K*NOW

K*NOW

Art Jam Registration is Open!

Jan 13, 2021 | , ,

A lesson on Rex Ray and shape during this our first virtual session last fall

I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season, and that if you made resolutions that they include making more art! Registration is now open for our winter classes, and the details are on our class page. I’ve decided to continue teaching virtually through Zoom. My spring class schedule is due to Parks & Rec on Monday, and I’m leaning towards more virtual classes. If you have an opinion on that, please email me because I’d love to know your thoughts.

Happy & Healthy New Year!
~Kelly

Happy & Healthy Holidays!

Dec 23, 2020 | , ,

Tony has been cutting his snowflakes again this year, but the resulting confetti is on the floor at home instead of the studio. There are just a few more days of the 25 Days of Snowflakes, but you can see all of them on Facebook and Instagram,

From our family to yours, we want to wish you a very happy and healthy holiday season. It may be different, but there are still opportunities for it to be joyful! As I’ve been teaching exercises classes at Powell Wellness Center, I’ve learned to appreciate that there are still smiles underneath those masks…sometimes you have to look more carefully to see them!

Thank you sincerely for your business and support during this challenging year. It has meant so much to us and helped us juggle the demands of virtual school with our kids. We are grateful to be part of a very special community.

Happy Holidays!
~Kelly

25 Days of Snowflakes

Nov 24, 2020 | , ,

I realize the holidays are a little different this year, and one thing I’ve noticed is that Christmas trees and decorations have been going up a lot earlier! Twinkling lights are so cheerful, especially as our hours of daylight become shorter. The shops in downtown Culpeper are in full holiday mode, and I hope you’ll have an opportunity to visit and help support them.

Tony is preparing for his annual 25 Days of Snowflakes, and this year we have a shirt for sale thanks to our friends at Kash Imprints. On sale now through December 4, they come in a variety of colors, and are available with festive packaging and a gift message. Click here to purchase.

Tony has been cutting custom pop culture snowflakes for the past 6 years and posting them on social media. The shirt design includes some of his most popular snowflake patterns including Baby Yoda, Sesame Street, and The Grinch. If you look carefully, you’ll discover hidden references and characters. You can follow along beginning December 1st on Facebook and Instagram.

Sales of our shirts benefit our Art Jam classes and help to offset the investment in technology to transition these classes online. I taught our first classes through Zoom this fall, and while it required a lot more planning, it ran very smoothly. I was so happy to see that the kids adjusted so well and were very interactive with me and each other. Our next session will begin February 2 and it will focus on drawing. I also have some virtual watercolor workshops planned for all kids and adults.

I am thankful for the opportunity to share art with all of you. I hope you have a very happy Thanksgiving!
~Kelly

15 Years of K Art & Design in Culpeper: Culpeper Air Fest

Nov 16, 2020 | , , ,

The CulpeperAir Fest is a celebration of aviation heritage and is a fun, family-friendly, community-oriented event. The show is locally produced, free to the public, and draws top performers from around the nation. We have worked with the Culpeper Air Fest since 2016, rebranding the festival, designing the event graphics, and redesigning the website. We’ve created everything from posters and street banners, t-shirts and hats, and fundraising materials like brochures and invitations.

Tony serves on the marketing committee for the Air Fest board, and he really enjoys being immersed in the event—taking photos of the 5th graders at the STEM event, prepping for the Sponsor Night Lights event, and helping with the finishing touches on the Jumbotron presentation with the Culpeper Media Network crew.

The Air Fest did not take place this year, but we look forward to when we can hear those planes buzzing overhead again!

2017 Theme Design & Poster

Logo System

2018 Theme Design & Poster

Our Favorite Cake Guy Turns 100!

Nov 15, 2020 |

Wayne Thiebaud is one of the most popular artists I’ve shared with students, and while they may remember him as the “cake guy,” his art definitely makes an impression. He’s one of my favorite artists too because of his work and his wonderful attitude as reflected in the quote…

“If we don’t have a sense of humor, we lack a sense of perspective.”

The Crocker Museum in California has been trying to celebrate this special birthday with a retrospective of his work, but the museum has had to close repeatedly because of the pandemic. The show will eventually travel to other museums around the country, and I think right now the closest it may come is Pennsylvania. I’ll definitely be watching for it and will let you know!

You can read more about the show and his work here.

Here’s an older video interview too.

Virtual Art Festival and Open House

Oct 9, 2020 |

I’m getting the gallery at my studio ready for my first virtual art show tomorrow. The Crozet Arts & Crafts Festival has gone virtual, and I’ll be participating online as well as having an open house at the studio from 10-2. Masks are required, and private appointments can be made as well. Feel free to stop by virtually or in-person! I plan to paint while I’m there since that’s what I usually do at shows. It keeps me busy and less nervous.
My virtual booth will have all of my new paintings from this year. This is the most artwork I’ve created since college, and it’s been one very positive thing to come out of this very strange year. I’ve made 67 paintings that vary in size from my little watercolors which are 2.5″x3.75″ to acrylic paintings as large as 12″x24″. I hope to complete painting #68 during the festival!
Thank you all for your kind and generous support! I paint because the process of painting helps me find peace of mind. I get to slow down, explore, and play. I share and sell my work because that brings me so much joy in the wonderful people I have met and the stories they have shared with me.. I think of my work as brightening spaces in people’s homes with pops of color, but maybe it can do more than that. I’d like to think so.
~Kelly

