I Am No Longer Posting on This Blog

If you like what I was doing here and want to continue to read my posts, please go to http://tiffanyteske.blogspot.com, and read my blog Art Food and Motherhood. If you are a follower or a subscriber here PLEASE sign up to follow me or to receive subscription posts at that blog. I needed to streamline and consolidate my three blogs into two, and since my environmentally friendly views seem to naturally follow my philosophies on motherhood, my work practices in my art, and the way I buy and prepare my food, they will all find a home there. Thanks for reading, I hope to see you over there...

Thank You, My Friend!

Oh, Robyn! The Lovely Robyn has once again caught me completely off guard and sent me something wonderful and generous in the mail. She is so kind and I really owe her at this point. She, like me, is an inspiration junkie, which is actually the name of her blog. I didn't even have a name for what I was until I met her. We are like two peas in a pod in many ways, too bad she lives in Illinois, instead of right next door.

So, one day, I was reading Robyn's blog, or maybe I was in her Flickr, and I saw one of her works of mail art that struck a nerve right away. It is this piece you see here, "I Have Everything I Need". My daughter had this beautiful way of declaring, "We have everything we need", usually in a very practical way, as we are readying to walk out the door, but I also swear that sometimes, she is uttering it in a wise way, in the same way that Robyn's piece is meaning it. I told Robyn I loved this piece, and wanted to know how much it is. She never responded. I meant to keep checking to see if she listed it in her Etsy shop, and did once or twice, not there, but then, being a mom and all, kinda had it slip from my mind. Although, once, I did email her about it again. Anyway, last weekend, when my father was visiting, my daughter, grandpa, and I went to collect the mail. Q reached into our PO Box, and lo and behold, Robyn's card was there. Q was all excited about it, and held if for the blocks we walked to have tea and cookies at a local shop. I was sure to put it away in a safe place in my book bag as soon as I was able, since Q is about to turn three, and sometimes isn't all that gentle... but boy does she love your work, Robyn, she gets all excited when she gets to hold it. Thank you, thank you, my friend. With friends like you, we have everything we need...


PS I asked Robyn's permission to post this personal note above. I LOVE everything about snail mail, the personal thought, the handwriting, the postmark. Robyn wrote such a thoughtful note. The part about "making people" made me teary! Click on the image to make it larger...

Happy Earth Day! A Kid's Craft Project and a Couple Children's Book Recommendations....

Today, it was FREEZING here... especially since yesterday was extremely springlike. Our Earth Day saw flurries. Oh well, I keep saying it is not really spring here until June...


I taught an Earth Day craft to an enthusiastic group of kids, ages 6-12, at the Banff Public Library this afternoon. The book that originally inspired our craft today is called "Seeds, Seeds, Seeds" by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. This wonderful books tells the story of a young bear, whose grandfather sends him 5 seed projects in the mail. Each project is dedicated to several pages of the book. I would love to teach a whole afternoon that is just centered around this book. The projects include making seed identification cards, watching how a seed germinates over time using illustrations on cards, planting a seed, making a bird feeder, and making a frame covered with beans and seeds. The book is recommended for ages 4-8 but could be adapted to all ages.


Our project involved decorating mat board with seeds. I photographed each child at the beginning of the hour, and Tonya, one of the librarians who was also my lovely assistant (thanks, Tonya!) for the class, ran them to Banff Camera where they were printed while she waited.

Project Materials
- Mat board with window
- Decorative paper
- White glue
- Raffia
- Poppy Seeds, Sunflower Seeds in the shell, and Pumpkin Seeds
- Photo corners
- Photo

1) Select a piece of decorative paper and a mat. Using the mat as a template, draw around it, then cut out a piece of paper the same size as the mat board.

2) Put glue on three sides of the back of the mat board, flip over the paper so that the colored side is glued to the back of the mat (so that you could see the color through the window).

3) Take a couple of strands of raffia, twist the ends, cover them in glue, and stick them between the paper and mat board, on the side that is not glued together. Now glue the edge together.


4) Now, it is time to work on the design. Using glue in a squeeze bottle it is very easy to create your design. The large seeds can be glued right on. The poppy seeds are sprinkled onto the glue, then the excess is tapped of the back. I work over a shoe box lid when sprinkling the seeds and then tapping. I use a small dish to hold the seeds and to sprinkle from. It is easy to repeatedly pick up the box top and return the seeds to the dish during the process.



5) Put the photo corners on the edges of the photo, and lick, or if self adhesive, remove the backing.

6) Center photo and stick down. Voila!


The kids did a great job. I am always struck by the variety of designs that come from kids in the same group using the same materials. It is amazing!


The book that we read while our glue was drying is called "June 29th, 1999" by David Weisner. It is about a girl who sends her seeds up to outer space to see what will happen. She reports to her class what she is hoping and soon GIANT vegetables start landing in the area. It is only once vegetables she had not planted start to arrive that she realizes these must not be her experiments... I will leave the surprise ending for you to discover. The illustrations are lovely and the language is wonderful!

Happy Earth Day!!

Ikea Does Away With Plastic Bags in Their Canadian Stores!!

I JUST received this in my inbox. I am going to post the complete email. Good for them! I know a few small local businesses that have tried this, and you would be amazed at how consumers react. I hope that now that such a large retailer has taken this step, that others will follow, and someday everyone will just have to bring their reusable bags with them. We can do it, it is a simple but effective change.

