Celebrate Your Style!

On September 23^rd, We Care Arts will once again be hosting our annual Style Show.  This year however, in a chic twist of events, the festivities will take place on a Wednesday night as a cocktail hour, as opposed to the Saturday morning brunch of years past.   

While the venue and atmosphere of the event have changed, the style aspect will remain the same.  As in years past, some of our clients will be present and modeling wearable art that they themselves designed.  They will be escorted by a slew of influential Daytonians, including Kim Farris, from Dayton Hot Country B94.5, the mayors of Oakwood and Kettering Bill Duncan and Don Patterson, Tony Kelpacz of the Kettering City Council, and broadcast media personality Jim Bucher, to name a few.  The art that the clients will be modeling will be for sale during the event, and many more wearable art and home products will be on display and available for purchase throughout the evening.  Everything present has been handmade by our clients.

Along with this change of format, we are realizing a new theme, Celebrate Your Style.  With this, we aim to encourage guests to embrace their own unique sense of style and self and truly appreciate how it reflects the best aspects of their personality.  We hope that art and style at the event will inspire our guests and resonate with their personal style, connecting them with the designers, our clients.    

In addition to the style and good company, heavy hors de oeuvres will be served and, as necessary at a cocktail party, there will be a cash bar.  Local duo Raggedy Edge will be providing the soundtrack.  We can’t wait to share this night of fun with our board and guests!

Celebrate Your Style will be held at NCR Country Club on Wednesday, September 23 from 5:30-7:30.

For tickets, call We Care Arts at (937) 252-3937

Arts and Drafts is Saturday, August 1st!

 

On Saturday, August 1 from 4:00 to 10:00 PM, We Care Arts, along with Hollywood Gaming, will host ARTS AND DRAFTS, a community event that will feature art created by nationally renowned tattoo artists, craft beers from local breweries, great food, and live music.

 

The event will be held at We Care Arts, 3035 Wilmington Pike in Kettering. Music will be provided by Dayton’s own The Motel Beds, Splendor, and Wasted Potential.

While there, attendees can enjoy craft beers from the Eudora Brewing Company, Toxic Brew, and Heidelberg Distributors and food from Zombie Dogz, Classic and Gourmet Grilled Cheese, and Orange Leaf.

 

Terry Schalnat, the Executive Director of We Care Arts is excited about the event. “It’s really hard to come up with a fundraising idea that’s unique. Shannon and Justin Woleslagle, who own Trivium Tattoo in Centerville,

 

 

approached us a couple of years ago with the idea of auctioning art created by tattoo artists to benefit our clients. Over the past two years, we’ve been fine-tuning the idea and we’ve come up with Arts and Drafts!”

 

 

Tattoo artists including Florida native Jerry Pipkins, Chris Cooper from California, and local artists Matt Clemmer, Josh Wiley, and Justin Woleslagle are working on original art using vinyl albums as a canvas. Their pieces will be up for auction prior to and during the event.
 

 

All proceeds will help to underwrite programming provided by We Care Arts, which turns disabilities into possibilities through art. 

While at Arts and Drafts, attendees can also browse We Care Arts’ gift shop to find distinctive home accessories, jewelry and more. 

 

 

For more information, contact Christine Corba, We Care Arts’ Special Events Coordinator at 937.212.3777 or at ccorba@wecarearts.org.

Chalk Vases and Sugar Scrubs in Mason Jars in our Gift Shop

We have just designed a new line of chalk painted vases and sugar scrubs in mason jars for our gift shop at We Care Arts. 

The vases are decorated on the front with a few simple natural objects.  They are painted with the current colors of chalk paints, distressed and protected with a matte varnish.

The vases are left unpainted on the inside for your favorite flower arrangement and they are perfect for silk flowers.

These vases are a popular centerpiece in wedding decorations or for your home.

The sugar scrubs are made by We Care Arts and come in several scents.  They make your hands so soft and smell nice.

 

The containers are mason jars, again painted with the chalk paints and decorated with natural and other objects. The sugar scrub container can be used for decoration and match our vases.

The vases and sugar scrubs are priced at $15.00 and $12.00. Stop in our gift shop at 3035 Wilmington Pike in Kettering for these and other great gifts for yourself and others!

