Combining Art and Poetry (and Dance and Music.....)

For the past several years, my son has been taking art lessons with a fabulous art educator, Jenny Eggleston of Egg in Nest Studio.

Jenny Eggsleton of Egg in Nest Studio

Miss Jenny's classes are kind of different from most art classes.  Hers are multi-aged and multi-leveled, with each student working on different projects of his or her own creation.  The studio is filled with different art materials and art inspiration, and each child picks the medium--painting, colored pencils, pastels, collage, digital art, etc.--and the topic for the latest project.  Jenny them roams through the room, giving one-on-one assistance with each separate project.  She is kind of like an art coach, which is perfect for someone as independently minded as my son.

Each semester she sponsors an exhibition of all the students' artwork.   However, for the past two years, the spring exhibition has turned into a big event.  She has each student create a piece of art, and then write a poem about that art (or sometimes vice versa).  Then she not only has a public art display, but she organizes a public event where all the students get up and read their poems on stage, along with some poetry or other art from professional artists.

The Poet Artists of Egg in Nest Studio

This year's event, which took place yesterday (Saturday, April 16, 2011), was called "Blurring the Line," because it was exploring what happens when you combine the visual arts with poetry, music, dance, and other art forms.

For not only was Miss Jenny having the students present their poems and artworks, but she had professional artists create songs, poems, dances, etc., on the spot that reflected what they heard in the children's poetry!

It was a wonderful event, made all the more dramatic by the fact that it was interrupted in the middle by a tornado warning, so everyone had to leave the performance stage and wait downstairs until the tornado that wreaked damage in much of Wake County had passed us by.

I feel very fortunate that we have such a gifted art teacher in our lives.  Miss Jenny not only continues to produce and display her own work, she attends workshops and finds other ways to grow in her own development as an artist--and, of course, passes that on to our children.  I'm glad he is exposed not only to her art instruction, but her encouragement for them to think more broadly and more deeply about what is art and how different artistic approaches complement each other.  We love Miss Jenny!

Here is my son's work for the show, which is on public display until April 24 at the Halle Cultural Arts Building in downtown Apex:

The Birds of Tackfar