Latest painting and making plans!

I've had "Blog" on my to do list for awhile now, but haven't felt like I've had much to talk about. So I'll show you what I've been working on:

That's the latest in a series I've been working on since I guess technically, 2008. I've been drawing and painting about my experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer living and working in Madagascar, since my first week in the country back in February of 2008....(holy crap I was 22!) Drawing in my journals, and painting murals on walls (the ones I could find that were sturdier than the ones made of reeds...like my own house there, haha!) kept me sane and happy. After I got evacuated, the need to paint about it was even stronger, since I was absolutely not ready to leave yet, but had to (I got to go back and finish my service tho...yay!) And now, coming up on 4 years since I came home, I still feel the need to paint about it. But now, it's mostly to help me feel connected to a place that's full of things and people I love, but is incredibly far away. I'm not sure how many more paintings I'll make for the series... or if I'll ever stop painting about Madagascar.  It will always be a second home and therefore something that feels good to paint about, but also, a wealth of ridiculously beautiful and inspiring subject matter. An artist's paradise. But I would like to start a new body of work at some point, too. Anyway, for the sake of putting things in writing that you want to have happen someday, here are my plans for the series, whenever I do finally decide it's done:

I work as a marketing person/graphic designer at a community center that holds a lot of events. I've talked briefly to our events person about the possibility of displaying this series sometime. I want to make it a party: Malagasy music videos playing, some fried banana donut things or other delicious street food that I will probably fail miserably at replicating, a little slideshow presentation/talk, a display of some of the awesome art that was done by Malagasy kids and friends that I brought home, and all my original art and a bunch of prints for sale, with most of the $$$ going to an organization or two that I trust and support that works in Madagascar. That's what I forsee: a giant art party with all my friends and family and strangers who want to support Mada. Yep, that's the plan. And I just put it out there to all of you, and the universe, so it's gonna happen. Right? Right. Now.... to finish the paintings! :)

CRAZY NEWS!! (and progress on latest painting)

Hi All,

First off, I have to share some exciting news!! I was brought aboard to work as a muralist for a company that builds and manages memory care and senior living facilities all up and down the west coast!! The sad part of this is, I will be taking over for a muralist who had worked with the company for 15 years, and sadly passed away before he could finish one of the projects. So my first job will be to finish that up. That facility is in Eastern WA., so I will be heading up there to work on that very soon. Luckily, I have a stellar boss at my other job, who supports my mural work 100% and will let me re-arrange my hours at work so that I can go up to Washington for a bigger chunk of time than just a weekend. This is exactly the kind of thing I had been envisioning and hoping would happen with my mural business. I've only been in Portland less than 3 months, and already I got connected with an interior design firm who gave me a great nursery job, and now this other company who could potentially turn into a long-term, repeat business type of deal. It's really crazy to me how things are all of a sudden happening once I: #1, moved to a bigger city, #2, deliberately decided that murals are the kind of art I would most enjoy making for people, and then #3, worked really freaking hard and learned all I could to make that happen. Then the universe just kind of started dropping things in my lap. Pretty grateful for all of it, and feeling so stinking lucky.

In other news, please help me decide what to do with this painting!!!!! I posted a blog about it last time...part of my Madagascar series, and kind of just about how it feels to live in another place and culture and make it your home, and then come back to where you lived before. Adjustment. Re-adjustment. And also it's about this Malagasy proverb: "Tsihy be lambanana ny ambanilanitra", which basically means, "everything under the sky is woven together like one big mat."  So. I'm definitely going to be writing those words in the border - the Malagasy on top, and the english along the bottom. What I'm debating about, is whether or not to put little critters in those circle bubble things in the middle. (I used a cut paper collage for this and then painted over it). I was thinking different cool bugs - dragonflies, etc. - one inside of each bubble. Paint those in, or leave it the way it is??? Help! I can't decide. Leave me comments if you have an opinion :) Feels really great to get into a groove on a painting I'm making for myself again. Will post again when this is finished... so close!

