How to Make a Paper Snow Globe – Po’s Arts and Crafts Corner
At the Agnes Etherington Art Centre Creation Station we made paper plate snow globes. The following is a print out sheet that you can use at home or school. The craft is intended for JK+. Adult supervision and assistance may be required. Have fun!
It is difficult to believe, but it is true. I had lost track. How funny is that!? As they say: “It never feels like work when you love what you do.” I guess, when not sleeping, I am creating. With that said, I often wake up suddenly with an art project idea and quickly sketch it down on a pad of paper that I keep on my bedside table. So, maybe I am working, even in my dreams.
Also, since my 25th birthday in April 2022, I have had a lot of life altering things happen. My family and I moved our home from Belleville to Kingston, and I received a couple new teaching positions. As both a treat and necessity, I even bought my first vehicle. Although the move had its challenging moments, it provided me with space for a small gallery, a bright meeting space and mural painting room, plus a rough space for wood working and drum building. I like to make most of my own hardwood stretchers and like to stretch my own canvas. This winter, I will be able to use a wood steamer that I built in the summer. I can’t wait to bend my drum frames and circular painting stretchers. As you can imagine, life as an artist is never boring.
As an emerging artist it is really exciting as my art is growing in popularity. While preparing competition documents for a current mural commission, I put together a snapshot of my most recent art and art-related projects. As strange as it may sound, I surprised myself. I knew that I had been busy, but when I compiled it in a list, I was like: “Wow, I guess I have done a lot.” The following is the rough list that I compiled. You can read more about these projects in my CV.
– 7 digital web icons – Queen’s University
– 1 painted drum – Queen’s
– 2 painted drums – Private Commission
– 2 exterior murals – Base31
– 1 interior mural – Base31
– 5 Sensory Garden signs – Base31
– 2 digital border templates – Base31
– 1 interior mural – Queen’s
– 1 book cover digital to print image – Broadview Press
– 5 title page digital to print images – Broadview Press
– 1 logo digital to web and print – Kingston School of Art
– 1 logo digital to web and print – WEYTK Communities Inc. (B.C.)
– 1 painting – QAC/Parrott Art Gallery
– 1 art print stone lithograph – PEC South Shore Joint Initiative (created 2018)
– 1 painting – PEC SSJI
– “Must We Wear Heals” sculpture / cast (created 2017) – Parrott Art Gallery
– “Emergence: Future Unknown” painting – QAC / Parrott Art Gallery
– “Drumming Sounds of Colour” 15 piece solo painted drum exhibit – Parrott Art Gallery
– 5 Sensory Garden signs – Base31
– 3 large painted drums – WEYTK
– Mural reveal presentation – Base31
– Drum exhibit art talk – Parrott Art Gallery
– Concurrent Education seminar leader – Queen’s
– Artist in Community presentation and workshop leader – Queen’s
– Nursing medical textbook cover
– Drum creation for spring show & sale
– Ongoing paintings
– Elementary online Itinerant Art Teacher – ALCDSB
– Grades 9 & 10 Visual Art PECI
– Grades 9 – 12 Visual Art – Regi & HC, ALCDSB
– 5 monthly Creation Stations – Agnes Etherington Art Centre
– 1 March Break Art & Sports Camp – Agnes
– 1 Summer Art & Sports Camp – Agnes
– 1 digital online video children’s story book – Youtube
– Teaching Gr 12 Media Art – University of Windsor
– Teaching International Baccalaureate Visual Art – University of Windsor
– Kingston in Focus
– QAC Umbrella (this winter 2024)
– QAC Member Spotlight
– County Arts Member Spotlight
Tett Centre for Creativity and Learning, Kingston – Training November 2023
My new studio is a place for me to create, have zoom meetings with clients and present my artworks. I do not have a walk-in store location at this time. Thank you for you understanding.
It dawned on me that I have not posted any photos of my new Kingston Art Studio. Although I do miss being down on Bagot Street (I adore downtown Kingston), the suburbs in the north end provide me with more creation space, easy access to building supply stores, Michaels, and the my much needed inspiration trips into the countryside north of HWY 401. The following photos are of my space where I create:
“Drumming Sounds of Colour” exhibition is being displayed by the Parrott Art Gallery in Belleville Ontario. The collection features 15 hand drums that Po made and hand painted. It is the first drum exhibit of its kind.
