Creation of the Community Symbolic Tree at the Fayetteville Free Library

The third day for the creation of the traveling Community Symbolic Tree's painting took place at the Fayetteville Free Library on Saturday, April 19.

Nicole Moss paints the branches of the Community Symbolic Tree.

The first resident contributing her time into the painting was Nicole Moss. She helped continuing the dark values of all the branches of the tree.

The next Onondaga county resident participating in this project was a surprise. Lewis Karpel, from CNY Central, stopped by to check out what this project was all about and, after the video interview, I convinced him to add his vision into this painting. Lewis decided that the ground needed a boulder near the roots and he painted one!

My last resident was Angela Cwickla, and she helped creating some lights and shadows on the right branches of the Community  Symbolic Tree.

If you are a resident and you want to participate in this project my next event is Saturday, April 26 at the Skaneateles Library. Join the fun and contact me at mariarizzoart@gmail.com to sign up!

Another cool event happening this weekend is the Onondaga Art Guild's Spring Show and Sale. 

Check it out if you can!

Creation of the Community Symbolic Tree at the Liverpool Public Library

  The second day of the creation of the Community Symbolic Tree was Sunday, April 13 at the Liverpool Public Library. 

I had three amazing local artists signed up to contribute into this community art project and the results were amazing!

Artist, Domenico Gigante was the first resident starting the painting. In twenty-five minutes he created a thick texture of acrylic paint on the trunk and on the roots of the symbolic tree. He established that the light source was coming from the right and, with that in mind, he created a detailed underpainting of light and shadows on the bark of the tree.

 

Artist, Mary Mollica was the next resident signed up to paint the Community Symbolic Tree and, with confident and beautiful brushstrokes, she started shaping the lower branches of the tree. 

The last resident was artist, Kathryn Korner. 

She wanted the Community Symbolic Tree to have a windy sky, so she created one.

One important thing I have learned from Phil Parsons, an amazing artist and teacher, is that to create a successful painting you have to follow some essential steps.  Firstly, you have to create a strong drawing foundation of the piece, then you  create an underpainting that helps you establish the values (lightness and darkness), and lastly you add the hues (colors) to the painting.

No matter how many different hands and minds are working in the same piece, as long as I guide the residents to approach this painting though these steps, they can still express their creative individuality and positively contribute to the success of the final painting.

To be part of this project contact me at mariarizzoart@gmail.com
To learn more about this project read this article on syracuse.com

The next event is:

A Video Interview and the Next Event.

Thank you, cusetonight.com for creating this video where I talk about my

 Individual Art Commission's project from CNY Arts.

My next community painting's project will be a at the Fayetteville Free Library 

on Saturday, April 19 from 10.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. 

Onondaga County residents (16+) are invited to paint for 25 minutes. The painting supplies and protective gloves will be provided by me! I function as the artistic director of the painting project, and I will share with you the right approaches and steps needed to execute a successful painting in acrylic. Each resident will be assigned a specific painting step to execute under my supervision.

To participate contact me at mariarizzoart@gmail.com

The Creation of the Community Symbolic Tree at the Solvay Public Library

I have received the Individual Artist Commission Grant from the CNY Arts 2014 Decentralization Program to engage Onondaga County residents in an interactive art project that promotes nature appreciation and community involvement in artistic creation.
 
One element of this art project is to serve as the artistic director of the Symbolic Tree painted by residents of our community that will depict the creative vision of Onondaga County.

For the creation of this community Symbolic Tree, each Saturday for five months starting in April, I will set up the canvas in the participating library throughout Onondaga County and will invite its residents to sign up via email to participate in the painting process.

Saturday, April 5, at the Solvay Public Library, was the very first day to bring this project to life and I had a terrific experience. After I've set the easel, the canvas and the art supplies in the community room, it was amazing to witness how Onondaga county residents made magic happen in front of my eyes.

 The very first person at work was Wendy Pitoniak, who focused on the lower part of the tree.

Pattie Hicks-fiegl was the second person painting and she focused on the faraway hills in the background, and this is her testimonials:

"This was a very unique experience for me. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be a small part of a 'bigger picture' so to speak. In spite of many years passing since I held a paintbrush in my hand Maria graciously encouraged me to put aside any hesitation I felt. It was gratifying to have my amateur paint strokes be as much a part of the whole foundation of the piece as the professional artists who participated. I consider children as professionals because we are all born artists and dancers but sometimes it's squelched along the way!
I look forward to watching many more individuals contribute to Maria's vision
until it is complete-a tree beautiful, strong and sheltering....as our community should be."
-Pattie Hicks-Fiegl

Artist, Suzanne Masters was the third person putting her time into this piece, and she did a fabulous job establishing the correct values of the sky.

 Mitzie Testani and her son helped a lot, too. They focused on adding a darker value in the foreground.

At the end of today's painting session, Teresa Gardner-Barndollar and her kids completed the underpainting of the foreground.

Today I've made one little exception on the age restriction of 16+ for a couple of reasons: it was the beginning stage of the painting and the kids were supervised by their mothers and it was great to see them working so well together.

But the more this painting develops, the more complex this painting will be to approach, and that is why I established the age restriction rule.
With this project my goal is to promote harmony and a feeling of identity and purpose among the members of our community, as well as to share the right techniques on how to successfully execute a painting. I make sure participants understand that their vision and application are essential for this project and that they are helping to create something meaningful, beautiful, and lasting.

If you are interested in participating in this project check out the previous blog post for the libraries dates and times and contact me to save your spot via email at mariarizzoart@gmail.com.

Thank you for checking in and I'm looking forward to my next painting session at the Liverpool Public Library on Sunday, April 13 from 1.30 p.m. to 3.00 p.m.


Best,

Maria Rizzo

Interactive Art Project