Workshop for the Book Arts Roundtable

I taught a workshop for the Book Arts Roundtable of South Orange, NJ, last week.  It is a group of highly accomplished and talented book artists, most of whom do some other artforms as well.  Printmaking, painting, fiber arts, etc.  Take a look at the gallery on their website for some real eye candy.  Meanwhile here is some student work (which I post anonymously) and a few of the classroom:

Isn't this a great space!  It is at The Baird, which is a fabulous community center in South Orange.

This is me with Benita, who has taken several online workshops with me.  This was our first in-person meeting.

The project we were working on, which theses image represent, was creating abstract compositions in which we pay particular attention to contrasting busy areas with quiet space.  I do this in a number of different workshops, as it presents in interesting lens on composition plus lots of opportunity to teach techniques and compositional phenomena.  How do you create quiet space that is not  boring?  How do you draw the eye to a particular area of a piece?

I am available for this kind of private workshop:  you get the people, the space, and take care of administration; I show up and teach, and you pay me on a per-day plus expenses basis (not per-student).  We can tailor the workshop to your group's needs.  Let me know if you have a group that is interested.

SURVEY RESULTS!!!

Thanks again to all of you who participated in my Art Practices Survey! Here are the results. Not every detail, but the general picture. Please e-mail me if you have specific questions about any of the results. I left out a few of the questions in this summary, as I didn't think they'd be that interesting to anyone but me.

The vast majority of you have been practicing art for over five years. And many in that majority have been creative since childhood. I am impressed with the number of you who started in the needle arts or fiber arts, learning sewing or knitting from a mother or grandmother.

Your mediums of choice are: Collage, Artist’s Books or Art Journals, Mixed Media, Fiber Arts, Painting, Drawing, and Other, in that order. This is how it looks in the graph representing the responses. But in your comments it is clear that many of you love fabric and fibers, and maybe that’s been your entry point to mixed media and collage. Loads of you report trying a lot of different mediums. YAY!

You spend an average of eight hours a week on your art, and many of you report wanting to spend more.

Only a small percentage of survey respondents have taken workshops with me. Many report not having had the opportunity, or having just found me on the web. THANK YOU for taking the survey, even though you have not met me or taken any workshops! And thanks to my faithful workshop attendees too!

Most of you take a few workshops a year, and you take more online workshops than in-person ones because of the convenience. Most report preferring in-person to online, though many report preferring both.

The average respondent bought seven or eight art instruction books in the past year. YAY! We need you to keep buying books, even though so much content is available online. Thank you!

Which areas do you need more instruction in? Of course, many of you checked multiple areas, but the results show: techniques, drawing, and composition, as the top three, with Maintaining a Consistent Art Practice, Understanding Art Materials, Painting, Color, and Other, in that order.

What are your goals in making art? The vast majority of you want to find your own artistic voice, and many of you would like to sell your art. Almost all of you do it primarily to enhance your own life. Very few of you report having FOUND your voice.

Your main challenge in making art is Time. For almost everybody, though for a few there were other things: frustration at having too many ideas or techniques available so that it is challenging to focus. A number of you reported feeling like you have trouble being original, that you resort to copying and would like to learn how to develop your own style. Lack of confidence showed up, due to that ever-present Inner Critic. Discipline was on the list in some cases.

Thanks again to all of you who participated in the Art Practices Survey. I will close that one for now, but post a new one soon. Please let me know if there are particular questions you would like me to ask. Any feedback is welcome. Sorry for the lack of eye-candy in this post.

I Want Your Opinion

Hello all. I really appreciate all your comments and feedback on this blog. I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on your own art practices and interests, and on art workshops and books generally. So... I created a survey that will help me understand more about you, and hopefully it will help me to see how I can refine and develop my workshop offerings to better serve your interests.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE MY SURVEY

To thank you for this information, I am offering a Jane Davies Studios note card kit, which you can download and print out as you wish. Here is what it looks like:

This is one of eight card designs, laid out on 8.5" x 11" paper (the cards are in vertical orientation for easy printing).

And this is how the envelopes look on 8.5" x 11". There are eight coordinating envelopes included.


The kit includes step-by-step photos of how to cut, fold, and assemble the envelopes and cards.




You can print out as many as you like of any of the eight designs. I love doing these sorts of digital download kits, but right now I want YOUR OPINIONS, interests, observations, and general feedback on art practices, workshops, and books. THANKS!!!

You may have noticed, there is a new image at the top right of this blog, which says "VOTE, online workshops". This is a poll I am taking on what you want in future online workshop offerings. It is one multiple choice question. I'd love it if you could participate in the poll as well. THANKS AGAIN!!!