In a recent press release ( Intelligencer local paper ) it is written: “…an exhibition by local artist and drum maker Portia “Po” Chapman, called “Drumming Sounds of Colour” located in our corridor cabinets. This painted hand drum exhibit and sale, displays fifteen drums. Most of the drums feature elk raw hide stretched over white cedar forms and are painted in colourful acrylics with designs inspired by nature…”
Although it is true that the imagery is “inspired by nature,” it is truly inspired by Po’s experiences growing up with Nature. The 15 piece collection is inspired by Po’s personal relationship with Creation as she grew up in the woods west of Tweed, Ontario. Accompanying the drums are 6 poetic verses that Po and her family wrote together. They tell Po’s story – the story depicted in both the painted images and the size progression of the drums. As such, the exhibit delves into the life and mind of a girl, reclaiming her Indigenous heritage, growing into womanhood as she is guided by Creation. It is a story of the preservation of innocence as revealed in Nature.
The simplistic images, in Po’s characteristic style, are of creatures in relationship with each other and the human experience of that relationship. In this case, creatures seen and unseen. The exhibition also includes 3 drums focusing on virtues: “Love” features a mother and child beneath the watchful , loving protection of a Bald Eagle; “Knowledge” features two people sharing stories around a sacred fire beneath the wing of a Ravine knowledge keeper; “Truth” features two people standing on Turtle Island as Creator lifts the turtle above the turbulent sea.
The poetry features a telling of the drumming pulse of Creation and how it awakens us when we notice it throbbing through our individual and collective pulse. Here is an example:
The drum exhibit is an amazing feat, as it is the first of its kind, at least locally. As a mixed media visual story teller, Po created the exhibit with two things in mind, to share the beauty of her Creation experience and to inspire viewers to tell their stories and share what they see. The exhibit is an amazing experience to take time and to take in.
The exhibition runs until December 1, 2023. If you would like one of the drums for your personal collection, some of them are available for purchase. You can contact gallery staff and they will assist you.
Portia “Po” Chapman Becomes Agnes Etherington Art Centre Art Educator
In September 2022, I was thrilled to receive an email from the Program Coordinator, Charlotte Gagnier, at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre (commonly called Agnes), inquiring if I would be interested in leading a couple of the gallery’s Creation Stations. Creation Stations at Agnes, are free family (with children ages 2+) arts days that occur once a month. Being a very family oriented artist, who views parents/guardians fostering and encouraging arts experimentation among their children from a young age, this was an opportunity that I was excited to be a part of. At first I was signed on for 3 Creation Station sessions in October, November, and December of 2022, and have now been signed on as Art Educator for more at Agnes. I just completed leading the art segment of Agnes’ Art and Sports March Break camp (in partnership with Queen’s ARC) and the March 2023 Creation Station, and I am signed on to lead the April 2023 Creation Station as well. I could not be more thrilled about working with Agnes!
Funny thing is, a full circle scenario has taken place to get to this point! In my final year of the Concurrent Bachelor of Education program at Queen’s University, I was scheduled to complete a 3-week long practicum placement in the programming department at Agnes during March 2020. I was super excited for this opportunity and was in the placement for 1 day, until… just think about the timing for a second… the next day the Covid-19 pandemic was officially declared, and I was not able to return to the placement.
During this placement, I was going to help run the March Break camp, but of course this did not happen. I thought for about 3 years that I lost this opportunity and my time at Agnes was not going to come. Fast forward to March 2023, and I have now lead the 2023 March Break Camp! It was always meant to be, but just not at that time. I live my life putting full trust into the Creator, never looking back, and THIS is what happens.
Keep reading below to learn more about my Art Educator experience at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, in Kingston, Ontario.
For Each Creation Station I have lead thus far, I have designed activities that use various art making skills that are attainable by 2 year olds up to adults, depending on how far the participant is able to or willing to take the possibilities. For each session, I prepare 3 different activities often involving making objects out of recycled cardboard, decoupage/collage, painting, printing, paper folding/quilling and other hands on crafty projects. Some activities have included using recycled cardboard to make small treasure boxes and decorative homes, collage scenery pictures, block printing using foam, and paper folded snowflakes to name a few of the activities and are often based on a theme such as the season during which the Creation Station takes place.
The March 2023 Creation Station took place on March 19, and was inspired by Springtime. Participants enjoyed making flower wreaths by cutting out and folding paper to make leaves and flowers, paper quilled trees, and spring themed still life paintings (based on a still life scene I set up).
