Take a line for a Walk
I live in the beautiful town of Mill Valley, a short drive across the Golden Gate Bridge, north of San Francisco. I’m very fortunate that just a few blocks from my house is a gorgeous co-working space called The Hivery. I taught my first live creative workshop there last week and it was a BLAST! I’m still so excited by how it went that I have to share it with you this week.
All of the photos in this blog were taken by my friend and spectacularly talented photographer: Kim Thompson Steel.
I discovered The Hivery several years ago and it’s one of the most spectacular environments to work in. Even more importantly, it’s a community of vibrant, kind, encouraging women who are all working towards or on their “What’s Next” to create meaningful, happy careers and families. Incredible partnerships and collaborations happen there all the time and I'll tell you about several of mine in future blogs!
The founder and CEO, Grace Kraaijvanger, and her team recently decided to launch a new series of creative workshops called Creativity Circles. These take place on the first Thursday of every month from 12:30 to 1:45pm in the beautiful Creative Studio. I was honored to be asked to kick off the very first one this past week!
As I wrote in my blog a few weeks ago, I’m a huge fan of Paul Klee. One of his basic art lessons, that he taught at Bauhaus in the 1920s, was called: Take a Line for a Walk. You can learn more about his teaching style and approach in his book: Pedagogical Sketchbook, which became his semi-official textbook.
Creating a workshop around this idea seemed like a great place to start!
I was also inspired by one of my favorite online teachers: Diane Culhane. She is a wonderful ceramic artist, painter and art educator living in West Seattle. Her latest book is called: If You Can Doodle, You Can Paint. Taking a line for a walk is a technique she uses in her doodles.
My goals for the workshop were for students to:
· Have fun
· Enjoy time and space to create
· Meet other creatives in a safe and encouraging environment
We kicked off the workshop at 12:30 and I was delighted that several people I actually knew showed up! That put me at ease right away.
After a quick introduction to Paul Klee’s work and his use of line, form and color, we dove right in.
Participants began by making marks with black ink on kraft paper, moving from straight lines to curved lines to representational shapes.
One of the most rewarding parts of teaching is learning from students and seeing how they interpret each exercise in their own unique way. One student in particular, my friend Tracey Pettis, who has a beautiful business called Fresh Portraits brought a photo of Jimmy Hendrick with her and did these exercises based on his portrait.
After the class wrapped up, I had the opportunity to showcase my “pop up” shop with my most current designs on wrapping paper, notebooks, mugs, tote bags and greeting cards. It was perfect timing because most schools are finally out and parents need teacher’s gifts! Click HERE for my most current designs or email me directly at anne@annelafollette.com to order.
Most importantly, we all had a great time, enjoyed each other's company, explored our creativity for an hour and had fun. I’ll close with this delightful picture of the whole group.
Remember, It’s Never Too Late To Create!
Xo,
Anne
P.S. I just hit "publish" on my newest Skillshare class: Watercolor Flowers. Check out the intro video and get 2 months FREE!
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