ART: Mosaics from Bear Creek Elementary Students with Donna Lutzky

Retired art educator and mosaic artist Donna Lutzky collaborated with Mimi Graves’ fifth-grade class at Bear Creek Creek Elementary to create the vibrant mosaics on display at thump this month. The mosaics incorporate bits of broken cups, bowls and plates from the coffeehouse, and they will be available for purchases to raise funds for the school’s otherwise un-funded art programs.

Lutzky introduced “some simple design elements to the students and then discussed what a mosaic is,” she says. The students used 6-inch tiles as their bases and individual pieces of “tesserae,” including actual pieces of broken dishes from thump, to create their designs, she explains.

Graves describes Lutzky as a “gifted teacher, who is generously volunteering one to two days a week at Bear Creek.” Graves says that Lutzky’s donated work allows Bear Creek students an opportunity at a school that has “no funding for art or artist in residence opportunities.”

Lutzky, who will also show her own works here this month, writes in her artist’s statement: “My passion for patterns, textures, color and form naturally led me to the exploration of mosaics. I abandoned the traditional mosaic technique I learned in college and use a more free-form style, a ‘spontaneous’ intuitive search for the right pieces, resulting in accidental encounters. I have to ‘think’ in mosaics to create with the aesthetic traits of the materials I possess. Pique assiete (using pieces of broken china or shards) is a style I also incorporate into my own pieces.”

“All of art creation says something about its creator, and I hope my use of broken pieces shows the beauty and new wholeness of RECONSTRUCTED BROKENNESS!”

Because Graves recognizes the importance and value of arts education, she also annually orchestrates the Evening Art Gala in May, where all Bear Creek students have the opportunity to showcase their artwork for the public to appreciate and to purchase. For more information on the Evening Art Gala, contact Mimi Graves at 383-6120.

This is the second year Thump has showcased the artwork of local young artists from Bear Creek Elementary School during December. Thump owner, Hazel Chapple, was a teacher at Bear Creek, and she hopes “to offer ongoing opportunities for young artists to publicly show their work and take pride in their artistic accomplishments,” she says.

FEATURED COFFEE: Kenya Gaturiri Reserve, direct trade
Location: Karatina de Nyeri
Elevation: 1700-1800 meters
Varietal: SL34, SL28
Region: Africa
Flavors: Sweet sugar browning aromatics introduce dark fruit flavors of raspberry, huckleberry and black currant which compliment the coffee’s stout body and honeyed finish.
Notes from Stumptown: The members of the Gaturiri washing station within the Barichu Cooperative are the proud producers of our first ever East African Direct Trade coffee! To be able to guarantee such a phenomenal price to the association members of Gaturiri, under the Barichu Cooperative umbrella, is the first step towards transparent coffee business in Kenya. Stumptown worked on the ground directly with growers and washing station managers in the Central Kenyan Highlands. This grand cru lot, from the peak of the harvest, represents the finest quality coffee produced at Gaturiri this past harvest.

HOLIDAY BAKED GOODS:
Eggnog Coffee Cake, Pecan Pie Bars, Pecan Raisin Sweet Bread, Carrot Bread (with side of cream cheese frosting) Pumpkin Cranberry Coffee Cake.

HOLIDAY DRINKS:
Pumpkin Spice Latte, Maple Spice Latte, Egg Nog Lattee, Peppermint Mocha, Eggnog Chai, Hot Apple Cider.

CUPPING: No Cupping in December
Join us in 2009 for more adventures in coffee tasting.