StoryART! at the DMA

StoryART! camp was last week at the DMA. It was a lot of work but oh my, so very satisfying. The kids were absolutely awesome and precious beyond measure. Four and five year old children are incredibly creative, imaginative and full of wonderful surprises so there was never a dull moment. I take with me some fond memories that I will always treasure. It is my hope that I will have the opportunity to see these kids again at future DMA events.


The only thing that really marred this experience was a sudden violent storm that blew in on Tuesday morning. I had hoped to get safely downtown by taking the Dart train - thereby avoiding gridlock on the highway due to the weather. Hah, hah, hee, hee!

Sigh

Uffdah was I WRONG! While waiting for ten minutes on the train’s platform under very inadequate shelter, the storm blew in with 30-35 mph winds with gust of 70 mph. We poor souls turned our bodies away from the storms blast by tucking in and hugging the shelter’s back wall. The rain came at us in torrents sideways cruelly slapping and whacking us unmercifully. I was the only one with a raincoat on and it kept my clothes dry, but I did get drenched from the knees down and my face & hair got soaked too. Once on the train, thinking we were safe, we settled in as best we could. (Nothing like the wrath of Mother Nature to help a person bond with total strangers!) The Dart runs on electricity by the way. Gotta have the juice in order to go “choo-choo-choo” down the track. Halfway into the city a section went dead when the storm knocked out electricity in a section of North Dallas. We were evacuated, waited 25 minutes for a bus, were transported down the line to another train that was working & we finally rode into the city that way. All the while I had been frantically calling the DMA staff and keeping them aware of my situation, talking to my assistant (a wonderful person!) and trying to remain calm. When we arrived downtown I made the four blocks to the DMA by running (and yes folks, I even resorted to jay-running) all the way. I arrived very winded at the studio classroom at 1:30 on the dot just in time to start the class. Everything after that went rather smoothly too – how amazing is that? All the kids were present save one. His mother had gotten into a minor fender bender in the storm, but they were fine. Phew, what a day!

Let me say what a rewarding experience it was to create & teach StoryART! It was a LOT of work, but very rewarding. Please enjoy the photos taken during the final day below this post.


(Note the space around us. We are in the new Center for Creative Connections - complete with a gallery just for kids and a gorgeous new studio classroom.)

StoryART! Summer Camp Pictures

Plano Centennial festival

Photos from the festival and of my storytelling friends Peggy & Gene Helmick-Richardson. I am dressed as my character "Crazy Mazy Dowdie" - A tall tale tellin' frontier woman.

So many typos!

I go back and read my previous posts every so often. Frequently I am stunned to discover that I have made so many typos.

What's up with that?

I guess I just don't "see" them at the time. I usually type quickly and post right away.

Not going to let it worry me, but gosh, sure wish this wasn't so.

Oh the people you'll meet...

I was lucky enough to meet the author of the book above, Roz Van Meter. She visited the Dallas Storytellers Guild meeting last Wednesday night. What a fun person she is! Her book is very fun to read - it has lots of laugh out loud moments and still manages to offer loads of helpful advice to women. Roz gave me a copy of her book after the meeting and I've really enjoyed reading it.

Curious about her book? Go to this website and learn more about it - http://rozvanmeter.com/

Pictures from the Opening Ceremony of Bookmarks

Oh the places you'll go!

That is the title of a Dr. Seuss book. A title that just so happens to fit my life to a "T" these days. It is also the Mayor of Dallas, Tom Leppert's (pictured above) favorite book to read to his children. This morning I attended the opening ceremony of the first library located in a shopping center in the USA - Northpark Mall in Dallas. It was one swanky affair and the library is gorgeous! This fall I will being a story time there instead of out in the mall as I've done in the past. I am looking forward to it.

Here are several pictures the event and the big celebrity in attendance, the mayor of Dallas - Mr. Tom Leppert. He read a book to the children and was really very good at it too I might add.

Makeover Day! Please peruse my new 'do...

I still think I look shockingly old, but SHOOT & Dang-nab-it! This is what 44 years looks like on me.

Oh, but I love this haircut. It's going to be fun folks. I'm thinking of going more red next. I am a natural dark blond and actually darken my hair a wee bit with a temporary color every month or so. The color you see is very close to my natural shade.

Now I will update my marketing materials with new photos. My daughter Lily will be the phtographer. She took these photos this evening, though we used my camera which isn't as nice as hers.

Riding the Dart

Lately, I've been taking the Dart train to a lot of my storytelling gigs. Yesterday, I went one step further by taking the train then transferring to a bus to reach a library in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas.

Well guess what? I got on the wrong bus, but this was discovered quickly. I was able to get on the right one after a few minutes wait by the side of the road over by the Dallas Zoo. Phew! Who knew there was a 522 W and a 522 E bus?

I meet all kinds of people that I would not be able to meet while riding the train. It really is, for the most part, an enjoyable experience and far more relaxing than creeping along the congested freeways.

So, the horse above is at the downtown Plano train station. It stands in the same spot that the old steam locomotives did. The up close photo will hopefully show the little metal fly near his eye. There are all sorts of bronze statues in downtown Dallas. I will try and get some photos of them at some point.

And now for the tedious part...

I have spent the last two days designing a pamphlet for myself, reorganizing my storytelling files, and developing an improv workshop.

Blah, blah, blah...

This is NOT the fun part of my work, but it is a vital part of it. I got my new business cards in the mail. Love them! Lily designed my frog logo. I tried to put a picture of it in this post, but it didn't work out. Sorry. It will appear in my website which hopefully will be up soon.

Preview posts do not match published posts!

Sorry about the crazy layout of some of my blogs that contain pictures. The preview often does not match the published post that shows up for you all. GRrrrr....this is very frustrating!

Pincushion to Serve as Fetish

Here is a picture of Dorothea's Tannings sculpture which is a part of the permanent collection at the Dallas Museum of Art. The piece is as large as a lounge chair.

And here is a picture of An Uncommon Bird checking herself out in the mirror. A paparazzo is catching the glamourous bird's photo.

p.s. Oh dear, my husband & daughter don't know what to make of my latest creation. Hah! My, my...now I need to develop a story to go with her.

An Uncommon Bird

Meet my newest creation. This is my soft sculpture inspired by Dorothea Tanning's work "Pincusion to serve as a Fetish". The Dallas Museum of Art has it on display in the new Center for Creative Connections. My work shares some of the same materials, but of course, I have put my own creative spin on it.

It is a rare bird indeed. Hence the name "An Uncommon Bird".

Some of the materials used were black velvet, metal stand, quilt batting, old buttons, wire, metalic thread and acrylic paint.

June Storytelling Schedule

Here is my schedule for June. This will be a busy month. July will be even busier. It's all good though, all good.

June 3 Dallas Museum of Art 11:15 - 12:00
June 4 Park Forest Library 10:30
June 9 North Oak Cliff Library 2 pm
June 10 Garland Library (Improv workshop with elementary kids) 2 to 3 pm.
June 14 Plano Centenial Celebration 10am to Noon
June 16-20 Dallas Museum of Art Summer Camp for 4-5 year olds 1:30-3:30pm
June 20 Dallas Museum of Art Friday Night Live 7:30pm
June 21-25 Albuquerque, New Mexico
June 26 Arcadia Park Library 3 pm
June 29 Central Library 2 pm.
June 27 Fab 4 meeting at my home
June 30 Walnut Hill Library 2 pm.