Mexican Yarn Painting

Mexican yarn paintings are created by the Huichol Indians in colorful designs as expressions of deep spiritual beliefs. Diane Zubrick's classes created their own yarn painting using sticky foam boards from McMrf. You can use tacky glue, beeswax or sticky board as your base for your own yarn painting.

Above is an example of the Huichol Indian's yarn painting. Below is the artwork from Dynamic Senior Solutions in Beavercreek plus Diane's example. They started with thicker nylon yarn to make the main design, then put in other yarns to fill in. This activity was excellent for manual dexterity and using a new material to create artwork.

The Mannequins are Arriving for the We Care Artists Annual Charity Event!

We are receiving painted mannequins for our auction for the We Care Artists Annual Charity Event! You can view them in our gallery now and all of them on the day of the event August 16th. You can bid on them online at www.biddingforgood.com.

 

Here are the details for the Annual Charity Event on Saturday, 

Aug. 16 from noon-10pm.

Here are some of the mannequins.

 

 

 

 

 

We Care Artist Annual Charity Event

 

 

You are invited to the We Care Artists Annual Charity Event August 16 from noon until 10 pm! It will be held in the large parking lot in back of We Care Arts on 3035 Wilmington Pike in Kettering, Ohio and the admission is free.  The event will include an art auction of mannequins painted and decorated by a group of tattoo artists and other talented artists. They will be auctioned on www.biddingforgood.com.

 

 

Three bands will entertain you - The Leap Years, Dulahan and Still Water River! Events will include a Corn Hole Tournament with the top prize of a full day of tattoo with Jerry Pipkins of IV Horseman Tattoo Parlor in Panama City, Florida with a 2 night stay. See the flyer below for more details.

 

 

For your enjoyment there will be Pizza from Bellasorella, Tex Mex from Chris Rubio, baked goods and Heidleburg Beer! There will be displays by local tattoo artists and raffles for tattoo equipment.

 

Bring a lawn chair and some friends, view the artwork, listen to the music and enjoy the food and beer! You can park in the neighboring lots. All of the proceeds will go to We Care Art's programs.

 

Follow us on Facebook - We Care Artist Annual Charity Event.

Wine and Art Class at We Care Arts June 25

Come and paint an acrylic picture on canvas at
We Care Arts! 

 

The instructor is our director, Terry Schalnat. You will be painting the Red Poppies pictured below.

 

You can bring your own wine. Water, coffee and tea will be provided. The class is taught step-by-step, so no painting experience is necessary!

 

 The cost is $35.00 and the proceeds will benefit We Care Arts. The class will be held at June 25 at 3035 Wilmington Pike in Kettering, Ohio.

The class will start promptly at 6:30 p.m. and end at 8:30 P.M.

Here are the proud artists and their paintings from Terry's April class!
Bring a group for lots of fun!

RSVP Terry Schalnat at 252-3937 or tschalnat@wecarearts.org.

Sculpture from Found Objects

Anthony at Beavercreek High School with his sculpture.

 

Sculpture can be made from almost anything that you can glue together. In Diane Zubrick's classes the students used the stronger formula of Elmer's Glue to glue the wood pieces. Mat board was used as a base although a wood base or corrugated cardboard will make a stronger base support.

Taylor painting her sculpture at Beavercreek High School.


 

The materials Diane's students used were wood pieces cut small from scrap lumber and various wood pieces from the recycle center and We Care Arts. After the students chose the items to start their sculpture, they played around with various compositions.




A sculpture from Fairborn High School.

 

They were allowed to go back and pick up different pieces if needed. When they were satisfied, the students glued them down onto the base. The height was limited to 12" for easier handling. The importance of a balanced bottom level was stressed.



A cute farm scene created by Mrs. Myra Ball, an aide at Fairborn High School.

 

The sculptures dried until the next class which was a week. Acrylic paint was used with a bristle brush to paint the sculpture. The sculptures were all different and very colorful!

Austin finishing his sculpture at Beavercreek High School. 
 



Norma, a retired school nurse, volunteers in Jesse Hignite's class
 every week to help with art class. She is putting the finishing touches on Josh's sculpture.



Easy Bird Watercolors from Photographs

Spring is here and many of our favorite birds are back for the warmer weather! Diane Zubrick did an art project with all her students using pictures from several bird calendars.

To make it easy, Diane traced an outline of the birds on tracing paper. Her students then used carbon paper under the tracing paper and transferred the line drawing to the watercolor paper.

 

The line was drawn over with black Sharpie. The students used liquid watercolors to finish the painting. The bird artwork turned out all different and colorful.

 Many artists do work from photos or a combination of photographs to design a picture. Tracing the bird gave Diane's students a good starting point for a beautiful painting!

Happy Easter!

Many of Diane Zubrick's students have been designing eggs for the Easter season. Their inspiration has been the Pysanka Eggs of the Ukraine as pictured below.

 

 

These eggs are from Julie Siders' and Jesse Hignite's classes from Baker Middle School in Fairborn, Ohio. They used mixed media of black Sharpie marker, oil pastel, liquid watercolors and gold acrylic paint.

 

 

The above egg is by Kiersten. The metallic gold adds the perfect touch!

 

 

This egg design was made by Brandon.  It has such a nice folk art quality about it.

 



 

TreJon is working on his egg with oil pastels. 

 

 

 Here is the finished egg.

 

 

Katie loves to paint the metallic gold on her egg!

 

 

Zahara's egg has such a painterly quality!

 

 

Devon's egg is so full of detail and the gold really shines!

 

The students found that painting the eggs on large paper was much easier than decorating real eggs...and they don't break!