For the 2023 Art segment of the Agnes March Break camp, I designed a week long project; Mixed Media Diorama making. The goal for this project, was that each camper would explore a wide variety of mediums and techniques throughout the piece by making small elements each day using a different medium or technique that come together at the end of the week to make a completed and cohesive diorama.
Throughout the week, campers learned new art terminology, used the creative process by creating a detailed plan with theme before beginning “the making” of their artwork, and explored diorama construction, watercolour techniques, paper mâché, paper quilling, clay sculpting, block printing, acrylic painting, scratchboard creation, and a 3D tissue paper craft. Campers enjoyed using a variety of mediums and techniques and leaving at the end of the week with completed dioramas.
On the last day of camp, most campers proudly stood in front of the group to present their completed dioramas, each with their own storyline and theme.
This was such a fun, memorable, and enjoyable program to lead!
The above images compiled some of my research prior to designing the mural. I like to immerse myself in the space, story or activity that I am painting. These photographs were take in early May 2022 during the Prince Edward County Birding Festival along Long Point Rd. You can see how my visit influenced the subject matter that I chose to include. The photograph immediately below was taken at the Lookout. As soon as I stepped out of the car, the green in the lake was awe inspiring. I knew at that time, I would paint the lake and sky in the background. Prince Edward Point is so beautiful, one cannot help but paint and/or photograph the landscape and waterscape.
As you can see, the above photograph inspired the composition of the mural. The image below is my initial pen and ink drawing on paper. There were many lilac bushes along Traverse Ln too. However, they had not yet bloomed as depicted in the drawing below.
The image, immediately below, is the digitally coloured rendering of the above pen and ink drawing. Since the mural proposals were rigorously assessed by a jury of artists, the proposal image was to depict the final mural as closely as possible. You can see that the actual mural mounted at Base 31 in the Aviators Garden is very similar to the proposed image. When commissioned to create a piece of art, I try to produce what the client had first desired to have in the beginning. In this case, supply chain issues made paint colour duplication a very challenging hurdle over which to leap, but I came close.
The series of images below were taken in my Bay of Quinte studio.
Before drawing the image onto the MDO plywood, I primed the board 2 times – front, back and sides – sanding between coats on the front and edges. Then I caulked the edges and levelled them off smooth with a trowel. Again, once dry, I sanded and then sealed. The face of the board, in the first image, is slightly green because I had the bright white primer tinted. This made the process of drawing and painting a much more peaceful and enjoyable experience. Because my style features smooth, flat colour blocking and draping deep lines elegantly pulled by a variety of brushes, the mural ended up having about 5 coats (7 including the primer coats) of exterior translucent paint using a clear base. You can notice how the first coat appears to be streaky but the objective for the first coat is to capture the flow of the desired image while assuring minimal brush stroke ripples. The thinner the first coat, the better. For exterior murals such as this one, I prefer painting multiple thin coats to assure durability.
I find such joy standing beside my artwork after it has been installed on the desired site. This photo was taken at Base 31 in Picton, Ontario, during the Aviator Garden murals’ unveiling event.
For art commission inquiries, please visit my About/Contact page. I would be thrilled to create a piece for you.
To read about my experience at the mural’s unveiling ceremony at Base 31 click on this link: Portia Po Chapman Mural “Warbler Watching” – Photos of Unveiling Ceremony in Aviator’s Garden at Base 31 PEC, Picton, Ontario, July 9, 2022
A: A cute story, on the first day of my BFA we were asked to introduce ourselves. Pretty much everybody came from an urban or suburban background, me, I walked straight out of the woods. I told my story and from that day on, my BFA colleagues referred to me as Snow White. I will explain, very much like a Disney character, I really lived without many friends, playing in the woods, talking to little people, and animals and plants. My artistic development began playing in a creek. Other than crayons, my early art pieces were from rocks, and bark, and feathers. I never thought I needed many friends because whether I was in the lake, the creek, or gathering water from the spring, nature provided me with all the friends I ever needed. You can see from “My Creation” and most of my other artworks, that I have included friends of mine in the imagery. I didn’t have salmon as friends, but I had a lot of other fish. Like sunfish who would nibble on my toes as I swam through the lake. I remember at about 5 years old just sitting in the shallow water and the little fish coming up to say “hi.”
