Community Mural Begun!!

The 2009 Mural project, part of the Big Draw here, has begun! Josette Urso met with over 50 (!!) people from the community on saturday to discuss her work and the project. The first workshops were today, ending with the walls of the studio filled with collages! The groups, from kids to teens to adults, seem brimming with enthusiasm! I left knowing I had seen a master teacher in action.

The groups, of diverse experience, began with simple shapes pulled from small objects, cut into cardboard and foam and whatever, and pinned up all over the room. She simply jumped them way beyond the usual struggles with drawing and insecurities, and had the group immersed in composing with shape and color. AND….hugely enthusiastic!!

Josette will be holding numerous intense workshops over the next two weeks; the whole schedule and a description of the project is at: http://www.southshoreartscouncil.org/mural2009.html Setting up the whole Big Draw is so labor intensive… easels, materials, keys, cleaning, getting the power on……borrowing tables and chairs…and then getting them moved in.

We are in the process of setting up the Big Draw Studio, at 613 N. US Highway 41 North, this week. So the mural group will be able to spread out and have lots of wall space!! It's an old Dollar General store, essentially 7,000 square feet of open and well lit space!! With AC!!

Stay tuned....