We made the paper! The times leader did a cool article about The studio and the visit to Ewe and I, also about Patty's quilt which is being auctioned off at 'Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs' on Nov 6th for The Wyoming Valley Art League's "Art Under The Sun" auction.

I wasn't joking about knitting socks

The beautiful rugs

Roxanne's next

Patty enjoying her go.

Erin was the first to try it out, she did a great job

Myrtle showing us how it should be done

Last wednesday, 14th, we went on a field trip to Ewe and I, a local sheep farm where our wonderful host Myrtle does everything from feeding and sheering the sheep to washing, spinning and dying the wool. Then she knits socks with it, and weaves beautiful rugs, amongst other things. We all got to try our hand at spinning , then we met the adorable sheep who provided the wool we were spinning with. Myrtle was a walking encyclopedia of knowledge it was fascinating. Did you know that the diet the sheep are on affects the thickness of their wool, apparently turnips make it thicker. I was also surprised to learn that they shear the sheep in january while it's still cold, the reason being that the lambs have much shorter coats and feel the cold more, if the mom is cold too, she will snuggle with the lambs and breathe on them to keep them warm. If she's snug and warm in her thick wooly coat she doesn't realise the lambs are cold... hey, no-one said sheep were smart.

Donna's the newest addition to the studio, this is her second class and here you can see her stamping on the silk with wax. She's a joy to have in the studio with a very wicked sense of humour.

"Peace"

by Erin Dougherty

Mixed media on canvas

"Times Square"

by William Sukus

Acrylic and mixed media on canvas

Farmers Market

On Oct 8th we took part in the Wilkes-Barre farmers market, selling greetings cards, felted wallets and 2010 planners with silk batik collage covers. Artists Patti Spellman and Erin Docherty demonstrated needle felting. It was a little chilly but we had a great day and sold most of what we took.

Intro

OK now we have a blog, where do I begin? Verve Vertu studio is located within Arts Youniverse http://www.artsyouniverse.com/, a community of artists, housed in a beautiful old church in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Gwen is the genius and the driving force behind all things Verve vertu. As arts coordinator she comes up with most of the ideas for projects and she teaches the artists new skills and, along with Tara, Kim and myself, assists them where needed. The artists themselves have a wide range of challenges including Downs syndrome, autism and cerebral palsy, and therefore have different levels of skills and abilities but they all have wonderful inate creative talents which are realised here in the studio. The artwork created in the studio is sold at shows and in a few select locations, all the procedes are paid to the artists after the studio is reimbursed for the cost of materials.