January- had the good fortune to air on PBS- Detroit Performs 2015

Happy New year! I have not written on this blog for quite some time! wow. In case you missed it: I wanted to share a link that will bring you to a feature I was in on PBS- "Detroit Performs". I was incredibly grateful for this wonderful opportunity! http://video.dptv.org/video/2365397527/ If this link does not work...you can always go to Detroitperforms.org and watch it under the archives. I was on Jan 6th 2015- "photographers" Thanks Diane Marie Kramer

Anybody out there?!!

.........Hello people out there...somewhere! ha. grin. I had a hell of a time getting back in here. Seems i have too many passwords out there and I am not a good one for keeping order- filing the password- username, etc...Hey! Call me impulsive when it comes to some things! grin. ok- So, I am hoping that things on your end are going well. This time of year can be a doozy for us sentimental Human beings...so- watch out for the hype! Keep well...try to do things that make you happy and above all.....Keep on reaching in your hearts and find a way to express! Hope your holidays will be ones that make the heart smile! cheers!! xx dk a couple of sketches for cement sculpture. a mixed media painting photo-montage for you to enjoy! A photo-montage for you! the angel like beings are paper cut out sketches of mine....thinking about setting the sketch to cement and steel.

Cement sketches for future figurative work- Diane M Kramer

Cement sketches for future figurative work - Diane M Kramer Been A while since i was on this blog. I seem to post more on my flickr Account. In any event, I did three smaller figurative studies using cement over steel mesh. I had hoped to make more but ‘life’ got a bit busy. will post some photos of the ones i have for the time being including work in progress shots. Thank you for your views and please comment if you are so inclined. dmk October 2013

VSA of MI - Artist residency- working with young people with Autism

I have been working again with VSA of Michigan- working with a lovely group of students who have autism at an elementry school. I have a wonderful assistant- Kimberly and the best teachers and aids. A very supportive group! We have a total of eight sessions which will be followed by an art show to celebrate the students efforts and artwork! I will be posting some photos from the journey thus far. I wanted to work on a project using little steps... the end result...hopefully will be a fresh bouquet of Spring flowers held by the students hand. We are using professional grade watercolor paper, acrylics, oil pastels and if time we also have some nice canvas paper to create some cool abstracts! The first session we played with materials...allowing the students to become familiar with us and also to have a feel for the materials, etc. Also, we traced their hands. This was for the most part a team effort. All the students are non verbal and many of them have limited ability to use full range of motor skills such as holding the brush or pencil, paint, cut and or glue.. Following the tracing of hand, flesh tones were painted onto the hand and when dry - cut 3rd session: was to paint Spring green onto paper which would be cut out later when dry. 4th session (our current stage) was to take the stems, leaves and hand and glue down onto a white piece of watercolor paper. This was challenging for all!!! but we did it, thanks to the great support team!

Audrey Mantey’s class at Arts Academy in the Woods

It has been far too long since my last post! As some of you may remember we have been moving to a new house. We are in the house since Mid Summer but still have the old house to contend with. Just not enough time ....There is some distance between the two houses so we are not able to to go often enough. So.... for now my posting is quite slow, but I still have photos I want to share while I had the privilege of serving as Artist in Residence at the Arts Academy in the woods. I had to dig through many albums to find these photos!! ugh. did not label them... jeez! in any event, This was Ms Audrey Mantey’s class. We worked on a mix of digital and hands on art. We explored a theme involving: where have I come from, where am i now...and where do i wish to be in future. I wish i had some of their art to share with you as they did a great job! It was towards the end of the school year and things were hectic. Most of the students were almost finished by the time I had to leave the residency. Below is a few fun photos of some of the students and I- Including their Awesome and talented teacher, Ms Mantey!

thanks everyone for having me in your classroom!!!

the Artist and her work in progress

a photo taken by Michael Schaefer and edited by yours truly. This was taken while serving as Artist in Residence at the Arts Academy in the woods. I have since been moving out of the area...we are still not fully moved and are moving in smaller increments. I think it is better this way so we can find proper space for things...not to mention build things for better storage etc..... We also have to fix and paint the old home..to sell or rent- so my presence on my blog is quite low! the work you see in the post is one i posted a while back titled, “Deconstruction- Construction” I have used a lovely red accordion that was given to me by an accordionist! Also in the work are bits of piano pieces that I acquired at AAW from artist Rick Jacobi. I hope to be able to finish this 4 paneled mixed media later this year when I am more situated.

The Mixed Media Mural in Ms Bucci’s Classroom

Hello!! Been a while since I posted on the blog. I am still very consumed with the move...seems That I am getting slower in regards to unpacking...and trying to find the right places for things!! so, I figured...adding a new post to my blog would serve as a lovely distraction !!! ha ha. If you remember- for those of you who were following my artist in Residence ....journey at the Arts Academy in the woods where I served as artist in res. from March until June 2012- I had the pleasure of working in Ms Bucci’s classroom. Ms Bucci is the Social studies teacher at AAW and is very progressive in her approach! She invited me to share some of my skills and philosophy with some of her 7th hour students. The students were inspired by my mixed media paintings on wood and wanted to also give it a go! There theme was “Revolution”. The interesting thing to note is when one works with others...there are always those who have different ways of approaching and seeing the work. I feel the entire experience was quite unique. I wish I had more time to spend with the class but feel that they did a fantastic job!!! Even Ms Bucci got to help a little with some painting! It would be great if the students and Ms Bucci would share their experience of working on a group mixed media project. I will post photos that share some of the journey! Thanks Again Ms Bucci and students for inviting me to share with you all. I am ever grateful for such a rewarding time shared. Note: to see all the photos thus far posted on my flickr account visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/25386365@N06/sets/72157629498989789/ best wishes, xx Ms D

Here is the completed work:

some photos from the journey....