Create your own art from various materials found around your home! These courses are geared towards individuals 15 years of age and older. Supply kits are available at OFPL on a first-come, first-serve basis and can be requested below.
Tune in this upcoming Monday, August 3rd at 4:00 p.m. for a demonstration on creating clay pinch pots using air-dry clay. Pinch pots are the oldest form of pottery dating back to ancient times. Available through our Facebook page and YouTube channel, search @galluplibrary.
Creative Corner features creativity freedom to make your own art from various materials that can be found around your homes and/or are inexpensive to purchase. Art courses are for the inner creative geared towards individuals 15 years of age and older.
Tune in this upcoming Monday, June 27th at 4:00 p.m. for a demonstration on abstract painting while learning the basics in oil painting. This is Part One in a multi-series exploring the fundamentals in abstract painting. Part One explores techniques and brand names trusted by our resident artist and will be laying the foundation to our painting. Available through our Facebook page and YouTube channel, search @galluplibrary.
OFPL does not own the rights to the music contained within this video.
10 Oil Painting Tips for Beginners
Artists have been painting with oil paints for hundreds of years and oil paints continue to be popular worldwide due to their versatility, quality, and color. While getting started with oil painting is fairly easy, there is a little bit more to it than acrylics, since you are working with toxic solvents and mediums and the drying time is much longer. Individual artists who have been painting for a while have their own favorite brands, brushes, palettes, and mediums, but here are some general tips that may be useful to you if you are just starting out with oil paints.
Creative Corner features creativity freedom to make your own art from various materials that can be found around your homes and/or are inexpensive to purchase. Art courses are for the inner creative geared towards individuals 15 years of age and older.
Tune in this upcoming Monday, June 20th at 4:00 p.m. for a meditative experience using acrylic paints set to calming meditative music. Available through our Facebook page and YouTube channel, search @galluplibrary.
OFPL does not own the rights to the music contained within video.
Drip Painting Definition
The technique of abstract painting exemplified chiefly in the later works of Jackson Pollack and marked by the intricately executed dripping and pouring of the paint on a canvas placed on the floor.
Artist Spotlight
OFPL does not own the rights to any of the following imagery. Courtesy of other artists. (See accreditation).
Jackson Pollock
Full Fathom Five. Oil on canvas with nails, tacks, buttons, key, coins, cigarettes, matches, etc. 50 7/8 inches by 30 1/8 inches. Circa 1947.
Creative Corner features creativity freedom to make their own art from various materials that can be found around their homes and/or are inexpensive to purchase. Art courses are for the inner creative geared towards individuals 15 years of age and older.
Tune in this upcoming Monday, June 13th at 4:00 p.m. for a demonstration on collaging with paper materials that can be found around your home. Use old magazines, photographs, books, glue, markers, paint, and more. Available through our Facebook page and YouTube channel, search @galluplibrary.
OFPL does not own the rights to the music contained within video.
Collage Definition
Collage is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole.
5 Contemporary Collage Artists Adding New Layers
Laslo Antal’s Collage – Visual Diaries
Lance Letscher’s Collage – The Pull Towards Collage
Raquel van Haver’s Collage – The Collage Mindset
Vanessa German’s Collage – From Found Objects Towards Assemblage
Creative Corner features creativity freedom to make their own art from various materials that can be found around their homes and/or are inexpensive to purchase. Art courses are for the inner creative geared towards individuals 15 years of age and older.
Tune in this upcoming Monday, June 6th at 4:00 p.m. for a demonstration on the color wheel and a discussion of Color Theory and terminology. Available through our Facebook page and YouTube channel, search @galluplibrary.
Color theory encompasses a multitude of definitions, concepts and design applications – enough to fill several encyclopedias. Color theories create a logical structure for color. For example, if we have an assortment of fruits and vegetables, we can organize them by color and place them on a circle that shows the colors in relation to each other.
Color Wheel
The Color Wheel A favorite of designers and artists, the wheel makes color relationships easy to see by dividing the spectrum into 12 basic hues: three primary colors, three secondaries, and six tertiaries.
Basic Color Wheel.
Terminology for Review:
Analogous Colors
Any three colors which are side by side on a 12-part color wheel, such as yellow-green, yellow, and yellow-orange. Usually one of the three colors predominates.
Complimentary Colors
Complementary colors are any two colors which are directly opposite each other, such as red and green and red-purple and yellow-green.
Hue
An attribute of a color which makes it unique. Example: Red, Forest Green, Cerulean, Violet, Pink, Magenta, etc.
Primary Colors
In traditional color theory (used in paint and pigments), primary colors are the 3 pigment colors that cannot be mixed or formed by any combination of other colors. All other colors are derived from these 3 hues.
Example: Red, Blue, and Yellow
Secondary Colors
These are the colors formed by mixing the primary colors.
Example: Green, Orange, and Purple
Shade
Refers to the mixture of a hue with black or any darker color. This mixture reduces the overall color brightness.
Tertiary Colors
These are the colors formed by mixing a primary and a secondary color.
A tint is created when you add white to a hue and lighten it. It is also sometimes called a pastel color.
Tone
In art, the term “tone” describes the quality of color. It has to do with whether a color is perceived as warm or cold, bright or dull, light or dark, and pure or “dirty.” The tone of a piece of art can have a variety of effects, from setting the mood to adding emphasis.
Calling all OFPL neighbors! Celebrate Summer Reading 2020 (May 1st – August 1st), OFPL is having a bookmark design contest. Fill in the bookmark space with an original design and turn it in to either the Main Library or the Children’s Branch by Friday, July 31st at 5:00 p.m.
