Wednesday, September 26, 2007

The Adventure Continues

Susan Volluci introduced a new group of artists to her second class today. We now have about 40 students in the project. We began by showing them the test boots painted by the mentoring artist. Then gave them the templates to begin work on their designs.


Again, we were startled by the enthusiasm of the students. There is a different dynamic to painting an object that they will keep (and likely wear) rather than a traditional surface such as paper or canvas. The beginning of the process, however, is to test ideas on a more disposable surface with guidlines to simulate the pattern of the cut leather formed into a boot.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Felicia S. Touhey


Felicia S. Touhey of Portsmouth, R.I. is both a painter and printmaker who applies both disciplines in her encaustic work. Using encaustic paints allows her to combine prints, textures, and color while experimenting with the unique qualities of this wax based paint. Her images are often of landscape, that reflect her impressions of light, colors and textures at an observed moment in time. A long time instructor at the Newport Art Museum School, Felicia teaches drawing and printmaking to adults. As a member of the Art League of Rhode Island Felicia became involved with the ALRI – Timberland 02863 Boot Project and now devotes some of her time to educating and inspiring Central Falls High School art students on how to make the most out of their boot design. Each artist helping with this project was given a test boot to play around with and show students all the different ways they could design this boot. Felicia who is into printmaking focused her attention on colors, abstract designs and patterns; covering the boot with a beautiful mural of swirls and dots. Some of Felicia’s recent exhibits have been at the Newport Art Museum, Imagine Fine Art Gallery, and the Attleboro Museum – Center for the Arts. To see a sample of Felicia’s work visit the DeBlois Gallery website at http://www.debloisgallery.com/Touhey.htm.

RWU Student - Impressions


Hi my name is Nicole Lombardi and I am a senior at Roger Williams University. I am working with Johanna McKenzie on the ALRI – Timberland 02863 Boot Project. Over the course of the semester I will be working as the Public Relations Intern on the project. I will be keeping an on going journal of the semester's events which will help others understand how the project is coming along. Here is my first journal entry about the first day I met the students who will be participating in the project.

9/25/07
My first day meeting the Central Falls High School students
It was 8AM and Johanna, Felicia, Priscilla and I piled into the car to begin our journey to Central Falls High School. Once we arrived we signed in and met up with Pam, another artist who is helping with the project. We waited outside the Art Room for class to end and as I walked around the empty hallway my eyes were surprised to see all the walls had been painted in beautiful murals of their school mascot and intricate mosaics of different shapes. As the bell rang and students flooded the hallways the five of us entered the Art Class Room to meet Susan Vollucci, the teacher whose student will work on this project. The class room was filled with all different types of art from paintings and stained glass to pottery and drawings.
Once the students were all seated Susan introduced Johanna to the class to explain that their class had the great opportunity to be a part of 02863 Project. As Johanna explained how each student would be given a pair of Timberland Boots to paint, the eyes of every student lit up. She brought out samples of the boots that the ALRI artists had worked on. Each one was unique to the artist -- one had a tiger hiding in the brush, another had a spider web with flames, while others took a more abstract approach using more designs and shapes. The students quickly started picking out which boots they liked and which ones they would wear themselves. The room became full of ideas and paper templates of the boots were handed out for students to start sketching.
As I walked around the room and talked to each student it was amazing to see all the different perspectives and ways this one boot could be interpreted through the eyes of the students. Some focused on things they were interested in such as soccer, dragons, butterflies, while others looked through art books getting inspiration from famous artists’ paintings.
One student really stuck out, when I asked him what he was thinking about drawing he said, “I want to draw something I think Timberland would want, something that they would sell.” He is hoping if Timberland ever sees his boot they may want to mass produce it some day. Some knew exactly what they wanted to put on their template while others sketched things on white paper to take home and practice until their favorite piece came out. The ALRI artists walked around the room giving suggestions and providing insight into what they were thinking when painting their boot. Some students liked Pam’s “tattoo” design so much they are trying to incorporate that into their own. Before we knew it, it was 11AM and class was over. Everyone left the classroom excited for the semester ahead filled with hopes and expectations for what the boots would look like come December.