I come from a very artistic family. I was raised in a house that had plywood interior walls built for artworks to be nailed on their surfaces or repainted. You see, my parents allowed my sister and I to draw and paint on our walls whenever we felt like it. And whether it was a scribble or figurative drawing, it was cherished in the house just as if the Mona Lisa was just hung upon the wall. My dad’s a line artist and choral vocalist, my mom’s a seamstress and pianist. They are both graduates of Queen’s University. I started taking art class in Grade 11. There was a prerequisite to take Grade 9 or 10 art before taking Grade 11, but the Art teacher thought I was so talented (as I had won the ALCDSB’s Faith in Action logo contest the year before), so he let me skip ahead. As an artist, I never had restrictions. I was able to create with pretty much anything I put my hands on. I mean, I swear I grew up in a yarn box crocheting in my parent’s yarn shop. When I was about 7, my dad had a sudden urge to paint, but we couldn’t afford a canvas, so I remember fetching a screwdriver and him deciding to remove the kitchen cupboard doors to paint on. He has received the highest offers from art collectors for those paintings, and he will not sell them because they represent a time when money was not going to stop our family from creating beautiful works. As being an indigenous artist, I come from a family who were subject to colonial displacement. My dad’s family celebrated our Indigeneity, but tried to keep it quiet in the public. For generations they chose not to reveal their Indigeneity because of colonial persecution. Just before my grandfather died, he gave permission for us to publicly celebrate our Indigeneity. When I came to Queen’s, it was soon after he gave our family this permission. My mother’s family, they only recently started talking about their Indigeneity openly. So it was at Queen’s, during my BFAH, that I began to share who I was through my artworks. And it is because of that celebration, and Queen’s University’s welcome to self-identify that I began to flourish as an artist.
A: Having never lived on a reserve or with an Indigenous community, my experience has been different than people who have. I continue to state that I express my Indigeneity through my connection with Creation. My life has been lived in communion with the life of Creation. Sadly, for many years of my life it felt like I was the only one with that lived experience. You can see this expression of my Indigeneity in my many artworks. So where did my art take an Indigenous direction? I think it was in the early 2000s when on a walk with my parents I went on a scavenger hunt gathering various things from nature, like feathers, bark, acorns, stones, thinks like that. When I got home, I arranged them on a piece of birch bark and hung it on our living room wall. Then, I travelled with my parents to various art shows whereby my dad was a guest to draw. At that time, he was not telling people about his Indigeneity, but his artwork seemed to tell people anyway. There was never a time that we were at a show and someone didn’t ask, if he was Indigenous. Of course he would proudly tell a story, because his Indigenous ancestry is very precious to him. Because of these art shows, our family became close friends with many Indigenous people from and near various reserves. Although we did not hold any band cards, we were welcome into Indigenous families and never made to feel as though we were outsiders. So as a little girl, I experienced first-hand how art could tell our story and how it encouraged us to share with others. When I began preparing for my Queen’s BFA application portfolio, viewers of my artwork began questioning me about my Indigeneity. As you can see from my artwork, I am not a propagandist, I am simply an Indigenous woman happy to share my view and relationship with Creation. Because of my artwork, I am meeting and sharing with other Indigenous people and developing wonderful relationships with families, friends and organizations. In so doing I am reclaiming my Indigeneity.
A: When the spread of Covid began, in the winter of 2020, I was at my teaching practicum at a local school in the Indigenous Art class. I remember taking the bus from my downtown residence in Kingston to the school and many people on the bus were coughing. As a germaphobe, it was my total nightmare. Just before the lockdown, I had taken a placement at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre. My placement lasted 1 day. The next day the World Health Organization declared a pandemic and the whole province was locked down. So here I was, an artist not able to work in an art gallery and an art teacher not able to teach art! My art equipment was in multiple storage units in and out of Kingston and they had rules about retrieving your things. I’d swear the only thing that kept me going as an artist at that moment was that my apartment was filled with my paintings, sculptures, tool boxes, and most of all my cats. In the summer, I graduated from Con. Ed as a high school art teacher and within 3 weeks, I was teaching Junior Kindergarten online for the ALCDSB remote school. I taught full time for 10 straight months followed by another month of summer literacy school. I must profess, that Junior Kindergarten was the single most beneficial event that kept me going as a visual artist. There’s just something about teaching 3 and 4 year olds that brought me back to teaching arts and crafts every single day. My students became the most advanced students at working a pair of scissors. I had them cutting out snowflakes in no time. We used art to teach every single subject. We mixed up acting, dancing, singing and art. In fact, I think we all had the times of our lives. There was no way that I was going to let this seeming diversion from my art career hold me back as an artist. So I created arts and crafts out of egg shells, recycled materials, extra cereal boxes, and other things that were piling up around the house because we couldn’t get out.
