Pioneer Ridge portraits

This January 12th, six new people joined our LifeJAMS program! Remember that our LifeJAMS is a program geared towards youth ages 18-21. The new group consists of:
Heather French
Tiana Williams
Thomas Waltz
Danielle Long
Kait Head.
We were very excited to welcome these fresh, young faces!

Recently, as of March 18th, the LifeJAMS kids have started doing portraits of the Pioneer Ridge residents, taking over where the previous LifeJAMS kids had left off. Each kid is assigned one elderly resident to do a portrait of each Wednesday. Kids can use various mediums, ranging from pencils to pastels, or even doing the portrait on darker paper.


Tiana Williams getting into the artistic spirit.


Danielle Long with her resident.


Thomas Waltz proudly shows off his masterpiece.

You can view more pictures of the drawing festivities here at our Flickr account

All of the residents and LifeJAMS kids are enjoying this project very much, and look forward to each Wednesday.

Silent Auction Ends Today!

Monday, December 15 is the FINAL DAY for the Silent Auction items!! 

That's right... today is your last day to place bids. The Van Go Gallery is open from 1pm-5pm and bidding ends at 5pm. 

For those who have already placed bids, you are welcome to contact Van Go at 785-842-3797 to see if you are the highest bidder or to update your bid. After today you may check back here or call Van Go to find out if you are a winner! 

Remember, the items up for auction are the coat trees, large Obama portrait, several mosaic items, and a few of the large sized trash cans. 

If you still haven't finished your Christmas shopping, the Van Go gallery is still open! Every day (including weekends) from 1-5pm you can come in and shop your heart out. We still have a large variety of glassware, glass jewelry, magnets, collages, handmade cards, silk scarves, picture frames, aprons, placemats... the list goes on and on! 

More Portraits!

The Life JAMS artists are at it again, visiting one of Lawrence's retirement homes to draw more portraits of the residents. The eventual goal is to draw every resident and to have an art show displaying all the portraits! 

The Lawrence Journal-World came out and took some pictures and wrote a story about our service project. You can view it on the Journal-World website here: 

Model Citizens: At-risk artists, retirement home residents pair for portrait project

Some of the pictures are a little big today, so feel free to click on them to see the full-sized picture. 

Kyle proudly displays his portrait on December 3. 

Sadie's model looks delighted as she views the final product!

Lottie looks lovely in lavender, and was very happy with her portrait. 

Jordan displays his colorful portrait---certainly not traditional, but wonderful nonetheless!

On December 10, the day the Journal-World came to visit, our art director Cathy came along and drew a portrait herself. 

Wanda dressed up in her favorite color and was sure to sit pretty as she modeled for Cathy!

Sitting by the fireside in the cafeteria isn't a bad way to spend a morning!

Kyle did his best to help his model relax. Some of the residents have never had a portrait drawn before. Never let it be said that you can't do something new every day!

"Feisty Pearl" was a wonderful subject with her beautiful red hair. 

This Wednesday, December 17 will be our final trip to the retirement home before the Christmas holiday. In the spring, hopefully the new Life JAMS artists will continue with this project! 

That's right--have we mentioned? Most of the Life JAMS artists are heading out into the world. Andrew, Sarah, Sadie, and Kyle will finish their term at Van Go this week. It's sad to part ways, but Van Go has prepared these artists to make their own way! 

More Faces of Van Go

Recently the Van Go Life JAMS artists decided to do something to give back to the community. The Life JAMS students are working with Pioneer Ridge Retirement Community to provide portraits to some of the residents. The first trip to Pioneer Ridge was a big success, and the Life JAMS students will return a couple more times in December to draw more residents.

Everyone was very focused on their willing subjects:













And the end results looked great!













Speaking of portraits, a famous face has been seen around Van Go lately...



