Good Morning Texas

Friday, October 1, 2010 Katrina Doran will be on Good Morning Texas!  The show airs at 9 AM on WFAA Channel 8.  You can watch the show later that day on-line at http://www.wfaa.com/gmt.  Katrina will be talking about the sculpted flowers at the State Fair of Texas she created with her students at the Creative Arts Center ofDallas.

State Fair of Texas

The fair opens today!  Doran Studio has been busy.  One dozen mosaic flowers are blooming in Moonflower Gardens on Grand Avenue just down from Big Tex.  Right under Big Tex you will find Taylor Pierre Bryant's Big Bunny sculpture.  The 4.5 ft. tall sculpture is made of concrete and mosaic.  The design was created by Taylor and guest artist, Tori Hopkins.  We hope you visit the fair this year and take the time to view our works.

 

Big Tex and Big Flowers

We are finishing up the flowers for The State Fair of Texas.  During the year, I taught classes at the Creative Arts Center of Dallas on Sunday afternoons where we learned to create armatures for mosaic flower sculptures.  The flowers are about to bloom and will be on display at the State Fair of Texas.  Here are photos of some of the near-completion works.  These blooms still need their centerpieces.  Stop by the fair and see all the ambitious works of my dedicated students.

 

 

Flowers in order left to right and top to bottom: Jessica Smith hibiscus, Jessica Smith lily, Leian Burttschell hibiscus, Patricia VanBuskirk hibiscus, Sue White hibiscus.

Link correction

It's late at night and I missed the spelling for Rebecca's blog.  Here it is:  http://mosaicswap.wordpress.com/swap-details

Check out the wonderful Day of the Dead mosaics she has already created.  I have lots to do to catch up!  We have 11 students in class.  I've made one ATC.

To Hermine!

The water is high.

It's tornado season.  This one is named Hermine.  I woke up this morning only to discover 1,000 sq. feet of my studio in a pool of water.  Most of the day was spent mopping, water vacuuming and emptying buckets.  Never mind the show deadllines and work that must be produced and photographed on time.  At the end of the day with my schedules all off, I just gave up and dedicated the eve to Hermine.  The waters in the Trinity River are about to crest at the levee where we live.  If they run over we are flooded.  If the floods are high enough we lose most everything.  My husband asked me, what is the one thing you would take with you?  I said the cats.  He responded with that's not a thing that's your soul, what thing would you take?  All I could come up with is, my nippers.  Then, which ones?  All the things are replaceable I decided.  No thing is that important.  So, I abandoned my pretty flowers for the State Fair and dedicated my time and creative energy to a project one of my students started based on the Artist Trading Card concept.  Rebecca Collins wanted to trade mosaics with her classmates and designed an ingenious method for doing so.  You can check out her blog at http://www.mosaicswap.worpress.com.  She has enrolled our class into making 3.5 x 2.5 inch mosaics to trade in early November.  The theme is Day of Dead, or the color orange.  I've been a bit jealous over the fun they have all been having while I slave away at my deadlines.  Tonight, with the rise of the water, Hermine's passing through my neighborhood, and the possible flooding, I just gave up all the worries and decided to have a bit of fun.  So, here's to Hermine!  My first ATC mosaic.  Made of marble, smalti and millefiori on plywood with tinted thinset.