Thursday at ArtFest: Nested Visions

I started this year's ArtFest experience with another mouthwatering breakfast at James House, "my" bed and breakfast here in Port Townsend (was that poached fruit in yogurt and berry sauce? with an individual quiche in a light-as-air pastry shell? Eeek!).

Then I moved on to a class called "Nested Visions" with mother-in-law/daughter-in-law art teaching team Marylin and Tracie Lyn Huskamp - two teachers who really need their own comedy show. Once again, I was blown away by how warm, relaxed and personable the teachers at ArtFest are . . . generally, the teachers who work the mixed media art retreat circuit are positive, supportive, and talented, but there is something about ArtFest (salt air?) that really seems to bring out the best in the instructors . . .

I didn't get a great shot of Marylin or Tracie Lyn, but I did get some good shots of my nests, made with horsehair, twigs, dog hair (brought by another participant), assorted foliage, and glue. Want details on how to make your own? I understand the ladies have a book coming out this fall called "Nature Inspired" that will give all the details . . . You know Ms. Crafty Manners doesn't like it when I kiss and tell on the blog.*

Don't they look real?!

I haven't had a chance to fully glue down the assemblage compositions yet, but am very excited about the juxtaposition of indoors/outdoors, security envelope window/house window, branch/bone, topo map/stamps . . . different ways we view the world, different ways we find security, different ways we navigate . . .


And this one is a heart and a feather and a nest perched on the cover of a dictionary . . . along with a little text. Who is it that weighs your heart against a feather to see which is lighter? The Egyptian god Ma'at? I'm definitely feeling a bit of weight lift . . .

*Note: While Ms. Crafty Manners is a big fan of sharing information and offering up free info on how to make things, she is not so keen on me sharing things taught by others as part of how they make their living . . . One of the ways that artists survive is by sharing their knowledge and receiving some kind of compensation for it. When I've paid for a class from a professional artist or crafter, I don't want to re-share information on a technique they've developed in such a way that it can be published or redistributed without their permission. Like, say, on a blog. I did find some cool things, though, when I entered "make bird nest" into Google search . . . including this quickie tutorial on making nests with plaster and hay and another set of tutorials on making a birds nest with bark-covered wire.