It is said that a person knows of their calling when 3 unrelated people or events happen that confirm that calling. As amazing as this sounds, this actually happened. My emails started exploding with people seemingly out of the blue asking about art commissions. And then the “Truth” image was featured on the Queen’s Landing page during the week of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Now this is how the Great Spirit works, being a self-proclaimed germaphobe, I was terrified to teach this fall, so unlike the previous year, I was unemployed. I literally had nothing to do but stare at myself in the mirror. Then, the “Truth” image went public big time. I was able to entertain commission requests and the requests came to me. And what’s even more amazing about this, I had already created two studio spaces in my family home overlooking the beautiful Bay of Quinte. So other than August and part of September 2021, I have been working on my art almost solidly during the Pandemic. And that is how I got here today.
A: It was a difficult decision choosing Queen’s University to pursue my art career. I was accepted on scholarships everywhere I applied. My decision at first was based upon my ability to pursue the Bachelors of Fine Art degree while simultaneously doing Concurrent Education (Con. Ed.). It was the first year the BFA students could be Con. Ed students as well. I think we were kind of an experiment, but it worked out. I couldn’t really grasp why the Queen’s BFA program taught so many skills rather than freedom of creation that some other well known art schools take as their direction. So I found it really frustrating, but then, in the 3rd year, the program takes a drastic turn and we begin to specialize. By the 4th year, we were working on our thesis projects with our own mentors, and creating what we chose to create. Now the amazing thing about this program direction is that it does come with great gain. In other words, by our 4th years, I found that we were very well prepared to create amazing artworks. In my 4th year, I had several interviews with gallery representatives and well-known professional artists. They truly helped me as a young artist appreciate my direction and the struggle that it would take to compete in an art world that can at times seem like there is no possible way to succeed as an emerging artist.
One of the things about being in the art program was that we were able to show our work in galleries even in 1st year. The Union Gallery really provided a boost in confidence and enthusiasm to continue toward a career as a professional artist. I found that Cezanne’s Closet was one of my best experiences. It was really thrilling to see my “Our Worlds” stone lithography triptych hanging on the walls of a well known professor’s studio apartment. I had won a few art awards before this happened, but seeing these prints on this professor’s wall was really a thrilling moment that recognized my success as an emerging artist. Because of the Medal in Visual Art that I received at my 2019 BFAH Graduation, I have gained respect from clients seeking commissioned works.
It was really amazing that I was able to work on the images for the Office of Indigenous Initiatives while I was finishing my Con. Ed. Degree. Had Queen’s not offered me to be part of this experiment (completing BFAH concurrently with BEd), I may have had to leave Queen’s to do my BEd. And if that were the case, a series of art opportunities would have never come my way. As an Indigenous artist, the 4 Directions along with a few other Indigenous professors were very supportive. When I first began mentioning my Indigenous background, or creating artworks that were viewed as being in the style of popular Indigenous artists, I was frequently told by others that I was not in any way Indigenous because I looked too white. These ladies helped me weather the storm that I faced during my early years of self-identification. I have found that my artwork has become more beautiful, expressive, and vibrant because I celebrate who I am and my Indigeneity. It was because of Queen’s that you see this very colourful mural before you today.
A: My advice is, get yourself a BFA in studio art and possibly follow it up with an MFA. The reason I think this is very important is that when galleries, competitions, and granting organizations ask for proof of being a professional artist, one of the pieces of evidence they may request is a BFA. As a new emerging artist, without much gallery experience on one’s CV, the BFA makes a world of difference. It seems that with a BFA, people seem to take you more seriously as a visual artist. My second piece of advice, is to create artworks that you like creating. And my 3rd piece of advice is to know who you are and without apology celebrate your identity as an expression echoed in your artwork. Even without the BFA, these 2 things go a long way in the art world because collectors, galleries, and commissioning patrons are interested in you as a person and as an artist. I believe that your voice as an artist needs to leap off the canvas no matter what your voice is saying. There will always be an audience.
This is an archived article. I received permission from the QAC to share this article in this fashion, so that it will have a web link to it.
In 2015, I received the Quinte Arts Council Student Bursary. It was a boost in my confidence going into my BFAH program at Queen’s University.