Our President Elect, Barack Obama, as portrayed by Life JAMS artist Jordan. Jordan has done a series of portraits with words--this one fatures words such as "hope," "change," "dream," and "audacity." The finished portrait is one of the items available during this week (November 25-29) in Van Go's first Silent Auction. From 10am to 5pm daily, stop by Van Go to place your bid on select art items (and get a preview of the items that will be on sale at Adornment this Saturday!)


Another Silent Auction item-- a mosaic oval mirror (mirror not shown in this picture.)


Also in the Silent Auction, a smaller oval mirror.



Come place your bid on this fantastic spiral wall hanging!



Something new and exciting this year are some amazing coat trees. Constructed by a wonderful Van Go adult volunteer, each coat tree is as unique as the artist who decorated it. All coat trees are for sale in the silent auction!

Our Master of Mosaic, Andrew, painstakingly cut and glued the mosaic tiles on his golden tower of a coat tree.



This coat tree looks almost like a stack of brightly wrapped Christmas presents precariously balanced--don't worry, it's much sturdier than cardboard boxes and ribbon!



This masterpiece is a real "Coat Tree of Arms." Subtle hands climb their way upward, just asking to take your coat.



Jeremy is proud to display his natural wood coat tree embellished with nails, tacks, and metal plates.




Almost like the plumes of a peacock, this coat tree is just blooming with color!


Please stop by Van Go this week to bid on our Silent Auction items---and we hope to see you on Saturday at 7:00 for Adornment! Happy Thanksgiving!

What's that? Adornment in 2 weeks?

Adornment is coming, Adornment is coming! Only 2 more weeks until Van Go's Adornment show--the official gallery opening and gala event to show off all of the amazing artwork created during the fall!

Mark your calendar if you haven't yet--- Saturday, November 29 is Adornment! That's 2 days after Thanksgiving. Adornment will be held at Van Go-- Our address is 715 New Jersey Street. We're on the corner of 7th and New Jersey, right across from the Amtrak station.



Jeremy from LifeJAMS looks a wee bit nervous about the upcoming show.


The JAMS apprentice artists put their creative minds to work as they adorned wooden napkin holders and trivets with wooden blocks, balls, discs, and spools. After painting, the napkin holders and trivets will have mosaic tiles glued onto them and be grouted.


What a lovely matching pair. The areas where mosaic will be are taped off to keep them clean during the painting process.


Here you can see a set that has the mosaic tiles glued into place. Later they will be grouted to create an even surface, perfect for those pots off the stove!


Kyle, another LifeJAMS student (and JAMS alum!) works to develop a mosaic pattern for his trivet and napkin holder.


Some more lovely glass pieces that have been fused. Magnets, picture frames, and some dishes waiting to be slumped!


Here's something new to decorate your tree... icicle ornaments! Put these on a string with some pretty beads and people will wonder how you get such lovely icicles without the accompanying puddle on your floor.


The holidays mean lots of house guests. Protect your furniture and wow them with your style with a fused glass coaster set!


There are other beautiful mosaics being created. This spiral would make some lovely wall decor.


This flower will have a round mirror in the center. Ooh la la!


Some KU students from Maryanne Jordan's textiles classes have been assisting our JAMS kids this fall. They taught the kids some great fabric decorating skills. Check out these luxurious silk scarves!






Finally, our glass is getting slumped! Those big flat squares and circles are magically becoming plates, bowls, and dishes!




It looks like Jeremy got his act together and finished his table/hall runner. Here he is applying a coat of sealer to protect it from wear and tear.


One of the first projects of the fall was to make a collage on canvas using materials donated by many fabulous people in our community. Jewelry, fabric, newspaper clippings, and more found their way into works of art large and small.








Who is this smiling face? Why, it's Mandy, our office manager! Her big, beautiful desk is finally complete so she is right by the entrance if someone decides to drop in.


Speaking of beautiful, some of our fused glass is being turned into fabulous jewelry such as these pendants.


If you feel like going western (with a bit of class!) think about one of our bola ties.