Monday, September 24, 2007

William Heydt


William (Bill) Heydt from Newport, RI has a Bachelors and Masters degree in Fine Arts from Rhode Island School of Design. In the past, he has specialized in water color painting and has completed a series of giclee of Newport and Paris. Bill is currently one of the eight artists working on the ALRI – Timberland 02863 Boot Project. He created the paper template that the students will be first working on before they paint on the actual boots. This will give the students a better idea of how their designs will look once on the three dimensional objects. Bill’s permanent collections can be seen in The Brooklyn Museum and Rhode Island School of Design. He has been a part of many group exhibitions since 1975 including Cite des Arts in Paris, Island Arts, DeBlois Gallery, Newport Art Museum, Art League of Rhode Island. Last year he had a solo exhibit at Spring Bull Gallery in Newport and a group show at Arnold Art Gallery in Newport. To learn more about Bill and see his work, go to http://www.williamheydt.com/.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

The Adventure Begins..


Four mentoring artist and one photographer from ALRI made the first visit to meet the students at Central Falls High School and introduce them to the project. Tomorrow, four more artists and our public relations intern from Roger Williams University will meet the rest of the students in the project.


Bill Heydt designed a template for the students design ideas. We thought it would take awhile for the students to get involved. We were startled and delighted that they have plunged right in using graphite and colored pencils. Some students even traced the outline from the template on smaller sheets of paper to work on at home.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Dan Butterworth


Dan Butterworth is a puppeteer that has performed with his hand-carved marionettes for the last 20 years. He is known for his unique style of dance and expressive movement which has drawn in a variety of artists wishing to work with him on collaborative endeavors. His latest project is working on a special puppet show, Marionette Magique that will be performed at the ALRI – Timberland 02863 Boot Project Celebration in December. Dan is putting together a show focused around boots to highlight all the hard work the adult and student artists put into the semester long project. When given a Timberland boot to paint as an example for the students Dan expressed his own personality by creating a pair of marionette like boots with help of fellow artist Priscilla Malone. Dan has traveled near and far showing off his talents in Asia, Mexico, Canada, Alaska, and most of the lower 48 states at fairs, festivals, and theaters. Dan's crew is involved in producing the entire show from making the marionettes and their costumes, to building the intricate staging. They come up with the choreography, plan out the special effects and lighting, and often times provide the music as well. Recently, Dan’s company has performed Igor Stravinsky's L'histoire du Soldat with the St. Petersburg Chamber Ensemble and with Robert J. Lurtsema narrating. He has also worked both as a performer and advisor on video and film productions (1998 film “Anima” featured his marionettes). Dan has a multitude of talents that have entertained people for years, to learn more about his career and see his work, go to http://www.butterworthproductions.com.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Johanna McKenzie


Johanna (Joan) McKenzie, who is a native New Englander, began working as an artist in the early eighties. She started out as a clay sculptor, specializing in clay and porcelain animals which she exhibited at Nonquit Pottery, the Naval War College and the Vermont Natural Resources Council. In 1986, Joan decided to focus in on painting and worked extensively in pastels, which were then exhibited mostly in Rhode Island. Now, Joan works in oil on panel or oil on prepared copper sheets as well as in encaustics. She was a founding member of the Art League of Rhode Island and the person that created life for the ALRI – Timberland 02863 Boot Project. The project began when Joan heard about the anti-graffiti efforts in New York involving artists painting huge billboards of boot leather made by Timberland Company. The purpose behind this was to show that when art is applied to the right surface it can be very valuable. After learning about the New York project Joan presented a proposal for a similar project for the Rhode Island area. Timberland awarded her a grant of Timberland boots and art supplies. She and seven other artists would work with the students of Central Falls High School on this anti-graffiti endeavor. This project is taking place during the Fall 2007 semester and will end with a celebration on December 14th highlighting the work of the students and artists. Without Joan this inspiring project would not be possible. Thanks to her passion to inspire the youth to do something productive with art, Timberland boots will never look the same. Joan’s test boot broadcasts her fine work with animals and brings the boot alive with a colorful display of birds. To learn more about Johanna and see her work visit her website at http://www.mollynook.com