A Visit With The Vanden Heuvel's . . .

In August of 2005, I moved my teaching studio, Blueraku Studios, from Nashville, Tennessee to Medford, Wisconsin. Medford's population is right around 4,000. It's surrounded by trees and usually covered in snow. It's a beautiful place to be and I met the most amazing people there! (I have to admit, I was a bit more connected from the start than most because one of my most bestest friends of all time grew up in Medford.) So, I continued my teaching there and formed some fabulous relationships with students and parents in the area. After moving away, I was continually receiving creative updates on my students--either via parents and emails or snail-mail letters written by the young people themselves.  

So this past July, when I went up to Medford--one last time before the move to Singapore--I met up with a couple of my students for a morning of craft. Kelsey and I had been in contact via Facebook for some time (now too, I am friends with Allie and their mother JoAnne). And we even had an art-mail-trade thing happening for a little while, towards the beginning of this year. In exchange for fingerweaving, Kelsey received the following fun things . . . 

A cape made out of styrofoam peanuts created by a friend of a friend.

And, a mask made out of tulle that I created for Halloween in Austin, a few years ago . . . 

It's so wonderful to see my students grow! It's an honor to be a part of their lives, creatively. Just look at the above image:  their sweet little girl faces (playing in my fabric tub with a friend) . . . And, now they are teenagers!! Kelsey is taking Driver's Ed. (Insert gasp here.) When she told me this, I had a small panic attack:  where has the time gone? (I still feel the same age I was when I first met them!) And Allie is on an awesome creative path, which is very exciting to watch! She was really experimenting with all of the materials we were using!  (Thank you again ExVoto for the time and space to make fun things happen!!) 

I hope we continue to stay in touch. Creative connection is such a gift! I ended up giving Kelsey and Allie a bunch of fingerweaving and fabric to play with. I'm hoping that whatever they choose to create, they will post or send me lots and lots of pictures . . . Let's keep the conversation going, girls!