In Teens

We have amazing local artists in Charlotte, like abstract artist, Amanda Moody, to name just one.  Take a moment to get lost in her amazing creations on www.bombshelves.com.  

We have oohed and aaahed over Amanda Moody’s Instagram feed for a while. Recently we had the pleasure of meeting her in person at Acquisitions Interiors, that was hosting an art exhibition of her work. 

Amanda’s artwork is stunning and truly inspiring.  It’s hypnotic and mesmerizing and casts a spell on you!  And Amanda kind of had that same effect on us!  That’s the only explanation for why a few days later I came into the studio to discover Katie had snuck in early, consumed at least three espressos, made a huge mess, and this!

Alchohol Ink / www.smallhandsbigart.com

Alocohol ink mug / www.smallhandsbigart.com

We have this epic crew of 12 -15 year olds with us in the studio for an hour and a half on Thursday evenings.

They are brimming with creativity, excited to learn, and genuinely the sweetest tweens and teens you ever spent an afternoon with.

We began playing with alcohol inks earlier this fall at the Isabella Santos 5K. We’ve been looking for exciting and safe opportunities to weave this unique material into our curriculum at the studio.  The perfect fall day rolled along, which conveniently coincided with the super moon and a huge stack of 7″ metallic coated “to go” container lids. With the doors flung open wide, these teens suited up with gloves and got excited to play with some pigment.

Alchohol Ink / www.smallhandsbigart.com

Katie showed images of Amanda Moody’s artwork to our class, and we observed her use of layers and strategic color choices. She discussed how part of what makes her work so intriguing and ethereal is that it looks completely natural. Like when you stumbled upon an explosion of natural pigment swirled with agate and ash, and submerged under water.  The class explored the concept of creating a visual language within our work that was similar.

How do we create an art piece that is manipulated and “controlled” but that also appears uncontrollable? 

Amanda Moody / www.smallhandsbigart.com

After demonstrating multiple techniques of applying these inks – dropping directly onto their metallic foil surfaces, applying a layer of blending solution first then a few drops of ink, applying ink with a brush, letting gravity strut it’s stuff – we let these artists loose with the materials. Part of the process that was so beautiful was seeing a 13 year old lose themselves in their own creativity.

Feast your eyes on these beauties.  

Alchohol Ink / www.smallhandsbigart.com

Alchohol Ink / www.smallhandsbigart.com

Alchohol Ink / www.smallhandsbigart.com

Alchohol Ink / www.smallhandsbigart.com

Alchohol Ink / www.smallhandsbigart.com

Alchohol Ink / www.smallhandsbigart.com

Alchohol Ink / www.smallhandsbigart.com

Alchohol Ink / www.smallhandsbigart.com

Alchohol Ink / www.smallhandsbigart.com

Alchohol Ink / www.smallhandsbigart.com

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Showing 5 comments
  • Molly
    Reply

    Wow! I just found your site and am in awe of the beautiful work you do with your artists! Can you share where you found the metallic lids?

    • Admin
      Reply

      Thanks Molly! Our nextdoor business neighbor Switchen Kitchens actually donated those lids to us (we are the beneficiaries of so much cool stuff they can’t use!) – but I found these w/ a quick online search – just google foil to go box lids… They are very cool -we had some a few years ago that were large rectangles, and covered them with oil pastel and then painted on top with bright colors of tempera and they made most amazing scratch art surfaces! There are some photos of those in this blog post from a few years ago. They’re a fun material – have fun! Oh and I’m just remembering since i went looking – we also made the owl masks out of the rectangle lids – punched out holes for the eyes (and we still have a stack of the metallic circle punch outs).

  • Admin
    Reply

    link to the blog post referenced above with the scratch art and owl masks made out of foil to go box lids. https://www.smallhandsbigart.com/2013-fall-craft-a-palooza/

  • Sue
    Reply

    Love these – and the creative idea of the round foil lids! Terrific ideas!
    How to you keep them permanent though? Is there a coating or fixative that helps? We did ink projects on many surfaces a few years back and had issues with it scratching off.

    • Admin
      Reply

      Thanks Sue. The alcohol inks are permanent! Once it dries it does not rub off on fingers, scratch off, wash off when wet, etc. Pick some up and try them! Very addicting! We’ve used them on metallic tooling foil for an outdoor art project – they are virtually weather proof. Have fun! ~Jennifer

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