Corie

Sneak peek of a new painting, and a look back...

I'm starting a new painting! Always nice to get my brushes in the paint, and especially when it's on canvas, for myself. (Although I have to say I am in the mural-mindset... feels weird to use such little brushes, and I'm squeezing out WAY more paint than I'm needing) Anyway, here's the start:

It's a new painting that will be part of this Madagascar series (about my Peace Corps experience there, in case you are brand new to my blog and haven't heard me mention that a thousand times!). This one is based on the Malagasy proverb: "Tsihy be lambanana ny ambanilanitra", which basically means, "everything under the sky is woven together like one big mat." I love that.

I felt caught between two worlds a lot. It's the old metphor they teach you during Peace Corps training. They say that before Peace Corps, you see everything out of yellow glasses lenses. Then you go to your host country, where they see out of blue ones. By the time you're out of Peace Corps, you end up seeing through green ones for the rest of your life (cuz they mix together. color theory and stuff. right?). Anyway, sometimes I feel so far removed from how I lived there and my friends that are still there that I have no way of contacting. This painting is kinda about trying to feel connected to that still... hence the Portland cityscape that's starting to come together on the left, and my village I lived in on the right. We'll see...long way to go yet, but I'll show you when it's done. Painting this tonight has got me all sentimental and listening to my Malagasy music playlists and reading through old journals for inspiration. Found one from St. Patrick's Day, 4 years ago:

"Happy St. Patricks' Day! Wishing I had a big green Guiness to celebrate with right about now. Yesterday was a good day. Lori fell asleep laying her head on my lap at Silvio's party, which went late into the night. The moon was already high in the sky, shedding blue light onto everything, the petrol lamps shining yellow light in pools. Warmth. Lori's heavy, sleepy head on my leg, her little body curled around my knee. In this light, my skin didn't glow, and give me away as different. Not tonight. Not dancing and clapping and singing... tonight I am just a person in the dark. To Lori, I am still just Kori, just "Mama", Soa Vanona (my Malagasy name), her friend."

Summer Work with National Geographic

So there's a major project I've been working on in between things for awhile now, and I guess haven't mentioned here yet.  So, here's the exciting news: This Summer, I'm helping illustrate a field guide of medicinal plants found in Madagascar!  

Here's how this came about. During my first year in Madagascar, there was a guy in my banking town  doing research and living there off and on.  (By "banking town" I mean a bigger town about a 2-hr bike ride away from my village, where I stocked up on phone credit, did my banking, and filled up on protein and beer.)  When I got home, we became facebook friends (naturally).  Last winter, he mentioned on his facebook, that he'd gotten a grant from "Nat Geo" (meaning National Geographic - I didn't put this together at first, but was pretty stoked when I did) to make this field guide, and was in search of illustrators.  In the end, they chose me and one other guy to bring to Mada to work on the project! 240 illustrations total, meaning we each have to complete 120.  That's a lot! So for the last couple months, we've been working on getting a jump start on some of the illustrations.  Right now, we've been working from photos, drawing and painting everything digitally in Photoshop.  When we get there, we'll actually get to go out in the forest and find, photograph and sketch the plants ourselves.  Here's a small sample of what I've been working on so far:

I'm still pinching myself that I get to go back to Madagascar this Summer. If you're a Peace Corps Volunteer, you know that living as the only westerner for miles, integrated into the community through learning the language, making friends, cooking, working, laughing along side people, for 2 YEARS..... it becomes a second home.  I can't wait to go back and see the individuals and families that I became close with over there.  AND, my parents and sister are going to come visit me for the second half of my time over there!!!! I can't wait to show them what an incredible country it is.  So anyways, part of the point of this post is to just say that I won't be posting here from mid-June to August. I have a few more weeks of work here though, so I'll post a few more kids art lessons, and say goodbye before I go ;)

IT HAPPENED! - An Idea Becomes A Reality.