Annual Garden Party

 

We  Care Arts will be holding their annual Garden Party on Saturday, May 3 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. It will be at the We Care Arts Berkeley Center at 3035 Wilmington Pike in Kettering.

 

Knollwood Garden Center will be sponsoring the event providing soil, beautiful flowers and gift cards.

 

 

We will have many hand painted pots for sale and we will  plant your choice of flowers into them.  You can also bring your own containers, buy the plants and volunteers will plant them for you!

 

May 11 is Mother's Day and our gift shop is full of garden art, birdhouses, and wind chimes and other lovely and useful items for you and mom!

 

 

 

Watch Our Video, "Ticket to Ride", on the "Power2Give" Web Page!

Artwork by Gary Neeley

We Care Arts has posted a new video on their Power2Give web page. We are raising money for bus passes so our artists can have the independence to ride the bus to We Care Arts and their appointments.

Click here to see why our clients need a "Ticket to Ride"!

Wine and Art Painting Class for Everyone!

We Care Arts is now offering painting classes for EVERYONE! Bring some wine (or not) and come and enjoy an evening of fun and painting! You don't need to have any previous knowledge or skill in painting. We will provide all you need to make the evening loads of fun!

The classes will be taught by our own talented Terry Schalnat in a step by step painting method. We will provide all the painting supplies including a canvas and you will go home with a painting you will be proud to hang on your wall! 

 

Every other month there will be a class with a new painting. This April painting is in the Spring theme of red tulips. The class is the evening of April 16th from 6-8 p.m. RSVP to tschalnat@wecarearts.org to let us know how many fellow artists will be coming with you!

The cost of the class is $35.00 and all the proceeds will help support our mission at We Care Arts. For more information on We Care Arts upcoming events, visit our website by clicking here.

Stebbins High School Fundraiser for We Care Arts

 

Thanks to our fantastic Stebbins High School students!

We always appreciate it when a group of our supporters hold a fundraiser for us, so imagine our delight when a group of Stebbins High School students came by recently with $119.56 to support our programs! At our recent auction, they sold $320 more to the attendees for a total of $430.00 donation to We Care Arts!

The initiative came from a study by the Ohio Occupational Therapy Transition Outcome (OTTO) through Ohio Department of Education where they wanted the students to develop an understanding of community service and good citizenship. The challenge was for the Stebbins High School students with multiple disabilities to come up with a project to earn money for a worthy organization. The students discussed it and decided that they would support We Care Arts. Our teacher, Alicia, goes there every week and they thought they would like to give back in appreciation of what she’s given them.

The students worked with an Occupational Therapist and came up with their own business plan. They decided what project they were going to do (make rainbow loom bracelets in school colors red and white), how many they were going to make, what the cost would be to make them and how much they would sell them for ($2). They advertised, ran the cash register and promoted the sale throughout the school. When presented with a problem on the project, they used their problem solving skills to keep things moving along!

One of the young men involved became a different person during this process. Before this, he normally had no social interactions with the other students. But for this project, he would walk up to people and ask if they wanted to buy a bracelet. The teachers were amazed how this activity caused the young man to completely alter his social interactions.

The students said they were very proud of themselves and the teachers were pleased that they were making a difference in the world by giving back.

Artist Spotlight on Donna Berkeley

 

Donna Berkeley has been an enthusiastic and generous supporter of We Care Arts since our beginnings in 1983. In addition to serving on the Board of Trustees, Donna is the creative drive and inspiration behind the jewelry available at the We Care Arts Gift Shop and Online Store.Through her guidance, We Care Arts clients and volunteers learn how to combine natural stones, crystals, pearls and other elements with sterling silver, gold, copper and pewter to create original pieces of stunning jewelry.

Below are some examples of Donna's artwork which is available on the  We Care Arts Online Store. She also has several pieces of her art work in the Gift Shop located in We Care Arts at 3035 Wilmington Pike in Kettering, Ohio.


Blue Coral Necklace



Sterling Silver Flower Earrings



Red Dione Necklace

Power 2 Give - I need a "Ticket to Ride"

Power 2 Give

 


Artwork by Gary Neeley

Culture Works is excited to be launching power2give on March 6, 2014, becoming the 24^th host organization nationally for this powerful online marketplace.  Power2give provides a way to mobilize and empower individual donors while giving all nonprofit organizations throughout the Dayton Region the ability to raise funds for arts and culture projects.

About the We Care Arts Project

Please help us raise money for bus passes so that our artists can do their fabulous art here on a regular schedule! 

 

 Click here to donate!

We need people to buy a ticket to independence. One of the biggest obstacles for many of our participants is the cost of transportation. Because many of them rely on public transportation and are on a fixed income, they are restricted by these transportation costs. They must carefully plan their month of travel based on what they can afford to do, not where they need to go. Sometimes it is a choice between going to the grocery or coming to their weekly art class at We Care Arts. Often, by the end of the month, they cannot afford to go anywhere, which leaves them isolated from the support they need to manage their disabilities.

Donor Benefits

 

 

Making a difference in someone’s life is priceless. With a monthly bus pass, a person gets unlimited rides. This gives them the opportunity to go everywhere they need to during that month. They can go to their scheduled appointments, the pharmacy, the grocery, the library and the food bank, which many of them depend on each month. They can visit friends and family without having to sacrifice missing an appointment or trip to the store. They can go to We Care Arts, where being encouraged by friends and exercising their creativity helps with a positive attitude, and they can potentially earn a little money.  They find independence and become contributing members of our society when they are able to get to their needed support systems. Most importantly, they will no longer be isolated because they have a way to get to the places that help them stay healthy.

 

To donate and for more information, click here!