August 5th, 2010

Kids Craft Camp came to a close a couple of weeks ago but we can’t stop talking about how much fun we had with our 13 campers every day. All of these exceptionally talented young ladies, ages 8-12, learned new skills and took their projects far beyond what we anticipated. Workshops in sewing, embroidery, zines and comics, mixed media art journaling and jewelry making kept everyone busy no matter what their skill levels were. We’ve had lots of requests for another session in August (which is just a bit too soon for us to plan), but don’t fret, we are already planning for a Winter Break craft camp with more information to come!

Congratulations ladies on all of your super crafty achievements!!

April 23rd, 2010

Here’s Michael de Meng talking about everyone’s projects from the Island of Demented Toys workshop.

Last weekend we hosted a workshop by one of our favorite teachers, Montana based assemblage artist Michael de Meng. de Meng’s teaching style truly embarks a fearless sense of “you can make anything work, as long as you play around with it enough” sentiment that makes you feel empowered and inspired. He backs it up with his tried and true, trial and error know how that comes from years of experimenting with what works and what doesn’t, guiding & positively encouraging students to make any kind of creation they can dream up.

While observing his class last weekend, I picked up on something that really hit home with me. Seeing how easy it was for him to cut metal with the Dremel (a multi-functional power tool here at the studio) and seeing the endless possibilities of assembling together found objects you would never think go together are ALL possible with imagination, gumption, and de Meng know-how.

We also had the pleasure of hosting a book signing for Michael’s latest book “Dusty Diablos” as well as displaying an exhibit of his artwork. Michael spoke on his experiences from the book, like visiting Island of the Dolls in Mexico and bringing his students to a peculiar shop of religious icongraphy where for instance, you could find 20 replacement heads of Lady Guadalupe. Since we love raffles here at the U.C.C, we had one that night giving away a signed copy of his book, a monthly membership, and a needle felt kit, if you weren’t there you missed out!

April 21st, 2010

Third Wednesday of every month. Next meet-up: Wednesday September 15th, 6-8pm. FREE

Zines are small, low budget, self-published and self-distributed publications, written by authors outside the mainstream who are motivated to share thoughts or skills with a community rather than to make money or get famous. In a word, zines are awesome. We’ll be working on our own zines are well as collaborative projects, have zine swaps and lots of examples to peruse through.

April 9th, 2010

Join the Urban Craft Center this Thursday in welcoming artist Michael de Meng as he presents and signs copies of his new book, “Dusty Diablos.”  De Meng will discuss the philosophy of transforming landfill-bound junk into rustic and mysterious works of art.  Secrets will be revealed about deMeng’s unique process of reinvention, as well as the inspiration behind his strange and demented artwork.  This up-close look at the intricate details of de Meng’s art happens at the Urban Craft Center’s open house on Thursday, April 15th from 7-9pm. 

Michael de Meng will be teaching a one day only workshop called “Island of Demented Toys” on Friday, April 16th from 10am-5pm.  Participants put their own personal touch on de Meng’s peculiar art form and will take away their own demented toy or shrine.  de Meng asks workshop participants to bring in rusty old junk, favorite thing-a-ma-bobs, and useless trinkets to turn into your own personal form of self-expression. (There are only a couple spots still open so sign up now to reserve your space!)

Pictured below are 2 of the 30+ pieces of deMeng’s artwork currently up at The Urban Craft Center.

March 17th, 2010

September 10th, 2009

Altered Arts is a personal craft. It’s tons of fun, but in order to allow yourself to express yourself you need a teacher with patience and exuberance to give you the comfort and encouragement to try new things within a 4 hour class. Guest teacher Sasha Harris is seriously amazing. Not only is she a talented improv actress, she also has an uncanny ability to take her skills as an actress into the crafting world. You’ll be inspired, productive and proud of what you’ve done. Her class, Altered Art Techniques is one of our most popular and fun classes – the best part is that you’ll also walk away with a book you’ve made filled with new skills to apply to any crafting endeavor!

I sat down with Sasha last week to learn a little bit more about her and about what she is looking forward to most in her upcoming class, Altered Art Techniques, this Saturday September 12th, 11-3pm. $65 non-member/$60 member

Q: What is your experience as a crafter?

If I tell you I was a Girl Scout does that say enough? That was the early years. In 2000 I made a New Year’s resolution to make a quilt. When I enrolled in the class I had grandiose visions of a puffy duvet type item. But of course, I was quickly met with geometry, rotary cutting, and so many triangles! I fell in love with quilting and I made three (non-puffy) quilts before I started graduate school. Most importantly I became a devoted lover of fabric.

Q: What drew you to altered arts?

Altered arts came into my life In the midst of graduate school when I was dealing with a significant personal loss. I took several classes in mixed media book arts and reveled in these tangible creations – so opposite of my graduate training. It was fantastic to be able to manipulate paper, paint, rip, tear, paint over, ink, write on, and best of all SHARE while creating with an ever expanding group of artists. Every day there is something new to learn, a new book or magazine to be inspired by, and new tools or supplies to play with. Every supply seems limited only by the imagination of the user and I am constantly surprised by the creativity of other artists.

Q: What would you say to someone who is doubtful of their creative ability?

It is 100% okay to be nervous about messing up. If you weren’t nervous it might mean that you didn’t care about the end result. But wherever you are just begin. Even if the first step is saying, “I have no freaking idea how to do this! Help!”

Keep in mind that once you learn how to use the tools you are 99.9% there.

It’s like learning any new skill, like, driving or riding a bike. Once you learn how to drive the car you are good to go, all that’s left is deciding where you want to travel. Same deal here, you want to make pillows, pants, or books it’s okay to spend some time learning about the tools first. You don’t have to be mean to yourself for not knowing all about the stuff right away. Be nice to you! Eventually you will make your masterpiece.

Q: Describe your upcoming class. What do you hope students will come away from the class having accomplished?

The Altered Book class is a playground class. The focus here is practice and learning – not the final product. That said, students will leave with a book full of techniques for their future projects. Students use a provided hardcover book to explore tools and techniques to alter the structure of the book. They’ll cut the cover, create sections, insert tags, create a block niche, cover-the-cover, and work with folds. Once the basic architecture of the book has been altered, students play with decorative elements to embellish their sections: gesso, fibers, stamps, and other findings.

My hope is that students will have either experienced something new or played in a way they didn’t expect of themselves when they walked in the door. Everyday that we create is a good one.

June 23rd, 2009

Here are some photos from last weekend’s Altered Art Techniques class. Students repurposed an existing book, learning many magical altered art techniques from Sasha Harris, truly the most energetic teacher we have here. She is very passionate about getting people together to create and always brings amazing goodies to share with her students.



Stamps, gesso and mod podge, oh my!



Each technique learned is represented on a page in the book to refer to later on, no matter what project you are working on!




A finished, fuzzy creation.

May 27th, 2009

We had a great class this past weekend with special guest teacher Kelly Kilmer. Kelly always brings lots of fun supplies and materials for her classes and each student got to make three swatch books. Here are some photos from the day!