I can already tell, this post is going to be a meaningful, mushy one.  Way back last Summer, I had an idea.  This idea was to create a mural with kids (something I already do in my job a lot anyways), but on specialized fabric, instead of a wall. The mural would get sent to a rural village in Madagascar (the country I served in as a Peace Corps Volunteer 2008-2010), where a current PC Volunteer would help recruit villagers to finish and install it on the wall of their hospital.  The mural's subject matter would have to do with Malaria prevention, helping to educate through pictures, those who could not read.  If you want the WHOLE scoop, read this earlier post.

Anyway, so then after forming the idea last Summer, I found an extraordinary Principal with an extraordinary staff (Bertha Holt Elementary), to help me make this idea into a reality.  They wrote a grant to the Eugene Education Fund to get a residency with me funded through my employer, Lane Arts Council.  I also got my old Peace Corps supervisor to help me find the right PCV and village to coordinate with.  The villagers there already knew the deal about using mosquito nets to prevent Malaria, but they needed more info about the care and maintenance of the nets to be dispersed.  I came up with the design below, explaining to wash the net with regular soap not detergent (so as not to wash away the mosquito repellent), dry the net in the shade not sun, tuck it tightly under the mattress, and repair any holes it gets.  The language is Malagasy.

Then, during a week-long residency with the Holt 4th graders, I taught them about Madagascar, did art projects with them that related to it's unique flora and fauna, and facilitated them in painting the mural on the fabric.

When completed, the mural was shipped to Madagascar, along with some adorable postcards that the 4th graders hand drew and wrote on in Malagasy (with some help from me of course). What follows are the pictures we received of it hung in it's final home, the hospital wall in Tsivangiana, Madagascar.

Women waiting in line at the hospital to get vaccines for their babies.

Eddie Carver, the Peace Corps Volunteer who helped us coordinate and finish this project.

Now comes the mush.  I really just am so floored to see these pictures.  That a mural my students did, made it all the way across the ocean and is now on a wall in a hospital in the middle of nowhere, where it will help educate some people on an important health topic.  I can't wait to share these pictures with the 4th graders, along with the postcards we received back from Eddie's english club in response to theirs.  I can't wait to show them that at such a young age, they can make an impact.  This is how it feels to make a difference, I will tell them. YOU MATTER. 

Eddie also told me that the original design template I created is now being replicated by Peace Corps Volunteers all over Madagascar, in their own villages.  During training, Peace Corps Volunteers are all encouraged to paint world map murals on the walls of schools, and murals about Malaria are starting to be encouraged more and more in recent years.  Peace Corps wouldn't push this so much to people who aren't necessarily artists, unless they found it to be worthwhile as a form of community development.  These pictures disperse information to the public in a bright and colorful way, and are especially crucial to those who could not read other posted health bulletins and announcements.  ART MATTERS.  

So. Happy. I think of this is as the pilot project.  I envision doing many more of these, about other relevant health topics, all over Madagascar.  No, all over Africa.  Attention International health NGO's: call me ;) 

It's finished...and only just begun.

I got written up in the local newspaper today for my latest project!  It came out in papers today and was well-written and thorough.  Read the article here.  

The pilot project is almost complete! And I say "almost" because even though our part of the mural is finished, it still has a long way to travel to get to its final destination.  I will ship out the mural this weekend. I just got an email from the Peace Corps Volunteer who will receive it for his village.  He says:

Hey Corie,

The painted mural looks awesome!  We're really lucky to have that coming to Tsivangiana.  Last week I met with a group of five mpanentanas (health workers/informers) there.  We plan to use the mural to launch a week of malaria trainings - on bed nets (we're going to go house by house and check bed net usage, take pictures of people there doing it right and wrong, and put these next to the mural as examples - like a Wall of Bed Net Fame) and on making Neem Cream (a natural bug repellant).  We haven't yet finalized the programme/dates but we're looking at maybe the last week in January.  I will let you know.  The ladies (the mpanentanas) are really mazoto (diligent) so I think it's going to be great.  We'll try to get the most out of this great mural you all have made!  And yes we'll make sure to send you all lots of pics.   

