Today was the first Jobal Arts Saturday workshop! Jobal Workshops are currently scheduled for one Saturday a month for high school and junior high students. Today Heather Miles helped us hone our collaging skills. She’s got an enormous collection of magazines, including some National Geographic and Time Magazines from the 70s that made provided great collaging scraps (and good laughs too). Here’s a preview of today’s work….all still works in progress.
Big thanks to Kelly Moore for featuring Jobal Arts on her blog this week! Kelly had such kind things to say about the day she spent with us, plus, she got some great shots while she was at it. Check it out!
I’ve gotten some questions about the 4×4″ squares we made at camp last week. The goal was to create squares that expressed the words ”art”, “joy”, “create”, and “hope”. We filled the workspace with piles of old magazines from the ’70s and a variety of supplies and everyone got to work! Since most of the participants took their squares home, these are the few that I’m able to give you a closer look at.
Our last day at Jobal Camp! Gary Ratcliff joined us again, but this time taught about glazing. We spent the morning glazing the pottery that we made on our first day of camp.
We also spent part of the day making collages with Heather Land. Heather is the queen of all things Modge Podge, so she shared her decoupaging techniques with us. Instead of using canvases, we used old cabinet doors from the Palace building’s days as a department store. The pieces turned out really nicely! 
This morning we spent time creating art that’s wearable. Katie May of Bella Donna fame taught the girls how to use vintage buttons, jewelry, and fabric to make unique brooches and headbands. Despite the hot glue gun burns our fingers suffered, our personal “bella donna’s” look great!
Heather Miles is known for making interesting t-shirt designs using bleach sprays and pens. While the girls worked on their Bella Donna’s, Heather and the guys worked on personalizing shirts. Eventually, the girls got in on shirt making too. Wear-able art for everyone!
Our afternoon was all about the Masur Museum of Art. Education Director Emily Jahn gave us a museum tour, which is currently showing it’s 47th Annual Juried Competition. The students were surprised to see a piece from Gary Ratcliff who helped us make pottery earlier in the week. After the tour, Emily taught us about linoleum block prints….one of the oldest printing techniques. Everyone created their own design, carved it into the linoleum block, and then made multiple prints.
Day 2 of Jobal Camp was full of goodness.
Jackson Pollock and his abstract painting style were a big part of our day. Slinging paint around in just the right places is hard work (and a ton of fun). We made small versions inside and then used paint shooters to make big versions outside.
Photographer Kelly Moore also hung out with us, helping turn us into budding photographers. Kelly shared lots of photography goodness, like the difference between wideangle and telephoto lenses, how to use leading lines, capturing motion, and telling a story with your photo. She sent us on a photography scavenger hunt around downtown Monroe, challenging us to practice the techniques we learned.
Thanks to Adorama and Kelly Moore, every participant today was given a new Fuji Instax 210 camera of their very own! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
In our spare time, we made these 4×4 inch squares expressing art, joy, hope, and creating.
We made it through day 1 and have lots of pieces to show for it! The highlight of the day was spending the afternoon creating with Gary Ratcliff. If it can be made with clay, there’s a good chance we attempted to make it….coil pots, pinch pots, bowls, mugs, cups, anything that let us get our hands dirty!
We also learned about artist Peter Max, who was known in the 1960′s for his kaleidoscope-looking pieces. After checking out his work, we made some of our own…
There have been a lot of questions about Jobal Arts being held in the Palace building, located in downtown Monroe. For decades the Palace served as Monroe’s only department store and an integral part of downtown Monroe’s economy. Unfortunately, the Palace has gone unoccupied since it closed it’s doors in the 1980′s.
In September of 2009, the Portico Church, purchased the historic building in hopes of bringing life back into the downtown area. Portico Church is currently working to renovate the building so it can be used for community events, such as Jobal Arts, as well as host it’s weekly church gatherings.
To learn more about what’s currently happening with the Palace, visit Friends of the Palace.
While the “Two Suez” are technically photographers, their creativity doesn’t end with just the awesome photos they capture. Heather Land and Katie May are life-long friends who seem to ooze their creativity onto everything they touch. You can learn more about these two ladies and their photography by visiting www.twosuez.com.
Both ladies are participating in Jobal Camp, showcasing and teaching some of their specialties. Heather is a great multi-media and collage artist. She’ll be challenging Jobal students to express who they are with paper, scissors, a brush, magazine clippings, and a lot of Modge Podge. Katie also makes accessories she refers to as “Bella Donnas.” They are unique pieces made from recycled materials and vintage finds that can be worn as headpieces, jewelry, brooches, and more. You can order your own Bella Donna at Katie’s Etsy shop. Katie will help the Jobal Camp girls create their own version of a Bella Donna.
One afternoon of Jobal Camp includes a field trip to the Masur Museum of Art to hang out with Emily Jahn, Curator of Education and Public Programs.
Learn more about the Masur at www.masurmuseum.org
“The Masur Museum of Art is the largest visual arts museum in Northeast Louisiana. Our mission is to support and foster visual arts in our community through quality exhibitions, educational programs, and our permanent collection. Because admission is always free, all members of our community can expand their horizons through the museum’s many and diverse offerings.
The Masur Museum of Art presents an ongoing schedule of temporary exhibitions that are supported by a wide variety of educational programs for children and adults.”
