Arbor Day 2022
For Arbor Day 2022, I was honored to give a talk about my Return to the Famous Trees of Texas project at Russell Farm Art Center
My little talk and little screen
After seeing my tree posts on facebook, my college art professor Tom Sale invited me to speak at Russell Farm for the day honoring trees.
Technical difficulties threatened to ruin the whole thing - I couldn’t get my presentation to load on the larger tv screen they provided. After numerous attempts, I gave up and showed the small group my laptop while I riffed on my arborilogical adventures. It turned out fine and I gained understanding of how to better prepare.
When I know my subject, I enjoy public speaking. This felt like talking with friends.
It was a great day.
Artist and Educator Tom Sale
Artist Renata Lucia spoke before me
Me with the octogenarian matriarch of Russell Farm
Y’all come see me do a talk about my tree project for Arbor Day!
Saturday April 30, 2022 at Russell Farm Art Center
Free event — Rain or shine
Bird watching 8 or 9 am. Tree walk 10 am.
Art talk with Tom Sale and Renata Lucia 11am.
Me at 11:45 am
Russell Farm Art Center
405 W County Rd 714, Burleson, TX 76028, an hr from Dallas, less than 30 minutes from Ft Worth.
Favicon
If you view this site on a laptop or add it to your favorites on your phone, (hint!) you’ll see a little image called a favicon in your favorites list or in your browser tab. The icon is a linocut I created as a fine art printmaking student at the University of North Texas in the 90s.
An obvious choice for this project, the image was originally based on my own 1976 childhood drawing saved by my mother, whose handwriting you can see stating my name, age and the year. When I found my own five year old version of a tree, I immediately wanted to “copy” my style.
While in college, I worked part-time at a preschool/daycare with two and three year olds. I loved all these sweet kiddos and even made lifetime friends with one of the families I met there. Watching these kids draw and paint fascinated me.
Art school, with so many talented students, often nudged me into comparison mode, which works against creativity and fuels self doubt. Seeing the concentration and confidence with which these toddlers made deliberate marks on their paper was revitalizing.
I let go of trying to make realistic, technically perfect drawings and starting embellishing playful doodles with patterns and texture, turning them into finished works.
Finding and recreating my childhood creation brought everything full circle from admiring these self-assured kids to building my self worth. Using it for this project brings new life to a relic from my days as a young artist.