Creative Excursions in 2013

As I looked back over some of my favorite projects from this past year for my last post, I also reviewed some of the best creative excursions I enjoyed.  Seeing the places I visited in 2013 has gotten me excited for all of the possibilities for 2014!

Remember how excited I was to be sketching and watercoloring in Jane LaFazio's workshop?

One of the most noteworthy excursions was the CREATE Mixed Media Art Retreat in Somerset, New Jersey, back in July.  I was so incredibly excited to find an art retreat so close to my home that I could easily drive and spend a couple of nights completely on my own, doing nothing but soaking up art with hundreds of other people who enjoy and value it as much as I do.

My "tiny tarnished tome" from Kari McKnight Holbrooke's workshop

After Seth Apter's bookbinding class, I came home and "went to town," creating my own bound books.

I was going to try to convince my husband that an artists' retreat should be an annual event, but I've found several wonderful workshops offered over the course of 2014 at Longwood Garden, where we've been members for six years now, and I am thinking of taking some of them instead.  There's a watercolor class, mixed media, nature journaling...I think I will be able to get some artful excursions much closer to home this year!

The other workshop I took this past year was a Zentangle class at Morris Arboretum in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, back in May.

My completed practice tile from Zentangle class

The class gave me the opportunity to work with "official" Zentangle materials, specifically the thick 3-1/2 by 3-1/2 inch lightly-deckle-edged tiles that come with officially-sanctioned Zentangle kits.  I will continue to tangle on every and any surface with every and any pen I happen to have at hand, but it was fun to play around with the high-quality "real-deal" for those couple of hours in May!

Simon Sparrow's mosaic, "Assemblage of Faces"

Some of my most inspiring excursions took me to places to admire others' art.  I still find myself thinking about particular pieces from the Outsider Art exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art that I saw back in May.

Jon Serl's "Family Band"

If you check out my two-part series of blog posts, you will get a sense of how much I really wanted to share the experience with you and allow you to see all of the really amazing pieces that were on display.  (Part I is here.  Part II is here.)

Detail from George Widener's "Blue Monday (Reversal)"

I was also completely blown away by my first visit to Isaiah Zagar's Magic Gardens on South Street in Philadelphia.  Please take a moment to look through the photos in the original post; it just might be enough to get you to book a ticket to Philly right away to have a look for yourself!

The artist at work on his amazing mosaic project at the time of my visit.

My daughters giving the artist's dog a pat in the midst of the mosaic garden.

Head to the Magic Gardens in Philadelphia for a multi-layered mosaic extravaganza!

Another inspiring destination from this past year was the Allentown Paper Show.  So inspiring, in fact, that I had to go TWICE--once in April and again in October.

I should really put a strict moratorium on paper and ephemera purchases for the next year, simply due to the huge haul I still have from my visits to the show.  But it is very, very hard to resist!

Besides these noteworthy creative expeditions, 2013 was filled with a number of other Artist Dates that "filled my creative well" quite full over the months.  Some of my favorite places to poke around and get inspired include:

Stores with beautiful displays, like Terrain

The ocean

Thrift shops, like The White Elephant at St. Francis of Assisi in my neighborhood

Art shows with wonderful collage art, like the Wallingford Community Arts Center Holiday Sale

Flea markets, like the huge one in the multi-tiered parking lot of our local community college

Yard sales, like the ones we enjoy around town during Media Garage Sale Days

I am thoroughly convinced that I have no need to bring one single additional item into this house beyond food, so I believe that 2014 will be a year for window shopping and eye candy, rather than actual shopping and purchasing.  I plan to have as many, or more, artful excursions to fill my creative well with images, ideas, and inspirations, but I am going to try to keep my wallet CLOSED throughout the process!

I hope you will come along with me during the next year to find out what artful excursions await!

Artist Date: The Magic Gardens

Have you ever visited a place so unique, so unusual, so enchanting that you can scarcely believe that such a place even exists?  That you wonder why it took you so long to discover it?  That you can't wait for your next opportunity to go there again?

Street view of the Magic Gardens

The Magic Gardens at 10th and South Street in Philadelphia is just such a place.

Back in the year 2000, when I lived in Center City, I would see a really cool mosaicked wall on the building across the street from the Super Fresh where I shopped.  There were other little patches of mosaic along South Street that always drew my eye.  

Fast forward to 2013, and I hear about this place--the Magic Gardens--just two blocks from where I lived all those years ago.  How had I missed it?  It turns out that the artist, Isaiah Zagar, began his huge mosaic masterpiece project in 2004, three years after I moved out to the suburbs.  What had been a fairly overgrown lot next to that wall I used to love has been transformed into a multi-layer wonderland of tile, mirrors, bottles, ceramics, bicycle wheels, and really any other object that captured the artist's eye over the decade that he worked on it.

This photo shows somewhat of a close-up of the different materials Mr. Zagar uses.

My Artist Date to this truly magical place was as a group affair, bringing fascination and inspiration to three generations:  my mother, me, and my two daughters.

My five-year-old on an adventure at the Gardens

My mother standing in one of the many hallways of the multi-layered space.

In fact, Mr. Zagar was there on Monday when we visited! 

I snuck a photo of Mr. Zagar when I first saw him, before I had a chance to ask him for permission!

When my mother complimented his work, he gave her a big hug!  And he gave me permission to take his photo as he worked, and allowed the girls to pat his adorable dog, Blue.

He moved around the space with large buckets and cloths and a few pieces of who-knows-what that he added to the already bursting mosaic design.

A young man gave a brief talk at one point, sharing information about the types of objects that comprise the mosaic design of the space.  He also revealed that Mr. Zagar has purchased a large warehouse space several blocks south of the Magic Gardens that he is beginning to work on transforming with his art. 

Truly I can think of no comparable space to the Magic Gardens.  My daughters were amazed, and delighted in the freedom they had to wander around at will, checking out the tunnels, caves, and cubbies around the space.

My four-year-old tucks herself into a mosaicked niche.

There were benches and seats in other parts of the lot so you can sit down and just marinate in all there is to consider about the place. 

There are some interesting details to notice, such as messages and fortune cookie fortunes tucked into the bottles before they were cemented to Mr. Zagar's design.

My mother read a newspaper article posted near the entrance of the Magic Gardens, discovering that Mr. Zagar is in his mid-70s, and has a life history of mental health and interpersonal issues.  Many of his works of art around the garden reflect some of these preoccupations.

Now I am interested in taking my husband to the Gardens some evening, so that I can see the mosaics lit up by all of the little lights and candles scattered throughout.

Take a moment to look at the web site for the Magic Gardens to see some more photographs and look through some of the opportunities for events and classes.  I highly recommend adding a stop at the Gardens to your itinerary if you are anywhere near Philadelphia!