Today I went to the Azucarera gallery to retrieve my artwork. Now I have to photograph it, then I will parcel the sold pieces out to their respective buyers. So sad to see the loved ones go...
However, I maintain copyright so I'll have digital reproductions of the original art available in smaller and more affordable scale here on the website!

Last night my students exhibited a wonderful artstravaganza, a phenomenal Project Ourway!

project Ourway banner by Isabella Whitney & Hadar Naftalovich The What is Art wall with Balloon collage by artist Hanna Lefcourt

The event was such a wonderful mix of all forms of art; music, animation, performance, design, fashion and expression it was exhilarating! One of my favorite parts was the interactive 'what is art' wall at the entrance of the event. I really like the balloon by my design student Hanna also!

To think this is a student driven,designed, created event is just so impressive there are no words for it!

I've included some pen drawings by artist James Griffiths - click this thumbnail to see the full image.

I read a poem from the Nuyorican Poets cafe and my hub performed in one of the short one-act plays along with the students.

Here are some more pics of the night and a video of the show's finale - a fashion show by Anna Karpman!!

wall of student artwall of student art 2 students singing at Project Ourway 2010 Isabella Whitney doing a poetry reading

young UP and Coming Fashion Designer, Anna Karpman Debuted her line click play to see

I'm still working on the mystery project here is a sneak peek.

Sneek Peek to mystery project by me!

So far only one reader has guessed the correct answer! I think I'll be done by tonight;))

-Ciao Amarettogirl

The mystery project from the last post is still in the works so check back soon to find out what it is!!
Everybody's guesses were so much fun to read:)

Project Ourway Poster

I happen to be the faculty advisor to a fantastic student club - formally known as Poster Club - as of last year we are now - The Promotional Arts Society and our fearless student leader, Isabella Whitney, was one of last years founders of a new yearly event - Project Ourway.

This year, Project Ourway is this Saturday-tomorrow! Students will:

Do a collaboration of the visual and performing arts, with student artwork on exhibit, stop-motion animation, videos, student-written and student-directed performances, spoken word, and a wearable art show.

I was so blessed to develop the original stop-motion animation curriculum that inspired last years amazing round-up of animations. This year they're still coming strong despite me! Here is a sneek peek to a stop -motion created by one of my hub's art students for this year's Project Ourway- Libby Ward:

So if you're around come enjoy the artstravaganza!

-Ciao Amarettogirl

Driftwear has officially launched!!

And to celebrate we're doing a giveaway of the DRIFTBEAR t-shirt!

Congrats to Cristhian!!! You are the random number generators comment selection! Be sure to comment a thank you on the Birth of Driftwear Blog!

As for everyone else sorry this post was delayed, we had some technical difficulties. However, the Driftwear etsy shop is up and running and is now available for your shopping needs!

Congrats to Isabella for making just one of her Indie dreams come true! I'm proud!

My new 'Rettogirl' blog widget is finally UP and grab-able! So if you have a blog, feel free to grab the code (just copy and paste it into your sidebar) and place little 'ol Rettogirl on your page! Now that I know how to do this, I'm looking forward to making new widgets!

Widgets can be kind of tricky (especially if coding is not your forte) so I'm pretty proud.

As for memorizing my lines - thanks for all the stress-free suggestions. I found a FANTASTIC Iphone app called Mentalcase and an online study program that exchanges with mentalcase called Flashcard Exchange. I've been able to first study my cards on the phone then record audio with each of the lines and play it like a slide show, so all I have to do is listen and repeat while I drive - it's brilliant and I've already memorized many of my lines!

Isabella Whitney at work making hand pulled silkscreened Driftwear t-shirts

Now on to some fun stuff!

As promised a NEW GIVEAWAY is in the works to celebrate the APRIL 19th LAUNCH of Driftwear!

Isabella has graciously donated a white Bear t-shirt ($25 us dollar value) in the winner's size choice of S,M,L,XL male or female. These shirts are 100% organic cotton made in America by American Apparel. And as a SPECIAL treat in addition to the typical black Isabella is offering the white t-shirt with a limited edition color print of the bear in red, blue or green to one of my readers!

Driftwear BEAR design by Isabella Whitney

Here are the conditions:

• Open to anyone anywhere

• become a fan of Driftwear on Facebook and leave a comment!

• Go to the Birth of Driftwear blog and comment on some posts especially the NAME THE BEAR post!

• Come back here and leave a comment letting us know WHY oh why you need to win a Driftwear Bear shirt!

• A winner will be chosen on the April 19th to celebrate the official launch of Driftwear! A check of all requirements will be made and a random digital number widget will be used to generate a winner. On the 19th at 10pm (the opening time of the Esty Driftwear shop) a winner will be announced here!

The Driftwear Bear shirt designed by Isabella Whitney

-Ciao Amarettogirl

The Birth of Driftwear

My student Isabella Whitney is the proud owner & designer of the new brand Driftwear. She is completeling her senior thesis/focus project soon by developing this brand and it launches April 19th!

I am so very proud of her work and her accomplishments and I wanted to share them with all of you.

Many people aren't aware of all of the nuances and complexities involved in developing a product line, brand and indie biz. Isabella has done a fantastic job documenting all of those things in her blog- The Birth of Driftwear.

In addition, she has approached marketing wisely, creating guerilla art (I blogged about what Guerilla Art is two years ago- check it out here!) marketing campaigns and using the stop- motion fever my hub and I imparted on our students to promote the brand. I already have three of her designs that I'm interested in purchasing!

PSSSTTT- SECRET... another giveaway opportunity is in the works to celebrate the Driftwear launch!

Driftwear Mission ststement detail shot of guerilla marketing by Isabella Whitney

Photo of Butterfly Project by blogger Lollychops

So for today's post I thought I would share one of my students (honestly more like my young protégé who quickly surpassed her teacher), Isabella Whitney's work. Isabella was inspired by this wonderful Butterfly Project tutorial posted by fellow crafty blogger Lollychops.

My hub and I have been using and introducing altered books as sketchbooks in our classes for the past couple of years. The local library had a stack of antiquated books they were going to discard and he hauled them over to our visual art classes to convert them into beautiful sketchbooks (wait until you see his-coming to this blog soon!)

Having made some great use of that experience, Isabella combined both Lollychop's Butterfly Project tutorial and the altered book art as inspiration. She designed and created this wonderful bookshelf surprise.

Just imagine pulling a once abandoned book off of a shelf and opening it up to discover the following!

Designer and Artist Isabella Whitney's Butterfly Project book pic1Isabella's Butterfly Book pic2 The completed piece by Isabella Whitney photo by marisol diaz

Here are some detail shots:

Click to see Isabella's Book DetailClick to see Isabella's book detail two!

To try your hand at The Butterfly project please visit fellow crafty blogger Lollychops and see her wonderful tutorial on how to compose these butterflies! -Ciao Amarettogirl