Case for Making Friends
In 2021, I was first invited as a guest instructor for Case for Making Friends, the online class platform for the San Francisco-based watercolor shop Case for Making. The online sessions encourage process-focused exploration. To learn about upcoming sessions, please visit: https://www.caseformakingfriends.com
Meditation on Anni Albers’ Grid Patterns
A couple of years ago, I discovered American textile artist and printmaker Anni Albers at a Bauhaus exhibit and was immediately drawn to her bold geometric patterns. When I returned home, I started painting her textile patterns on CfM dot grid paper (and now CfM has graph paper too!). Drawing inspiration from weaving, I work row by row creating a sense of mediation and flow, using the negative and positive space on the grid to create a pattern.
In this session, participants will explore using a grid to create geometric patterns. With one color, participants will also explore the impact of water on the saturation of their paints.
Session first introduced in November 2021 as “Grid Pattern Meditation.”
Watercolor Calligraphy
A couple of years, I wanted to learn calligraphy to jazz up my snail mail. (Fun fact: Since I was a kid, I’ve been a stationery aficionado and stamp collector with my dad.) I first learned calligraphy with a point pen, and then in 2016, I attended a workshop by Nicole Miyuki Santo at Handcraft Studio School and instantly fell in love with watercolor calligraphy!
In this session, participants will explore how they can transform their own handwriting into calligraphy! During this session, participants will design their own alphabet sheet and learn how they can use watercolor calligraphy in greeting cards, postcards, and envelopes.
Session first introduced in December 2021.
Watercolor Calligraphy *February Edition*
Since I was a kid, I’ve been a stationery aficionado and stamp collector with my dad. I first learned calligraphy with a point pen, and then in 2016, I attended a workshop by Nicole Miyuki Santo at Handcraft Studio School and instantly fell in love with watercolor calligraphy!
In this session, participants will explore how they can transform their own handwriting into calligraphy! During this session, students will design their own alphabet sampler and learn how they can use watercolor calligraphy in greeting cards, postcards, and envelopes. Participants will create three different Valentine’s card designs.
Session first introduced in February 2022.
Meditation on Alma’s Stripes
This session was co-taught with Sonal Shah.
During the pandemic, bi-costal best friends Sonal and Anjelika started taking art classes online together. The best friends visited their first gallery together in years for the recent Phillips Collection exhibition “Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful.” Learning more about the artist and her practice, and witnessing Thomas’ work up close, Sonal and Anjelika started painting Thomas’ signature stripes together. They both come to their practice bringing different lenses and learned techniques, so it’s fun to see how they interpret the same painting differently. While Anjelika focuses on structure and colour, Sonal is interested in the subtle nuance of the variation in the marks Alma is making. In the end, they are both inspired by Alma W. Thomas’ work to create their own distinct, unique pieces.
Using Thomas’ art as reference, participants will explore using Alma’s Stripes to create their own geometric patterns.
Session first introduced in March 2022.
Paints created in the class by myself and my mom.
Sunflowers for Peace — Fundraiser
This session was co-taught with Tatiana Deogirikar.
Over the past few weeks, mother-daughter duo Tatiana and Anjelika have been drawing and painting together as a way to process the invasion of Ukraine. A favorite memory of visiting family in Ukraine was driving outside of Kyiv and seeing vast fields of sunflowers — one of our favorite flowers. Sunflowers are a symbol of peace in Ukraine; you can learn more about the meaning of sunflowers in Ukraine here.
Inspired by the rich tradition of Ukrainian folk art in our home, we’ll paint sunflowers together in graphic and playful styles. We’ll learn how to simplify images, sketch out our designs, and color mix. Participants will create a sunflower portrait to promote peace.
This special fundraiser was hosted in April 2022.
All proceeds were donated to Sunflower of Peace, a US-based non-profit organization mobilizing medical and humanitarian aid for people affected by violence in Ukraine. 💙💛
Beyond the Grid Pattern Meditation
A variation on Grid Pattern Meditation, I started exploring pattern-making without a grid. Drawing inspiration from American textile artist and printmaker Anni Albers and the improvisational quilts by the women of Gee’s Bend, I create a sense of mediation and flow, noticing the negative and positive space, as I move across the page to create a pattern of repeated right triangles.
In this session, participants will explore using a grid to create geometric patterns. With one color, participants will also explore the impact of water on the saturation of their paints.
Session first introduced in June 2022.
Painted Paper Collages
I find collage to be an accessible medium and one of the most fulfilling ways to get value on paper. Collages allow me to focus on composition and explore color. I create collages with my own painted paper and found paper, and then add my own embellishments with paint or colored pencil. Collages also give me a chance to give a second life to something painted previously that did not feel complete.
In this session, participants will create collages with their own painted paper and found paper at home. We will explore different techniques of contemporary collage such as creating painted paper with washes and mark making, approaches to cut up paper in exciting ways, and methods to create a composition.
Session first introduced in July 2022.
Meditation on Sonia Delaunay’s Colors in Motion
Last year, I discovered the Ukrainian-born artist Sonia Delaunay and was instantly inspired by her use of color in her paintings and her bold geometric textile designs. Learning more about the artist and her practice, I was inspired to explore Sonia’s use of color and geometric shapes in my own work. Along with her husband, their work became known as “Simultanism,” which describes how bold, contrasting colors in a composition can enhance each other.
Using Sonia Delaunay’s art as reference, participants will create their own geometric patterns and explore the effect of simultaneously incorporating contrasting colors in a single piece.
Session first introduced in August 2022.