Mexican Round Mirrors Art Project

This is an art project which was taught to several of the We Care Arts classes including Memory Units, Special Needs High Schools and Developmental Disabilities Centers. 

Mexican Round Mirrors is a mixed media project and a fun way to introduce students to Mexican designs, working in the round and metal embossing. A big thank you to Dynamic Senior Solutions in Beavercreek, Ohio Seniors and their Care Partners for the great art work!

The round design is drawn on a thicker paper, such as bristol board, tagboard or poster board. Find 3 circles that fit nicely with each other. You need 3 round objects such as plates or bowls in three sizes or use a compass. 

Trace around the three round shapes with a black Sharpie. In the center circle, write the words, "no color" in the smallest circle so the student will not make a design where the aluminum will be glued. The drawing of the circles was done by a We Care Arts Instructor beforehand, but older students could do it on their own.

Mexican designs can be found in textiles - clothing and molas and in mexican tile design. Samples of Mexican designs will help the students come up with their own.

In the first and second circle border, have the studet draw some 

 simple designs with black Sharpie.  More detailed black designs can be drawn now, or after the color is put in as is the next picture.

The colors used are bright and bold to mimic the feel of the Mexican designs. Use watercolor markers, such as Crayola brand to color the borders so the black line does not smear. Teach your students to use the side of the marker for faster coloring rather than using just the tip. The watercolor markers will not smear the black line design as permanent markers would.

 

 The center of the design is a round piece of 36 guage of alumminum. Trace the size of circe wanted on the alumunin with black Sharpie, then cut out with heavy duty scissors. 

With a sharpened dowel rod or a pencil draw a line design on the aluminum. Place the aluminum on a padded surface to achieve the embossing. Folded newspaper is a easy solution for the padding. The design can be embossed from the back, or just colored with the Sharpie colored markers.  Watercolor markers will just wipe off of the metal.

After both designs are done, use a hot glue with care to glue the metal circle to the base. Put the glue onto the poster board, then stick the metal circle to it. Quickly turn the whole circle over and press down. Be careful because the metal will get hot due to the hot glue applied.

Many of the artists chose to put their name of initial in the center.

These round Mexican "Mirrors" can be placed a wall for bright decoration.

Students are Falling into Space Self Portrait

Here is a fun project that the Beavercreek High School students created to make themselves look like they are falling in space. 

 

First they traced their shoe at the bottom of the paper and added the shoe sole pattern. Then we traced their hands on each side. 

An oval was drawn for their head and the students drew in their personal hairstyle and face.

Then the clothes were drawn in smaller to look further away and were filled in with the clothes they were wearing.

This is such a fun project to make a self portrait!

Delaney

 

 

Scrambler

 

 

 

Spring Flowers with Pastels

These beautiful flower pictures were drawn with pastels by the Centerville High School students who come to We Care Arts each Thursday morning for their art class. They were created on mat board scraps that were donated to us from a frame shop. The pictures can easily be propped up by a wall for display!

 

 

 

 

Easy Animal Drawings

 

 

Do you have a hard time drawing animals? Many of Diane's students do and she came up with a solution. She found large pictures of dogs from a book on dog breeds. Using heavy vellum paper, the photo was taped to the underside of the vellum.

 

 The students then drew an outline of the dog's features with a black Sharpie.  The rest of the picture was filled in with water soluble markers as Crayola.

 

 

 

 The students were encouraged to have fun with the colors and to put in an environment so the viewer would know where the dog was - inside or outside. Some students named their dogs and added their favorite dog dish and bone.

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                      The finished art work can be displayed in a window since it is translucent or on a wall with white paper behind it.

Supplies needed:

 

        Heavy translucent vellum paper

Tape

   Black Sharpie

   Crayola markers

 Animal book or calendar



Our Intern Mallory Paints with a Brush Visor!

One of the We Care Arts interns, Mallory from Wright State, painted with the use of a brush taped to a visor. She brought joy to herself, her staff and all of us at We Care Arts! Way to go Mallory!

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Flowers Watercolors

All of us at We Care Arts are anxious for Spring's arrival later this month. I am sure you are too!

The High School classes from Kettering, Fairmont, and Belmont painted flower watercolors this week with their instructor Diane Zubrick. Here are some of their paintings below:

Looking forward to those Spring flowers!