I gave them various printing options & asked them to hand in their three best prints. The options are listed below: 

1.     Image on WHITE - EVERYONE MUST DO NO. 1.

2.     Same image on COLOURED, PLAIN sheet

3.     COLLAGE coloured paper

4.     Collage in tissue paper over print

5.     Use existing (other) image, i.e. magazines, photocopies of previous work, thinners print, old paper, etc. - choose carefully.  Beware of printing on too old paper, badly chosen newspaper print, etc.

6.     FROTTAGE/rubbing

7.     Print on fabric or any other interesting surface

(This list was compiled from a printing list created by Jeanette Gilks for a printmaking workshop I attended a few years ago) 

 The following images are representative of the variety submitted for marking. Some students handed in their prints on mirrors, tiles, canvas, and surprisingly - even a pair of panties (the student assured me they were new - I am smiling as I write this)

I recently collaborated with Lara Mellon on an artwork that is on the KZNSA gallery's members' exhibition "Red". I wasn't going to exhibit at all - I felt that I had enough work to do with our next upcoming exhibition (May 2012) at Fat Tuesday called "Lost, Found & Stolen".  We were walking along Durban's beachfront promenade (pic below) & Lara convinced me to work with her on a piece for the KZNSA exhibition.

(She told me to not interrupt her as she proposed an idea - she knew that I would initially refuse) Since we both have full time jobs - Lara suggested that we set a time limit on this piece & not work more than one day on this artwork. Surprisingly once we had set our minds on this time limit we really focused & the final artwork eventually only took us six hours to complete.

We initially discussed making a two panel piece & then I remembered that I had rescued an old table top from going to the dump at school. This table was originally housed in the boarding establishment at school, was the perfect colour - red vinyl & had been burnt by an iron. Lara suggested that we both use images that are familiar and have meaning for both of us - she often works with silhouetted figures and I draw and paint sparrows. The burnt hole suggested a nest - so it seemed appropriate to place the sparrow next to the nest.  The original table top was so beautiful with its gold spray - painted marks, peeling vinyl and natural wood - that we really had very little to add to the aesthetics of this piece. We have had positive response to this piece, but most people are confused by the nails. The nails visually connect the panels & have symbolic value - but also have special significance for Lara - her grandfather worked with wood & she kept his old rusting nails. 

Statement for Red Sky at Night…by the collaborative Sienna Sam

The inspiration for the title of this piece came from the weather-lore rhyme:

Red sky at night; shepherds delight,
Red sky in the morning; shepherds warning

It suggests that people were more in touch with their environment unlike today where our culture has disconnected from our surroundings.

In the spirit of post-consumerism we chose to work on a found surface and in a collaborative manner. Rejecting mass –produced packaged products and looking with a greater awareness of what already exists around us. Our co-operation makes reference to times when people were more aware of each other’s needs and worked towards a common goal. 

This piece warns about the danger of disconnecting from our environment and each other.

Click here to read Lara's blog about this piece & to see the table top before we worked on it. 

To see more of her work on her blog click here.

Some parents thought that I was doing my laundry at school when they caught sight of underwear flapping gaily in the wind from the balcony of my classroom. A sports match was about to take place on the courts directly in front of the art room – so they thought they would take it upon themselves to "rescue the reputation of the school" and remove the art teacher’s "laundry".

They came rushing up the stairs sounding disgruntled & got a shock to find me at the top of the stairs marking girls’ artworks. It was a Saturday morning – so no one knew that I was at school. They very respectfully enquired about the underwear on the balcony & were embarrassed when I told them it was an art installation. One of my Grade 11 students had made an artwork protesting the censorship of women by men in some Durban communities. At the time - women who wore mini-skirts were being humiliated by men ripping their clothing off them in public. The men thought it was inappropriate for women to wear revealing clothing. The provocative underwear on the art-room balcony was supposed to declare that women should be allowed to wear what they like without fear of reprisal.      

I started exhibiting with Lara Mellon and Maggie Strachan in 2009. These two pages have images from our most recent exhibition at Fat Tuesday in 2011 called “Two Goats and a Dog.” Lara did the figure on the bottom left. Maggie's dog is in the middle and my goat is in the top right.