Don't be fooled... these ties aren't just for the menfolk!


Is your interest piqued yet? We hope so! I'll bet if you didn't have November 29 circled on your calendar before, you sure do now! Just imagine how wonderful it would be to have all of your holiday shopping completed a mere 2 days after Thanksgiving!

Capital Campaign Donors Get a Sneak Peek!

A couple of weeks ago, Van Go held a very special event for some very special people. The event was a sneak peek at our new space and the exciting projects happening right now. The special people were all the generous donors to the capital campaign that funded our building project.

A temporary "Donor Wall" honors all the different levels of donor--from Rolls Royce donors to Cadillac donors! In the future there will be a more permanent installation to recognize all who contributed to this amazing feat. There's still time, however---would you like to see your name on the donor wall?



Of course, no Van Go soiree would be complete without a marvelous spread of food and drink. This food is a work of art all by itself!




The new front desk makes a wonderful impromptu bar.



Our new space leaves lots of room for people to mingle and chat. In the background, videos and slide shows played, showing off some of the fabulous Van Go JAMS students and their accomplishments while at Van Go.


Lynne Green, our founder and director, makes a wonderful hostess as she welcomes our guests to the wonderful new space.



Susan Tate, the capital campaign chairperson, took the floor for a while to speak to the crowd.



Not to be outdone by the ladies, our board president Brad Chindamo had his turn at the microphone.


Ah yes, a lovely evening in a beautiful facility. What a wonderful way to honor those who have given so much to Van Go!



A thankful Van Go JAMS student was happy to greet those who attended to show her appreciation!



Another great big THANKS to all of our capital campaign donors!

New Spaces, New Faces

Van Go has officially moved into the fresh, newly renovated space on the south side of our building. If you have been familiar with Van Go, we hope you will be just as delighted with the changes as we are. We will give you time to pick your jaw up the floor when you enter and see this before you:


With skylights, lofty ceilings, and walls of glass, we finally have the room to really let our creativity expand!

And of course, with a new school year our Van Go family expands as well. JAMS and Life JAMS are both welcoming new faces.

(Hello, Alex!)

We are jumping right in and doing some fun projects that will be available at our holiday Adornment show. Mark your calendars--the Saturday after Thanksgiving, or November 29, is our Adornment show and gallery opening. Come ready to find lots of beautiful, creative, unique holiday gifts to give away--or something you have to keep all to yourself!

Trash has never been classy until you put it in one of our fabulous, hand-painted galvanized steel trash cans. Look at Tony, Jesse, and Jessica hard at work!








Altogether, they make quite a collection.



And what kid WOULDN'T want to go home and tell Mom they got paid to play with broken glass?



Macio puts his creative juices to work, making a picture frame to be fused in the kiln.

Some items, like picture frames, go through the kiln once and are ready for sale.


Other items, like this bowl-in-progress, will be fused once, then put back in the kiln with a ceramic mold to be "slumped" into their final shape. (Trying to eat cereal out of a flat bowl would be pretty messy!)



Life at Van Go isn't all fun and games. Sometimes we really work up a sweat! A generous volunteer from Be Moved studio visits weekly to lead the Van Go and Life JAMS staff in an hour of yoga.



This is just another example of how Van Go works to improve the lives of its apprentice artists in all areas--by learning job skills, earning wages, and also by learning how to be healthy and to take care of their bodies.

For some of the apprentice artists, the work they do at Van Go isn't enough. They like to get creative outside of work, too! Check out this piece of art by Jordan, one of the new Life JAMS apprentice artists.



You can find Jordan downtown at Fatso's on Wednesday nights, doing his "live art" paintings for all to see.

At the end of the day, working at Van Go is a very rewarding experience, in more ways than one-- each week a JAMS artist is recognized as the "Employee of the Week." Congratulations, Joe!



Keep checking back to see more of what's going on at Van Go!