African American Portraits by Local artist

Kim holding her portrait of Rosa Parks.  
 Parks was a civil rights activist who refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. Her defiance sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Its success launched nationwide efforts to end racial segregation of public facilities.

You may recall, I have shared local artist, Kim Blenkhorn's portraits on this blog before. In recent months Kim has focused her attention on illustrating African American heroes who have been leaders in our nation and in our world. “People’s of many different backgrounds, races and culture have made our country what it is today and I think they ought to be honored and recognized for their brave acts and courageous influence. I believe that our history is not perfect but it belongs to us all it is sprinkled with beauty, strength and grace, it is tainted with some ugly spots too. It is made up of all sorts of colors and peoples and languages and faiths. Our world is a masterpiece. The people I draw are those who fill it deserving to be remembered for the way they contributed in positive ways.”  Who are the people of color we have all looked up to? We ought to be focusing on them and learning from the voices of our past as much as our present, so that we can make a better future.

Kim has always chosen people to draw who influence her. She wants to share their stories, to educate some and remind others.  She was most impressed by Parks because of her quiet protest, and peaceful determination not with violence or hate, but with character and poise.

Kim is a self taught artist who has focused on using pencil for her portraits the past couple years. She draws people of all backgrounds, not based on what they look like or how famous they are, but their heart and courage. “We read today shorts clips here and there articles that are brief enough to hold our attention, but I would encourage all of us living in todays world to engage in yesterdays biographies, stories of depth and histories of people that we can all look up to. We must learn from the past through the eyes of those who experienced it."

““Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”― Nelson Mandel

Humanity is a people of resiliency and we were designed to prevail against all odds and it is amazing how many odds we have prevailed against.  

Kim wants to teach others through her drawings, to share their stories so the next generation do not forget those in the past who have made the way for the future.. 

Nelson Mandela

Ruby Bridges
Bridges was born during the middle of the Civil Rights Movement. Brown v. Board of Education was decided three months and twenty-two days before Bridges' birth. The court ruling declared the process of separating schools for black children and white children unconstitutional. Though the Brown v. Board of Education decision was finalized in 1954, southern states were extremely resistant to the decision that they must integrate for the six following years. Many white people did not want schools to be integrated and, though it was a federal ruling, state governments were not doing their part in enforcing the new laws. In 1957, federal troops were ordered to Little Rock, Arkansas to escort the Little Rock Nine students in combating violence that occurred as a result of the decision. Under significant pressure from the federal government, the Orleans Parish School Board administered an entrance exam to students at Bridges' school with the intention of keeping black people out of white schools.

 

Kim was inspired to draw Ruby Bridges because of her amazing confidence. Even as a child she had the strength to walk into an unfamiliar school, with unfamiliar faces amidst a sea of parents hurling insults at her. She was escorted by US Marshals everyday while being taunted and threatened. And every day she prayed for these people, because ““My mother and our pastor always said you have to pray for your enemies and people who do you wrong, and that's what I did." -Bridges

 

Kim has focused many of her drawings on people of faith. Who looked upward and inward to solve problems and find strength for the circumstances that we face outward.

 

"We may not all be equally guilty. But we are all equally responsible for building a decent and just society." Bridges

Malcolm Gladwell

Maya Angelou

Harriet Tubman

"The Trust" 

Kim's home studio

Thanks for visiting and supporting local art. To see more of Kim's work, check out her page.

Live Painting at the Farmer's Market this week!

In collaboration with the Medway Cultural Council, local artist, Canman has been doing outdoor live painting at the farmer's market (Thursdays at Choate), in front of the Muffin House and in front of Vision's. Canman has owned Visions Tattoo, Piercing & Art Gallery with his wife, Angela, for the past 16 years on Main Street. Canman often spends his downtime painting canvases of various subject matter using acrylics.

For the live painting series, he has chosen New England's seasons for these large 5'x6' canvases. The plan is display them in local buildings, stay tuned for locations.

A sneak peek of the 4 canvases. Canman typically does a small rendering of the image before painting, showing the color scheme and design.

Stop by the Farmer's market this Thursday from 4-7:00 to visit some local vendors and watch Canman creating one of the seasons.

Thanks for visiting and supporting local artists.

4th grade Tile Project 2020

 

Annelise, Mrs Moyer's daughter helping with the tiles 

    If you have had a 4th grader at Memorial School (or if you were a 4th grader at Memorial) then you are familiar with the tile project. I volunteered in Mrs Moyer's art room while my kids were at Memorial, so I remember my 3 kids tiles very well.  I saw how much time and effort went into each tile. Not just by the student, but Mrs Moyer and volunteers that came in every week to help with touch ups, clean ups and much more. 

