We've discovered that the artloft is a delightful spot to create in early morning. We've pulled together papermaking, plein air painting (see below) and a Weathergrams/garden art offering as we use foraged materials for the papermaking this year. Artist- Painter-  Sandra Hansen will take the helm and use cattails for the paper process. Join us for weekends in August 2017. Friday meetings at 6:00 pm, Saturday workshop from 10:00 am-5:30 p.m. bring a sack lunch or email us for coverage.

If ever there was a time to dive deep into the creative process it's a healthy diversion of using local resources and connecting with community. We'd like to take a moment and showcase the writing and readers groups our own local Library offers. Poetry writers?  We've linked a few of our spring offerings.

Summer schedules for Art Farm Fennville will be on line Friday. Space will be limited, and a few volunteer's are still needed to help. 
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We've been busy with offerings for the new season. Art Farm Fennville will have Plein Air offerings, drop in figure drawing and summer art experiences for those looking to try on a new groove.

Interested in finishing a book project? Seeking a quiet spot to disconnect for a bite of time?  Let us know what might work as the fall schedule for 2017 will have Artprize to look forward to.  Stay tuned! 


Santa Cruz  writers  we'd like to connect with you, we've had a few workshops as creative incubator for getting edits, book published path and a few evening sessions for poetry.  Email us if the mood strikes you, if not know that we've been bleeding ink for the sake of a good workshop. Well done for those of us on the quest to Storyville.

​May the new year find you ready for new creative endeavors. 

 Jim Harrison and Dan Gerber, Authors of my youth who introduced me to poetry continue to remind me it’s the realm of cherished voice and prose as introductions to a genre of delicious experiences that hold my attention in and around the written word.

Forever in search of the place that’s a revisit of lost deep and wide, in a book that is. This month we start a series, part book of the moment part Author over-share from someone obsessed with an ideal.  It’s a tiny moment in time when you ask yourself how did this exist with out my knowledge. Tell me again? This time it's author Mary Olivers' Upstream.  Her most recent “Upstream”  a Poetry and essay collection I picked up this past week and devoured in a single setting. Last Tuesday I shared with my writing class if only because .
 In the selected essay Of Power and Time, such life lessons in and around the field of creative life unfurl a conversation set for an introspective case study in well worn paths of being true to your inner child for delight is under rated, even for those that have a sense of place in a space of creative endeavor. She captures a spirit of wanting to follow the unknown off into the unfathomable and then finding the unavoidable as all part of the plan. The lesson is better to not know we all sing in unison. Amen. Well, the bigger creative vision is a pep talk for the unexposed among us. It’s this path of not knowing but realizing something will lead us down a creative path if we sign up for the journey.
“Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” -Mary Oliver.

My recent toe in the water of writing poetry left me feeling in need of a life line of sorts, so another writer friend slipped me a copy of a Mary Oliver  Poetry book she scribed in the late 1990’s, A Poetry Handbook. A prose guide to understanding and writing poetry gave fuel for writing.
In a tiny excited burst of poetic love for all things newly forged in understanding prose poems and the lure of hear and now a few Audible books rounded out a hint of where such creative unhinged-ness with the author reading her own work

This certainty of which something aspires to be holds the motion set forth as being the highest best use all round. No neutral space or room for not being ready to endeavor. How does she capture the essence of all of this so succinctly? I’m delighted to have had a brush with the Poetry book penned by Oliver and back drop for a little foray into the genre that meets on Tuesdays from 10:00 to 11:30, the now small group could benefit from a few more writers, why not try and seek out a spot. Follow the link here.

November will shuffle in creative changes for all, Happy Fall.
Christine

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 Art du Jour is hosting summer camp styled workshops at Art Farm Fennville in August: A few spots left!

Watercolor Plein Air Plus: Rain or Shine. *Intensive Wknd Workshop. 

Think hybrid of pencil, paint, charcoal, pastel. If you’ve wondered about getting yourself in a place to explore the relationship of paper, palette and intent this is your workshop.  We will have various painting surfaces to discuss and use for our workshop that will cover paper choices, medium, and techniques associated with painting. 
 This intensive will be a casual meet and greet Friday, discussing how we may work with the current weather and skills of the group. Saturday we will meet from 10:00- 12 noon, break for lunch (provided- special dietary? give us a heads up.)  Pick up where we left off from 1:00- 3:00 p.m. Sunday 10-1 p.m.
-Please Note: There will be some materials offered for sale, if you need guidance on what to bring, let us know.

All levels are encouraged to attend. Do to the nature of being in nature, please expect a wildly wonderful mix of whatever Michigan may throw at us. We’ll welcome it and enjoy the opportunity to get creative with it all. *Adults, and per request teen/tweens.

Figure Drawing: Open Studio with Model. Held Theater in the round style with live model. Wednesdays starting August 3rd in the Stables Studios. Model sits from 6:00 p.m until 9:00 p.m. This is a drop in workshop, cost is $15.00 per student. 

Fashion Teens Tickets on sale for the April Show, Another Amazing feat of creative make it happen from local Artist Educator Kathleen Crocetti.