All entries will be displayed in an online poll on our website for community voting during the entire month of August and the winning bookmark in each age group (See Number 9 under Contest Rules) will be printed and distributed to both libraries.
Designs can either be vertical or horizontal. Use bookmark space provided for design.
Any 2D art medium is welcome (such as pencil/graphite, crayons, markers, etc).
3D and computer generated art must be approved prior to submission. Email jwhitman@gallupnm.gov for approval.
No graphic or obscene imagery. OFPL reserves the right to remove an entry from contest.
Words, lettering and numbers may be included in design. However, DO NOT include your name or any other personal information.
DO NOT use any copyrighted material.
Contest runs from May 8th to July 31st and is open to any age and skill level.
A winner will be selected based on community feedback in the following age groups: 3-12, 13-19, 20+. Winners will receive a grand prize and will be contacted by phone.
Bookmarks will be printed and distributed after September 7th.
All entries become the property of the Octavia Fellin Public Library and may be reproduced for public distribution, displayed within the library, and posted to the library’s website. OFPL may use each winner’s name, design, and photograph for publicity purposes.
Join us for an interactive workshop learning how to use acrylic paint to create random patterns utilizing drip technique. All completed works will be displayed for the month of March.
Join us at the Children’s Branch on Saturday, March 7th at 2:00 p.m. or Saturday, March 14th at 4:00 p.m.
Art exhibition from March 9th to April 7th. *Open to all ages and skill levels.
Email jwhitman@gallupnm.gov or call 505-726-6120 for more information.
Come make beautiful tile art that you can transform into coasters for your tables. Perfect to keep your hot chocolate or tea nice and toasty as your brave the elements.
Join us at the Main Library on Tuesday, December 17th at 4:00 p.m. for an afternoon of creative expression. Supplies provided.
Email jwhitman@gallupnm.gov or call 505-863-1291 for more information.
Tile Art Sample. Courtesy of Pauline. December 2019.
Tile Art Sample. Courtesy of Anonymous. December 2019.
Diné artist Jerry Brown finds inspiration in traditions, upbringing
Gallup Independent. November 19th, 2019. Vida Volkert, Staff Writer
GALLUP – The sight of a nun walking down Thoreau’s NM Highway 371 with an acoustic guitar strapped to her shoulder is one of the reasons Jerry Brown changed the course of his life.
Brown, now a successful artist from Mariano Lake, had dropped out of high school and had no direction. In his own words, “I was too wild.” He had spent a few years in different boarding schools in the area, a school in Utah and public schools in Thoreau, Wingate and Crownpoint. Continued after Image
Newspaper article featured in Gallup Independent. Scanned 11.22.2019 by OFPL Staff member, Joshua Whitman.
‘Too wild”
“I started the public school, but I didn’t like it there and walked back to the house.” he said
It was around 1988 when Brown saw the nun walking down the street in Thoreau. The nun was “Sister Michelle.” She was the principal of St. Kateri Tckakwitha school in Thoreau, which later became St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School.
Newspaper article featured in Gallup Independent. Scanned 11.22.2019 by OFPL Staff member, Joshua Whitman.
Brown remembered the school was known as “the academy,” and it was a small campus. He was so intrigued by the sight of Sister Michelle walking with her guitar that he decided to visit the school.
“They put me in 10th grade. I met all the teachers. They came from all walks of life. They were missionaries that were doing the good thing for the natives,” Brown said.
Newspaper article featured in Gallup Independent. Scanned 11.22.2019 by OFPL Staff member, Joshua Whitman.
Library serves up a colorful concoction: Mocktails and Coloring
Gallup Independent. November 18th, 2019. Vida Volkert, Staff Writer.
GALLUP – Josh Whitman was making non-alcoholic mojitos with club soda instead of rum, and Shirley Temple with grenadine syrup and lime juice during a mocktails-and-coloring event at the Octavia Fellin Public Library Saturday.
On the table, next to the cups, syrup, ginger ale, ice cubes, and mixers, Whitman had a spread of designs and colored pencils. On another table behind him, Whitman had a set of speakers and was streaming indie music on Spotify.
“Coloring is one of the things you can do and not stress about it.” Whitman, the library’s experiential learning coordinator said. Continued After Image
Newspaper article featured in Gallup Independent. Scanned 11.22.2019 by OFPL Staff member, Joshua Whitman.
‘Creative Expression’
“I have 14 different designs for them to choose from, and three different cocktails – I call them mocktails. The holidays could be stressful time of the year when people are shopping.” he said. “This is a free of stress and gives them a nice creative outlook to creative expression.”
Danielle Leekity, 32, and her children Anjelica, 11 and Jacob, 5, learned about the activity on Facebook and decided it was a good way to spend their Saturday in Gallup. The mother and her two children were sitting next to each other on an adjacent table and were coloring while enjoying their drinks.
Newspaper article featured in Gallup Independent. Scanned 11.22.2019 by OFPL Staff member, Joshua Whitman.
“My daughter is very artistic. She has pastels at home and taught herself how to draw,” Leekity said. “We usually come her for the events. Everybody says it gives children something to do but it is also for the families. a relaxing wat to spend the weekend. We go to the ArtsCrawl every month. The fun part about this area. everything is within walking distance.”
Newspaper article featured in Gallup Independent. Scanned 11.22.2019 by OFPL Staff member, Joshua Whitman.