    Due to Covid and school being closed, students were not able to see the completion of the tile project, nor was Mrs. Moyer able to fire them and get them hung for the traditional reveal at the Memorial Arts Festival. That being said, Mrs. Moyer, who is moving to the Middle School in the Fall, didn't want to let her students down, so she brought all the tiles home this summer to clean and prep for firing. Just the students who indicated their tiles were finished and ready for clean up had their tiles worked on and only 13 students in the whole grade still needed to complete their tiles. Mrs. Moyer will contact those families to arrange a time to do so.  All-in-all, it took 83 and 1/2 hours of work with the help of 4 volunteers to clean up tiles and add names.  During this process, workers were meticulous about removing unwanted drips, repairing cracked and flaked glaze, matching colors precisely, and any other instructions the artists requested help with.  As conservators, they preserved the artist's vision for their tile and prepared them for  clear glaze which will give the tiles a shiny finish. This process could not be rushed and work happened as early as 8:00 am to as late as 2:30 am, but always it was a joy to help the students get closer to having their gallery opening.  Thanks to Covid, arrangements will have to be made at a later date, but families will be notified sometime this year on how that will look and when it will occur.  Hang tight families, it might not happen until spring of 2021.  AND, in case you are wondering, the theme this year was influenced by Jim Dine's Heart Series more info here on Jim Dine so that they could hang the tiles in the lobby (the heart of the school) for 2020.  Who knew it would mark a year where everyone would pull their hearts together to get through it?  

Thank you Mrs Moyer for all your hard work! The Memorial School will miss you.

Mrs Moyer would like to thank these volunteers for time to help complete the tile project:

Meghan Olynciw (Medway parent)
Karen Regan (Medway senior volunteer)
Annelise Moyer (Mrs. Moyer's daughter)
Chris Lazar (neighbor)
and Penny Moyer (Mrs. Moyer's dog who always kept them company)

Megan Olynciw working outside on a nice day

Karen Regan working outside on the patio with a curtain to protect from the sun. 

Notice the fans to keep the workers cool.

The basic set up with unfailing support from Penny, always under the table, over Mrs. Moyer's feet.

With such hard work, sometimes a snack was in order.

We look foward to seeing these finished tiles in person. Lots of heart went into them!

Journaling with Judith Moffatt

Local artist/ illustrator, Judith Moffatt, shares her journaling days since March 2020 on her recent blog posts and instagram, @journalswithjudy.  Judith along with her husband, Bill and dog, Ellie were leaving MA for a month of fun in Venice, Florida, which they planned the year prior. Unfortunately it was cut short due to the spread of COVID-19 virus.

Judith shares her organized packing skills by her colorful illustrations as she heads off in their Subaru. From Dog Beach fun to being quarantined at their rental, Judith makes the best of it by reading, enjoying nature and of course drawing!
Here are some of her journal pages, prior to her trip and back home in Medway. Be sure to check out the rest (link below)

Judith is a Children's Book Author, Illustrator and Teacher. In 1990 she illustrated her first book using her 3-dimensional cut paper style. Since then she has gone on to publish over 50 books for young children and win numerous awards. Judith enjoys journaling in her spare time with her beautiful illustrations, check out more of her pages here.

Local Artist, Canman, shares his art during quarantine

One of many events cancelled since March 2020 was Medway's ArtWeek. A week of artists were lined up to open their studios, teach classes and share their work and talent that was scheduled for May organized by the Medway Cultural Council.  
Local artist, Canman, co-owner of Visions Tattoo, Piercing & Art Gallery, was going to have his studio open for visitors as well as live painting outside of his studio on Main Street and Choate Park.
Lets hope something similar can happen in 2021.

During this downtime while his business was closed, Canman has been creating beautiful work. He has done some outdoor painting, a custom piece and new tattoo designs (he will do only once) .  All photos by Canman. You can find him on Facebook @Canman Creations

Beautiful day for painting outdoors! 

Canman's 1st Acrylic painting from a new nature themed series- 19.5” x 28”. Contact him for details.

Commissioned Acrylic “diamond in a rose” painting based on clients marriage proposal. 

May the 4th be with you!

Canman Original Tattoo art, Call for details 508-533-1369

Canman Original Tattoo art, Call for details 508-533-1369

Visions Tattoo, Piercing & Art Gallery is scheduled to open this Tuesday, June 23rd. I'm sure their team of artists are looking forward to getting back to work.
Open for appointments only!

Photo by Angela, Visions co-owner

Thanks for visiting! Will share more artists soon.

Local Starbucks has some welcoming ART!

Medway Starbucks, which is a favorite stop for many locals, was closed for a period of time due to the coronavirus, so when it opened back up, many (including my daughter) were very happy.
Kate Ciavarra has been working at this location for the past 4 years is also an artist. Kate has created many original works of art for this Medway location. She also is a part time art teacher for the Park & Recreation dept in Holliston and Medway. She loves making teaching fun and unique for her students, that range from preschool to middle schoolers. Her Dungeons and Dragons class is a favorite!

Kate really enjoys working at Medway Starbucks, she states there are many regular customers and it's a really homey feel. She enjoys working with her team and adds she has an excellent manager, Heather, who allows her to be creative.

She creates art for various seasons but more recently the re-opening was reason to celebrate!