Mini workshops

I helped out in my friend Belinda's 2 workshop classes last night.  What fun!  First of all, I now remember how much I enjoy teaching and being with people.  I think I had forgotten that part of my art adventures.  Belinda is the teacher on the left and a student, Carol is on the right.

Here is an unsolicited, but definitely prejudiced review of Belinda's classes:  Phenomenal!  First of all, the classes are ORGANIZED.  There were more than enough product to go around.  That meant that you could choose colors or themes.  So much variety that you could find something you wanted, but not so much that you were overwhelmed.  There were enough tools for sharing so that nobody had to wait very long to use a tool.

Belinda comes PREPARED.  She had lots of samples.  She had handouts.  Prior to coming, she had worked out the flow of the class so that those who worked fast would not be bored and those who worked slowly could keep up.  She drew diagrams on the board and a flow chart of the steps to follow in case you forgot or lagged behind.

The classes were CREATIVE.  Belinda did a booklace classs that was so interesting to those in class.  She was able to demonstrate the steps and caution you about how you could make a mistake, so that you didn't make the mistake. Many of the conference attendees are calligraphers and had never worked with metal or eyelets or tools.  They were trying all kinds of things by the time the night was over. 

Belinda is GENEROUS.  She graciously gave students additional supplies if they needed them, she traded charms from some packets to satisfy students' wants.  She gave them handouts and extra bits of papers, inks, eyelets, doohickeys and ephemera.  In the paper class, she supplied the students with containers to take home some supplies to continue playing at home.  They were astonished by her generosity.  As for me, I would have helped out for a verbal thank you, but here is the goody bag Belinda gave me for helping.

The classes were plain old FUN.  The fantastic papers class had people sounding like they were at the fireworks, "ooooh and aaaah."  The dipping and dying of paper and fabric with sprays and inks were the best way to end a night and felt like we were back in grade school art class, being fearless because it was just playing.

In talking with the students, they could not have been happier with Belinda's classes.  (Some were quite vocal about their dissatisfaction with other instructors from this same convention) Many asked if she taught classes elsewhere and one lady from out of town said she would love to come back to Chicago to take a day-long workshop from Belinda.    

Here are some of the papers I made in the class.  I WAS helping, but I was playing too.

Today, I am working on getting the dye off my fingers.  I had no problem while creating the papers, but I took the gloves off for cleanup and am looking very colorful today.