15 Years of K Art & Design in Culpeper: Culpeper Harvest Days Farm Tour

Sep 16, 2020 | , ,

We have had the pleasure of working with Culpeper County Economic Development on the Farm Tour since 2010. Each spring, we begin by designing the save-the-date postcard and developing a color scheme that will tie together all the printed materials, as well as the website and social media marketing. Over the years, we have featured many different aspects of local farming from animals to flowers to iconic hay bales. For the 20th anniversary in 2017, we highlighted several of the past designs (see poster).
Once the look is established, the website gets a fresh update, and we create social media graphics, the initial print ads, and the poster. The poster is the first printed piece that will list all of the participating farms so it can be challenging to collect those commitments, but a deadline often helps move that process along!
The final marketing pieces we design are the brochure and the tour t-shirt. The t-shirts are shared with the farms and volunteers. It’s really fun to still see the shirts being worn around town! The brochure is a bigger undertaking because it includes the descriptions of each farm, the scheduled activities, a map of the county…and a lot of changes because everyone involved needs to review their pages. I think we all breathe a sigh of relief once it is done.
Working on annual community events like the Farm Tour, has been important, meaningful work to us. We love to help spotlight what’s available right here so everyone can be a part of the fun, as well as help promote these events outside the county too. Tourism is an important piece of our local economy and with people staying closer to home, a day trip might be the perfect break.

Free Fall Fun! Take a Break and Get Outside!

Sep 10, 2020 | , , ,

Fall is just around the corner and so is one of our favorite local events—Farm Tour weekend. Take a break and get outside for some FREE family fun right here in Culpeper on Saturday and Sunday, September 19-20 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.

The Culpeper Harvest Days Farm Tour offers a special opportunity to explore local working farms, agribusinesses, plus wineries, breweries, and distilleries. Activities, food, and entertainment vary by location. To learn more, visit the Farm Tour website or follow them on Facebook for the latest updates.

You can start anywhere and visit one or all of the stops on the tour! Click here to download a copy of the brochure which includes a map and directions to each farm. Each location will have printed brochures onsite as well.

If you have any questions about the event, I’ll do my best to answer them. We have been working on the Farm Tour for the last 10 years. A highlight for my family has always been the model trains which are displayed at Culpeper Agricultural Enterprises. Before the museum moved into the historic Depot, it was held there and having real trains that close to model trains was a special thrill. The Piedmont Railroaders Club would stop all operations at the first sound of an actual train, and everyone would hustle to the windows to watch it go by. My kids were so excited to learn that there were adults that loved trains as much as they do.

I hope you can take a break and check out some part of the tour. It’s very difficult to plan events right now, and it would mean a lot to the coordinators, the volunteers, and the farms to have a good turnout. They take great pride in the work that they do, and they’d love to share it with you.

~Kelly

Fall Schedule

Aug 19, 2020 | , ,

 

I hope you all are well, and that you’ve managed to have some fun this summer! Our family has made a lot of art this year, and it’s helped all of us tremendously. Mr. Tony has been creating superhero artwork on his computer, I’ve been painting in watercolor and acrylic, Cole has been working on cross-hatched portraits, and Joy has been drawing portraits in color pencil on toned papers. I’ve tagged each of our instagram accounts if you’d like to see our recent work. Joy doesn’t have an instagram account, so I posted a sample of her recent work above.

We have missed sharing art with you, and I’ve given the fall schedule a lot of thought. Our classroom space has always served us well. It’s a bright and open space, but it’s not very big once you consider the latest health guidelines. It’s also challenging to plan classes right now since I have to make the commitment to the county about 4 months before classes start.
With all that in mind, our fall Art Jam classes will be held virtually on Zoom, a platform with which we are all now familiar. I’ll admit that I’m nervous about how to engage students and the advanced planning that virtual teaching will require, but maybe it’s time for me to learn some new techniques too!
As difficult as things can be right now, I’ve also found that there are some unique opportunities. I’ve been teaching fitness classes virtually, and I’m able to reach people far outside of Culpeper, including friends and family out of state. I’ve also had participants in Guatemala and Japan. The Parks & Rec department has seen this happen with other classes as well, where the majority of participants are out of state. I am curious if we will see this happen with registrations for art classes, especially since many students will be attending school online this year.
I’m going to do my best to keep offering classes that share art education in a fun way! I am preparing project kits with supplies to make it easier for families to participate. Once you register, we’ll make arrangements for you to pick up a kit, or we may be shipping them too!
~Kelly

15 Years of K Art & Design in Culpeper: Culpeper County Public Schools

Aug 17, 2020 | , , ,

Before and After

In 2017, K Art and Design had the opportunity to rebrand Culpeper County Public Schools. It was an interesting challenge. The previous logo (left) had not aged well, and with the focus on books, it seemed to represent a library more than a public school system.

We learned at the beginning that the first applications of the new logo would be a job fair display and recruitment materials for new teachers. The logo needed to be modern and distinctive and also give the viewer an idea of Culpeper ‘s location at a quick glance.

Retaining a link to the original book concept was explored, but ultimately, the selected design focused on the idea of a pathway to success with a C for Culpeper encircling the starred location on the map. The color scheme was chosen to distinguish Culpeper from other school districts that often use primary colors.

Since the launch of the new design, we’ve enjoyed seeing the many ways it has been used. Our favorite is the activity school bus!

 

Logo for Career & Technical Education

Pop-up banner design for job fairs

Sticker design

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