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Updates
Archive 1 |
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December 12, 2008
Maureen is the
featured artist this month
at
38oo 37th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN
Pieces are for sale at the Cafe from December 7,
2008 - January 3, 2009
The theme is Faces,
with each artwork being a small sampling of the endless and fascinating
variety of ways in which we face the world and our journey
through it.
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October 6, 2008
Notes from Maureen:We're almost at the end of our
2008 class season. It's been a wonderful year,
with students from across the USA and Canada coming
to Jordan, MN to learn, to create and to breathe in
the air of re-creation.
Still to come are classes with Tory Hughes,
class08_vh1.htm on
October 24 - 26, and Barb Kobe,
class08_bk4.htm and
class08_bk5.htm on
Nov. 1 and 2.
Both of these experienced teachers share not only
their considerable technical knowledge but also
their belief in the power of each individual's
unique creative vision. Their classes are
dynamic! Treat yourself to one of these creative
retreats.
As I approach winter and my season of
introspection, planning, personal creative time and
renewal, I feel lucky to have shared in the journey
with so many wonderful people, each with her own
story to tell.
Pictured here are students, including me, from
Katherine Dewey's Ultimate Mouse class, which
happened in May.
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It's fall, time for readying ourselves, and our buildings, for the
shorter days and harsher winds of winter. Looks like even the
Friar Folk are finding time to do some repairs. Pictured is
Friar Folk 1340, titled
"Hands to Work" .
He's one of the
latest characters in my Friar Folk series that I create, then
license to Abbey Press for reproduction.
It appears that he's
listening to see if anyone's home behind the Faerie Door that's at
the base of one of the Willows that grows on the bank of Sand Creek,
just outside my classroom door.
 We
aren't sure who lives there, but we know it must be someone special.
Click on photos
for larger view. |
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The Dollmaking Circle
A Creative Process for
Personal Growth and Healing
Instructor: Barb Kobe
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Pictured below are a few photos from past postings
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Nov. 13, 2007 VIDEO CLIP
Click here to see a video clip of our our Nov. 10 - 11
Open House
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Dawn-Marie Quinche created this chair
for the front porch at Maureen's. |
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DVD: Magical, Marvelous Masks
If
you enjoyed the book,
Fairies, Gnomes and Trolls,
then we think you'll love this DVD. It's a fun 88
minutes which includes visits with the characters
from the book, a peak behind their masks to see
who's hiding there, a short story about Elizabeth/Lize
and her special mask, plus instruction on making an
extra hat for Magical, Mischievous Marvin (page 103
in the book). After all, real characters, even
little clay ones, need to change their hats on
occasion. Interactive play - even for adult
sculptors - makes the art of creating clay
characters just that much more fun!
Then we get
into the making of masks. You'll learn to make
masks from both push molds and original
one-of-a-kind sculptures. This part of the DVD
should be especially helpful to those of you who are
learning to sculpt faces. Follow me in close-up
video to see the step by step process of making
faces.
A bonus at the end of the instructional DVD is a
copy of
"A Road Trip to
Maureen's", an inside look into Maureen Carlson's
Center for Creative Arts in Jordan, MN.
For more info, or to purchase DVD, go to
Wee Folk
Creations Website |
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Title: Letting Go
by Maureen
Carlson
Mixed Media piece
in a private collection
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| My daughter shared with
me the following paraphrased quote from
Charles Darwin:
Survival of the
species is determined not by strength and
not by courage, but by the ability to adapt
to change.
This is a
good reminder for me, because I know that
change is a constant as I journey through
this life. I believe it's OK to allow
myself time for a little whining and moaning
when faced with an unexpected challenge.
But then I pray for the courage to reach
deep within - or without - to call on all of
my resources in order to help me adapt to
change. This goes for changes in my
business as well as in my personal life. |
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December 7, 2006
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A Garden Labyrinth at Maureen's - and Music by Dan Carlson
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Those of you who have visited Maureen Carlson's Center for Creative
Arts know that our garden is an important part of the ambience. In
summer the flowers are glorious, and in the winter the starkness of the
tree branches and the ice on the river lend it the romance of an antique
black and white photo. In 2007 Dan and I plan to add a meditation
area to the garden with the addition of a labyrinth. To find out
more, click on the labyrinth link below. You'll also find words
and an audio link on that page to a new song that Dan has written and
sung about the labyrinth experience. Enjoy! |
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Following is a little poem that I wrote in 2006:
Whistling through the
Cracks
Submerged in a dark
sanctuary.
Waiting.
Listening.
A
shaft of light finds a crack through which to whistle a tune.
Again.
And again.
And
when the melody rings as true to her as the air she breathes,
She rides it through the crack and into the world.
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NEW BOOK:
Fairies, Gnomes and
Trolls
Release date: mid-November 2006
Published by North Light Books
I’m back!!!!!
If you’ve not been coming in to Maureen’s these
last 6 months, then you probably didn’t know that I’ve been gone.
But I have. I’ve been wandering, staff in hand, through the Land of
the Faerie Folk, as I’ve spent the last 6 months writing a new book,
Fairies, Gnomes and Trolls, for North Light Books. But, this week, IT’S
DONE. IT’S DONE. IT’S DONE.
Now it’s off to the publisher. It will be back for
final revisions, etc., but basically IT IS DONE. Plans are for it to be ready
for November ’06 release. The book is a basic how-to book which combines
15 projects with short stories about each character. This book takes me back
to my roots, which was the making of Wee Folk and the telling of their tales
– which are really tales about human folk, but in disguise.
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To give you a small
flavor of the book,
I share some photos: |
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| A STORY AND A POEM:
Plus I offer up this poem about a
Secret Door into the World of the Faerie
Folk (the first project is a secret
door). The poem didn’t make the final cut into the book, but it influenced
the world that you’ll find between its covers
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The story is often told of Secret Doors or portals through which one may
enter the Land of the Faerie Folk. According to legend, in order to find
a door and pass through it into the magical world beyond, one must do three
things:
1. Be in the right place.
2. Be there at the right time.
3. Believe.
Since the Faeire Folk love songs and games, the clues
for opening a door are often hidden in riddles such as this one.
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The Secret Door
In between the now and then
Where sunsets begin and dawn does end
There is a time that's neither nor.
Enter that time and you'll find a
door.
In between the here and there
Where forests mingle with garden air
There is a place that's neither nor.
Imagine that place and you'll find a door.
In between what's real and not
The wind sings a song that man forgot
About a world that's neither nor.
Believe in its truth and you'll open the door
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“It just isn’t a journey worth taking if
there aren’t any dragons.”
From Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban
Breathnach
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Maureen Carlson's Center for Creative Arts
102 Water Street
Jordan, MN 55352
Send Mail to: Maureen's, C/O Wee Folk Creations, 102 Water Street, Jordan, MN 55352
phone at center: 651-460-0725
Home office: 952-447-3828
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