zine that I made for people to take with the story behind the prints.  I'm not sure who picked up the zines and read them.  The most important thing to me was that I was able to exhibit the work in a restaurant and for my mom and a few dear friends to go see it.  It had been the first time I had a solo art exhibit in 16 or 17 years and I haven't had one since.  I was so grateful to David for his help.  Those prints and displaying them meant so much to me.  There was never an art opening or closing.  I just told people it was there.  I never really knew who saw it.

David Richardson, hanging the prints that he framed.

Here I am standing with a few of the prints.

Gretchen met me one day for lunch.

Mary Mullen and my mom.  Mary brought my mom to see the show and to have lunch.

The zine that accompanied the show in progress.