The last page of my sketchbook features the sparrow image from my webpage. The sparrow looks “along the line” to the future.      

After teaching at a boys’ high school I transferred to an all girls’ high school. The pace was a little more gentle– but as any teacher knows - teaching is never boring. I taught computer literacy at this school as well as art – hence the computer code at the bottom of the page. The girls “rescued” a mounted impala head from the back of the school stage and installed it in my classroom. He was named “Harold” & the girls used to bring accessories like scarves, hats and earrings & change his “look” on a regular basis.

One of the most bizarre occurrences I experienced whilst in my classroom at this school – was watching a man drop into the lesson from the ceiling. The roof was being repaired & he must have missed his footing/tripped & came crashing though. He luckily (or unluckily) landed on a beam – one leg on each side of the beam. This stopped him from falling all the way to the floor – but he obviously did quite a serious injury to himself.  He didn’t make a sound after falling, and then after a period of time groaned & slowly lifted each leg back into the roof.  The girls had initially shrieked (as girls do) & then collapsed about laughing – it was a bit mean, laughing at his predicament, but at the time it was really funny.

I remember giving a lecture on art history when a boy put up his hand & told me that he had inserted his pet snake head first into the upright poles that held up the lecture theatre tables. For a moment I froze – not knowing what to do & then immediately abandoned the kids in search of a male Biology teacher (I thought he would know how to free the poor animal). After various members of our staff had tried to extract the snake & had no luck we were forced to contact the local snake park & get the experts in. I think the snake survived, but it has become a symbol of how often I was caught “off guard” in this school.

 Pages 22 and 23 represent my marriage. Since getting involved with the everyONEcounts project (raising funds for abandoned babies) in 2010 I have associated myself with this bird. I painted three sparrow paintings to donate to everyONEcounts & the sparrow has become part the header of my blog & website.

I thought two sparrows observing each other along the line that goes through the whole book would hopefully make reference to my marriage without being too corny.  

I was inspired by a blog post on the “Rag and Bone Boutique” about an artist - Carol Gearin’s paper installation of two hundred paper flowers, three trees and over six hundred paper butterflies into a home.

I thought I could adapt this installation very easily to a classroom project.  I downloaded basic templates from the internet of butterflies, leaves, hearts and flowers. As each class came in to my classroom they were asked to select a template and come up with a specific colour scheme. I handed them three sizes of the templates they chose, a pile of old magazines, a box of scissors and dressmaking pins & let them loose on my pin-boards.

The boards featured here are the best three of the four classes Grade 9 classes I teach.

The above flowers were made from a heart template

This particular straight stitch is a bit too structured for my taste so in later pages I experimented with a cross stitch which has a web like finish and is a lot more interesting.

The stitching is quite repetitive & can be quite boring – so I sit in front of the TV at night & stitch while I  glance & listen to the TV.  I pre-punch the holes into the paper before stitching using a tailor’s wheel and an awl. They are very violent looking tools for such a gentle activity!

Yesterday one of my Grade 11 students walked into the art studios with a bearded dragon. This creature was clinging on to the top of her school dress with its head tucked into her neck & seemingly very calm in the school environment. The classroom cleaner (Regina) was not so calm when she spotted the lizard & she flattened her body up against the wall & asked me if it was a crocodile! I insisted on a photo shoot - the following pics were a few of the many I took:

Typed transcript below:

Mom and Dad

I’ve arrived in Italy but I’ve realized that I don’t have any money and so I can’t afford a place to stay for the night and I don’t know what to do…I don’t know anyone and everyone speaks Italian and I can’t find help. So I’m scared and alone…There are so many people but I’ve never felt so alone. I think I made a mistake.

Maree

Typed transcript below:

Dear Mum and Dad

All is well! This sweet Italian couple found me sitting there all alone and they took me in and let me stay on their farm. Their names are Eduardo and Santana and I’m helping Eduardo with the tomato plantations. They also farm grapes. The countryside here is breathtaking by the way. I hope I can stay here for a while!!

Maree