Thanks,

Eddie  

So awesome!! I feel overwhelmed with... I guess the word is satisfaction.  It's the same feeling as when I've had a painting in my head for ages, finally paint it, and it comes out just right or better than I imagined.  I dare say, I feel proud of myself.  I also feel very grateful to those who helped me get all this together.  My whole Peace Corps family was so willing to jump in and help: other volunteers, my former supervisor and language teachers there.  My expert muralists I learned this cloth-mural technique from over the summer at my internship with the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program.  My friends and family here listened to me and helped me sort through ideas.  Thank you all so much!!!

The pilot project went great.  Now it's sort of like, what's the next logical step for this thing?  I hope to do more of these with more schools in Eugene and Portland (next school year).  Then, who knows..... maybe someday this can become my J.O.B. through some big health organization (COUGH*Population Services International*COUGH) so kids in the U.S. can make health murals for places all over Africa or the rest of the developing world.  For now, I'm reveling in my first victory. But.... "Dream Big", right? 

I'll leave you with some visuals:

Our mural: 

Panel 1.) washing the mosquito net with regular soap instead of detergent. 

Panel 2.) Hanging it in the shade to dry (so it doesn't lose it's mosquito repellent). 

Panel 3.) tuck it in really good under your mattress. 

Panel 4.) Fix any holes in the net. 

This was the original mural design. The folks in the village in Madagascar will be the ones to finish the border and the words in Malagasy, explaining each panel. 

Thanks for reading,

Corie

Madagascar Mural Collaboration Residency: Days 1-3

Well, it's FINALLY HAPPENING!!!  After coming up with the idea in August, sending many emails back and forth between continents, researching materials, planning lessons, talking to school administrators and teachers and getting a grant funded to pay me for teaching time, I FINALLY got to do my Madagascar Mural Collaboration art residency! 

In case you missed previous blogs about this, click here to read about the forming of the idea, or read the rest of this paragraph.  This all started last Summer, when I did an internship with the Mural Arts Program in Philadelphia.  There, I learned that you can paint on a specialized fabric and then install it on any wall you want.  I have been working in schools doing residencies that involve painting murals permanently on the school wall(s).  But after learning this new technique, I had the idea to have my students paint a mural on this special fabric then ship it to Madagascar (where I was a Peace Corps Volunteer 2008-2010) to be installed.  There has been a recent push for Peace Corps Volunteers to organize the painting of murals in their villages that double as public art and health teaching tools around the subject of Malaria prevention.  The mural I am having the students paint is based on care and proper use of mosquito nets (a form of Malaria prevention).  When it arrives, a current Peace Corps Volunteer will install this mural on the wall of the hospital in their village.  There is text on the mural explaining the pictures, but the pictures are really important because of the high illiteracy rates in the rural village.  We left some pieces of the mural unfinished, so that the villagers who will eventually have it on their hospital, can finish it.  This makes the project a collaborative mural between American and Malagasy people.    

This Madagascar art residency was done with almost 90 4th graders at Holt Elementary School over the last 7 days.  During this week, we have been studying Madagascar, doing art lessons related to the country's flora/fauna, and working on the mural.  

Before beginning the residency, I showed kids a little slideshow with some basic facts about Madagascar, and some pictures I took while I was there....followed by a long Q&A session with the kids.  I got, "How do they go to the bathroom?" "What was the weirdest thing you ate there?" "Were you scared all the time?" etc. 

The first day, we made "passports".  These were just little blue and white construction paper booklets that acted as the kid's journals for the residency.  Every new fact, and every new Malagasy word they learned, got written in their passports.  They even drew eagles on the front, and filled out their info on an inside page, complete with tiny self-portrait "passport photos".  Super cute. 