The following year after I completed my first year of the BFAH program at Queen’s University, I sent the following reflection and note of thanks to the QAC. It was then published in the Umbrella.
On page 26 “A message from Portia Chapman, 2015 QAC Student Bursary Winner“
It was from here that my CV began to develop.
View my profile on the Quinte Arts Council Page
Beneath the Paint: A Stretcher Like No Other
Exciting things are happening with my commissioned 48″ X 48″ muralesque painting of “My Creation.”
Today, the final steps of the the stretcher creation journey before stretching the canvas were completed, and the canvas will hopefully be stretched with 12oz. cotton canvas by the end of tomorrow. The stretcher is different from most other canvas stretchers as I am using a solid face sign board with a stretcher frame attached made of red oak to create a stretcher with a statement-making depth of 2 1/4″.
I decided to make a stretcher with a solid surface on which to stretch the canvas to provide the following two things:
Not many know or even think about the process that goes on with a stretched painting before the paint even hits the canvas. However, as a sculptress, I find what you don’t see behind the painting just as amazing as the completed painting seen on the surface.
Here are some photos to document the stretcher making process:
Keep coming back to my blog to see more updates ahead.
Belleville, Ontario, Canada
portia@loveartbypo.ca
613-779-7975
Behind our favourite paintings exist an unseen construction that without, much of the art world would remain rolled up and stuffed under artists’ beds.
Transportable paintings need mounting materials.
How tight to stretch a canvas varries in options almost as the number of artists who use them. I still like to use a dollar store stretched canvas and water stained, a warted canvas board in a pinch. Us artists just have to create. Even an old bed sheet held down on the grass with rocks will satisfy our needs at times.
I grew up in a home adorned by ongoing art projects. As children, our drawings on the walls were never punished. My parents didn’t even pick up a bottle of cleaning spray. My parents would be so proud. You’d think a scribble I did on the foyer wall was their new Mona Lisa.
I was always welcome, no matter how young, to sit in on adult oriented art events and courses. One time, my dad gave the participants each a cup of black paint, a brush and led them to an inner foyer of our home. I walked proudly with my cup and brush. When we all entered the room, he instructed about 8 of us, “Paint.” The class was aghast at the instruction. Confusion as to what and where was accompanied by a laughter and a dash of delirium. What surface should we paint? When everyone just stood there shoulder to shoulder in an oblong egg shaped formation, he took my cup and brush and painting a long swath across the wall. “Here, now paint! Let the spirit of creativity move you.” You see, he had been planning this exercise for months without telling anyone. The walls were stuccoed and sealed with an opaque, non-script grey. I hated those grey walls. After that night of painting, a really special energy adorned that space. It was impossible to enter his studio without walking through it. That night, as a community of creators, we created a creation that greeted hundreds of people. Behind that collective art piece was a prepared framing of what would be a very special welcoming space. After a few years, it hit me, “ahh, now I know why he built that space in the shape it was – smacked in the centre of our artsy home. He wanted everyone to see our art.
I remember when I was about 7 years old when we took off the kitchen cupboard doors. We had very little, if any, money. The cupboards remained without doors for years. Our family has been unwilling to sell them, even though the offers for these impromptu paintings on cupboard doors still have the hinges mounted or hanging off them. One time, we didn’t even have paint. So we rigged up a medium and surface to hold that medium. The painting is a bit of plaster, a dash of purple house paint and all kinds of different spices and sugars for colour and texture. As a family, we did what we had to do. Even when it felt like the world was closing in on us, we found some way to keep creating. I spent hours upon hours searching for the right rock or tree bark to paint or use in a construction. From a young age, I learned that the proper frame, stretcher, surface, or background could be found for any art creation.
After about 2 years off of creating full-time due to education and teaching pursuits, I had to get back at it. I just had to. I considered a few options but I needed to build. I needed to get my hands dusty and covered with filler and paint. As I was going through my artistic idea journal, I was drawn back to drums and exterior wood and paper sign board. As amazing as it sounds, as soon as I found my place in my art-space of mind, commission requests came to greet me and my new drum collection found its voice.
In the following pictures, I have included some snapshots of my frame and stretcher work for these new art pieces. I am having the time my life. So much fun and so fulfilling to prepare the pieces to be painted.
Belleville, Ontario, Canada
portia@loveartbypo.ca
613-779-7975
Love Art by Po 