(Click on the image to make it larger for easier viewing...)

New Shower Curtain Liner, Oh Joy!

I have been researching shower curtain liners for quite awhile now. It has been a mini obsession, one that I find has taken too much thought. PVC is the standard material for vinyl shower curtain liners, and it is one of the worst common household toxins, which becomes evident the minute that you take one out of the package. As a pregnant mom with a small child, both of whom spend a lot of time in the bathtub, I have been looking for an alternative. I would love to have a hemp shower curtain, which I am mostly finding available from sites in the states, although as usual, if I want to pay more I can get one in Canada. They seem to run about $45US. However, I like my cloth shower curtain. So, I need a liner. Nylon, polyester, EVA... Found a nylon one at the local Bay, but it is still $30. With many guests visiting our home this month, and the smell of the old liner starting to get to me, I finally read somewhere that Ikea has not used PVC in their liners for over 10 years. We happened to be in Calgary the other day to take my in laws to the airport. We swung into Ikea, and for $1.99 CAD I purchased a PEVA "Nackten" clear shower curtain liner. I took it out of the package today, in the garage so it could do some off-gassing outside of my home, and I must say it doesn't smell. This is a good sign... I am still not totally keen on a plastic liner that will end up in a landfill at some point, even if I am good about cleaning it, but for the price and the time being, this is a solution I am happy with. If I decided to go with something in the future I will post about it here. And if you have found something that works great for you, while also being good for your home, wallet, and the environment, I would love your comments...

Ahhhh, Rejection....

Go Fly Away Home, Mixed Media Piece, by Tiffany Teske

Never a fun thing, but it is better to have tried and to be rejected than to never have lifted a finger to try. I take rejection in stride. You never know what other things may come from it. I have a friend who even made an art exhibit based on rejection. I am a bit funny when I am contacted via email by a place I have submitted to. It takes me awhile to even open the email, not sure whether I have been accepted or rejected. Once the initial realization of the reality is processed, it is pretty easy to move on...


Tremendous Journey, Mixed Media Piece, by Tiffany Teske

Anyway, I have submitted my recycled mixed media series, Wanderlust, to Cloth, Paper, Scissors. The reason I am writing about it here is that each of the pieces, which are made on record album jackets, has some form of one of my Polaroid transfers or Polaroids on it. Either as an original transfer or as a copy in a bamboo tile. The Artist Statement for the Series is below...


Road Trip, Mixed Media Piece, by Tiffany Teske

Artist's Statement for Wanderlust:

Long before talk of fossil fuels and the environmental footprint of travel dominated the news, people have had the need to explore their surroundings and beyond. This wanderlust is practical for some, while for others it is about adventure, curiosity, and a need to have new experiences. The reason that people travel, both now and in the past, are many. I seek to explore these reasons in my newest body of mixed media work. Using recycled materials, including Polaroid transfers made for past exhibitions, I have created a series of collages on 12 1/4" by 12 1/4" thrifted record album jackets. As someone who suffers from a serious need to roam and to learn new things, the concept of wanderlust appeals to me. As someone who is currently grappling with the present state of our world and how best to explore it while keeping my enviromental impact to a minimum, I am presenting an alternative to actual travel for the viewer. My hope is that these works will provide you with a green way to wander, by using your imagination in collaboration with my visuals.

REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE UPCYCLE REPURPOSE THRIFT CREATE

Happy Dance

This week, I seem to be catching up on all the things I have been meaning to post about on this blog, and this one, and this one. It is good to have a week like that. Especially, since I have been creating a lot of new work this week, as well as putting together several submissions. I am not ready to show most of these on my blog yet, but keep coming back, as they will be starting to appear. After I get done catching up on all these languishing post ideas from the past month or so.


One day, several weeks ago, I opened and Etsy convo and did a happy dance. A previous customer, whom I have had great communications with, was hoping I could fill some image needs for her business. She has already bought my Polaroid transfer, Bloom, seen above. And I had given her permission to use it on her business card. She is a doula, which is something I am familiar with since my very best friend was my doula during my daughter's natural birth. The DONA (Doulas of North America) website defines doula as, "a woman experienced in childbirth who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to the mother before, during and just after childbirth." (Klaus, Kennell and Klaus, Mothering the Mother). She has named her business Bloom, so she loved the image. You can read more about this initial meeting in my blog post here.

As I was saying, this woman (whose business I am happy to link here once her website is up and running and I get her permission), and I have had pleasant conversations via Etsy. I am currently pregnant, and she was was truly interested in hearing about when my babe is born. She had mentioned that she might be back to my shop for more images. Well, she was not kidding...

She ordered this:

Tickle Fern by Tiffany Teske

And this:

Iris by Tiffany Teske

And this:


Fragile by Tiffany Teske

AND this:

Bouquet 2 by Tiffany Teske

AND THIS:

Bound by Tiffany Teske

AND THIS!:


Amazing Grace by Tiffany Teske

AND FINALLY this:

Bouquet by Tiffany Teske

Happy Dance?! Yes!! These are those moments that independent artists love. When someone who loves what you create finds you and wants to support your art making by owning your art. And the best part? She is thrilled with her purchase. Thank you so much for supporting individuals by buying original art :)