The first 3 days of the residency, after making the passports, we did an art project about chameleons.  All kids worked on their chameleons in the classroom, while I periodically pulled a few kids aside to work on the mural.  If you want to learn how to do the chameleons lesson with your kids or students, read on! 

CHAMELEONS LESSON:

You need:

-watercolor sets and brushes

-yellow construction paper, brown strips of paper, half sheets of green paper

-skinny black "Teacher Pens" as the kids call them. (Felt tip markers)

Day 1:

(The first day, we spent half the class making passports, so this part and the Day 2 step may actually be combined).  This day, we did a step-by-step follow along drawing of a chameleon in pencil on white paper. The kids draw, as you draw. Show them how to make a "jelly bean" shaped body, then add a triangle head, legs, back spikes, etc.

Day 2:

This day, break out the watercolors, and have the kids paint those suckers. Show some pics of real chameleons to get them inspired by their colors, patterns, etc.  These have to dry overnight.

Day 3:

Outline and draw designs on them with the felt tip pens.  Cut out the chameleons.  Use the brown strips and green half sheets to make leaves and branches.  Have them arrange everything on the yellow backgrounds, and paste down.  Remind them that it will help make things look more dimensional if they overlap a few leaves on top of their chameleons.  Done and DONE!  So cute, right?!

Thanks for reading, and check back soon for the rest of the week's Madagascar projects!

Corie

Rice Gluing Adventure!

Madagascar mural project mini update:

I made some glue out of just cooked rice and boiling water. Then I went to the local graffiti wall and pasted up samples from 2 different mural fabrics: one thicker, one thinner.  Both fabric samples were painted with the paints we will use here in the U.S., and the oil paint that will be used once the mural is in Madagascar. Guess what? The glue worked amazing and adhered both samples to the wall! I think after this experiment, I decided I like the thinner fabric better...easier to put up and felt like it would stick better. 

(For other muralists: this is the Pellon 830 fabric. It's actually called "Easy Pattern" and used for pattern making. You can buy it at pellon.com . It's also pretty affordable and comes in small amounts (the other fabric only comes 250 yards at a time!)

Also, I'm going to silkscreen some of these designs on t-shirts to help me fundraise for this project and future ones. I'm so excited that this is happening!!!!!!! If you want to see what project I'm talking about,  read this. Yay!

Good news!

I haven't updated this since I was in Philly?! Oops.

First of all, the idea I talked about in my last post is beginning to come together.  I wanted to do a mural on fabric with my students here, ship it over to Madagascar, and have a Peace Corps Volunteer finish it up and install it in their village with their students and/or villagers.  Part International art project collaboration, Part a way to get word out about important topics. (The murals would have to do with Malaria prevention and be mostly visual communication for those who can't read). 

So the update is, I've gotten the "go ahead" from both my old supervisor from Peace Corps Madagascar AND the arts council I work for here.  People have responded really well to the whole thing, so that's exciting!  I've got a few 4th grade classrooms that are interested in being the pilot project!!! AND, a current Peace Corps Volunteer who wants a mural in their village! A perfect match!! Only thing is, the time that the 4th grade staff has available is in early December. That's like, a month away.  And I still have some questions and specifics to work out with the volunteer getting the mural....but they have  sketchy phone service and no internet.  They are relaying messages to and from me, bush-style, by relaying messages to people who know other volunteers who DO have those modern conveniences.  I definitely know what that feels like, and am sympathetic to that.  It's just that I don't have a ton of time to plan this thing.  I want my first project to be PERFECT and GORGEOUS and WORK SMOOTHLY so that it will bring many more murals for Madagascar....or Africa....or even more of the world!!!! ...Someday.

What I think is the strange part is this:

#1: This idea first hit me like a lightning bolt in the middle of the night and energized me like no other.

