NAEA & MoMA Inspiration

Maria writes:

When Rick and I were in NYC at the NAEA convention (National Art Education Association) and realized that we were speaking to ART TEACHERS (duh!), we took the opportunity to talk with them about the importance of maintaining their artistic passion. All of the people we spoke to started their careers passionate enough about art to go to school to learn how to teach art.

At the end of each workshop we acknowledged how easy it is for the daily demands of family and a school's administrative paperwork to leave little or no time for a teacher to work on their own art. (At which point everyone's head would nod in agreement.)

It's not easy to create the time to paint, sculpt, weave, etc. Left with no creative time, the artist within gets stunted from non-use. And when that happens it's easy to lose our inspiration. There sit all our art supplies, fading or drying up in their tubes. And when we do get some time, we find our passion has disappeared behind a wall of artists' block or, we don't have enough time to set up our easel and load our palette.

We stressed the importance of art teachers keeping their own individual joy of creative passion alive both for their own joy and to be able to continue to convey that passion for art to their students.

We suggested Zentangle's simple, short and creative minutes as an ideal way to hold onto the delight of feeling that creative flow, to keep it nourished and alive and to remember again the joy that inspired them to teach art.

There is nothing like learning from a passionate teacher - whatever they may teach. My favorite was my geometry teacher (no surprise there). He loved his work so much. He got so excited and put so much energy into explaining simple geometry, "See? See? How cool is this! It's magic!"

So follow your passion. Don't give it up for anyone or anything. No matter what people say, you are an artist.

The teaching part will be so easy . . . everyone wants to learn passion!


Rick writes:

While at NAEA, Maria and I had an opportunity to visit the Museum of Modern Art. Here are some pictures we took as we "drew" inspiration from this feast of creative abundance.

Looking at a Keith Haring creation. 

Although it might seem similar in appearance to a Zentangle creation, there are many fundamental uniqueness to each style. Nevertheless it was fascinating to look at this creation which wrapped around the entire room.

 We found an architecture city design display that used some  great patterns. Here's another iteration of ynot in red.

In this one, we found beeline.

 Hmm, this might be fun to deconstruct.

We saw this handbag on our elevator ride. Notice that curving meta-pattern formed by the interaction of varying widths of straight components. Definitely another tangle to explore. It's curved lines from assembling straight lines is resonant with paradox.

 So much fun!

I inverted this layering of square mirrors. Sometimes it's easier to notice the pattern an object creates (or inspires) when you aren't distracted by what that object is.

 Time to sit for a while and add discoveries to the field notes book.

We've already started using a tangle inspired by this creation. So much of what we saw that caught our eye was based on some version of aura.

I just had to go back to that architectural exhibit for some more pictures!

Love the patterns suggested by that grain in the wood floor.

As we were leaving, I noticed a description of a display created by Vasily Kandinsky (1866-1944). Kandinsky used the expression "nonobjective painting" to describe his paintings that did not represent recognizable objects and were "free of descriptive devices." 

This reminded me of how we describe Zentangle's method as "non-representational." It's also why (for the most part) we give our tangles names that have little relationship with what a tangle looks like.

After so many hours on our feet, we stopped for coffee in a nearby hotel. The waiter was kind enough to let us sit there for a couple hours. We nursed our coffee as we made notes and drew tangles to help us absorb and remember the visual feast we had just experienced.

As we left that hotel, we saw this mosaic in the lobby. What an awesome variation for cubine!

Click images for larger views.