#2: The perfect match of having a classroom AND a volunteer be ready for it came at about the same time.

#3: The idea for the project logo came to me and got sketched in about 5 minutes. Unusually easy.

#4: I ordered the fabric that we will paint the mural on, experimented with it, and liked it.  But I needed some more.  Without my account being charged, I found another box of the fabric on my doorstep today. Shipped for free, by mistake. 

I think that something out there wants this project to happen and is using me to channel all the creativity and good luck that it can provide.  The universe seems to be on my side.  All good signs that I should pursue it. Cool.

Here is the logo I designed for the project (someday, organization?).  I painted this on some of the fabric we'll paint the murals on. I want to make sure it can adhere to a wall using glue made out of just rice.  Rice is something that Madagascar has PLENTY of, so it would be great to have a glue recipe that's super easy and affordable for people to help them install their murals. We shall see... I'll be making a trip to Eugene's graffiti wall this week with this puppy.  :)

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In other news, I'm getting my calendar filled out pretty good for teaching this year.  I was hired to teach art lessons for 3rd, 2nd and 1st grades this year at Holt Elementary.  And I have a few school mural residencies booked throughout the Winter and Spring.  While teaching my last lessons with my 3rd graders, something hit me: I get the same "high", happy, fulfilled, joyful feeling from teaching kids art, as I get from painting murals by myself.  Discovering...or rather acknowledging this to myself was really special.  This means, if I can just figure out how to combine BOTH a freelance mural painting business AND being a teaching artist into a full-time gig, I could probably be happy career-wise for my whole life.  That's pretty cool to figure out.  I've struggled so much with trying to find a direction.  It's been stressful and hard.  To just "do art as a career" seems like a direction, but it was too broad and I was scattered and not getting anywhere.  I toyed with trying to become a tattoo artist, an illustrator, a graphic designer, etc etc.  Now, I feel like I know where to put my energy and my motivation and feel that it's right in my heart.  I have a SPECIFIC goal, and it's cleared up my mind a lot and leaving space and energy that I'll need to make it all happen. 

Ok, rambling.... just wanted to share the good news for those of you who were so encouraging about my last post!  Thanks you all for your support.  It means so much, you don't even know!!

Corie

I think I need to make this happen.

So, I've had this idea cooking in the back of my mind for quite awhile now.  I think when I get home, it's gonna be time to make it happen for reals.  The exciting part is, I found a grant to apply to that might help me make this easier, and spend less of my own money to get going.

This is what I want to do:

Malagasy Cultural Night/Art Exhibit/Benefit:

- I'll finish my Madagascar painting series (trying to have like 10-12 BIG pieces, and some smaller ones). I've done a few already - they're all inspired by different aspects of my experience in Madagascar with the Peace Corps. Everything will be for sale, along with a ton of 8 x 10 prints that I'll sell for like $20.  All or most profits will go to the organization, PSI  (Population Services International), and will be directed towards their branch in Madagascar. (This organization provides health education, birth control education and supplies, hygiene education and supplies, and things like mosquito nets for families, etc. They're just awesome, and hands down the organization I was most impressed with while I was there....besides Peace Corps of course...haha).

- I have saved a huge pile of the best art that the little kiddos made while I lived in Madagascar. I have pictures of most of the kids who drew them, so I'll have some framed kid art on display also, with their photos and a short blurb about them, beside each one.

- I might give a little talk and/or have a slideshow running of my Mada pictures.

- Of COURSE, there will be Malagasy music going...so good!

- I might invite the UofO Peace Corps Recruiter to come and have a little table there if they want.

- Food, drinks, duh!

- No cover, but a donation jar for $$$ for PSI.

-Try to pick a venue that is on the First Friday Art Walk in Eugene, so lots of people come!


So, that's it! I must do this, no?  I've been chipping away at the series, slowly....painting when I feel like it....but I think this needs to happen soon, while Mada is still sorta fresh in my mind. Yay!!