NAEA with Rick & Maria

The loud BUZZ of tangling permeated the convention halls of the National Art Education Association (NAEA) convention (held in Fort Worth, TX- March 7-10, 2013) because the founders, Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas along with Molly Hollibaugh (Maria’s daughter) were there to promote the Zentangle method of drawing.

Rick, Maria & Paparazzi

A Zentangle Fan buys her own copy of the Book of Zentangle from Peter Ouyang of Sakura of America. 100% of the proceeds went to Youth Art Month (YAM) donated by Sakura.

I ran a separate booth with Cayetano Olivarez and Kimberly Romano that was sponsored by Texas Lettering Arts Council. It was visited by many art teachers who brought Zentangle back to the classroom to teach their kids, and for personal enjoyment.

Teachers Tangling at NAEA

I also had the privilege of facilitating a Zentangle project to the NAEA participants on opening night from 7:00pm – 10:00pm and was busy with tanglers the entire time!

Sakura of America donated their fantastic Identi-pen for the teachers to tangle with on the pre-strung, 6 foot banner.

Dr. Joan Maresh Hansen assists another teacher with patterns.

Rick, Maria and Molly tangle on the almost completed banner the next morning.
Notice the oval frame cut out above Molly’s head. Maria tangled that frame and gave it to Sakura. So cool!

Tangle Time with Rick, Maria and Molly

Tangled Texas Banner

We all had so much fun – relaxing with the Zentangle method of drawing.

My Teacher Helpers from left to right: Kelly, Dr. Joan Maresh Hansen, Me,and Margo

Our booth featured creative ideas teachers can do with their students, like the Tangled States of America, String Starters® rubber stamps, Icosahedrons, Apprentice kits, pens, books, books and books that even feature my work!

Tangled Letters and Zendala by Angie Vangalis, CZT featured in books published by Fox Chapel.

See my work in One Zentangle A Day, Zentangle 5, 7 and 8 and
The Joy of Zentangle.

Happy Tangling to YOU!

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Mandala & Zentangle®

I had a recent conversation with Suzanne McNeill, CZT who has published 12 books over the past 2 years on Zentangle® method of drawing and Zentangle-inspired art.

My work appears in Zentangle 5 and in both Zentangle 7 Zendalas & Zentangle 8: Monograms & Alphabets and The Joy of Zentangle, in addition to a Zentangle On Silk You Tube video also produced by Suzanne’s company.
Suzanne’s books and publicity have been instrumental in making Zentangle popular and I am honored that she has agreed to teach a Zendala mini-class at the Marketing Retreat for Certified Zentangle Teachers on Labor Day weekend 2012 – see the YouTube video HERE.

A Zendala is a term coined by the Zentangle Corporation that is a Zentangle in the form of a mandala. The patterns are drawn to fill each section of a circle.

Joan started this Zendala in one of my classes!

Mandala circles have been used to connect the spirit with the divine for centuries. They offer symbols found in nature as subjects of contemplation. These circle provide an opportunity to explore oneself through ancient teachings.

To create a Zen Mandala, you need only a circle template, a pen and your creative imagination. There are also pre-printed Zendala tiles available for purchase through any CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher) or the official Zentangle website.
The samples above were created from the Zendala collection by the Zentangle Corporation. A set of pre-printed tiles includes 2 tiles each of 9 different designs plus 3 blank round tiles.

For optimal pattern choices, take a class from a CZT in your area.

Zentangle and CZT are the registered trademarked intellectual property of Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas.  For more information about Zentangle, please visit Zentangle.com.

String StartersTM for Zentangle® Inspired Art

I came up with the idea of this post and to explain how to use the String Starters digital and rubber stamp line I created earlier this year for the craft industry.

String Starters were created to assist my students with time-saving and pattern making techniques. The digitally created pattern “base” is used to start the pattern.

Patterns you can create with String StartersTM

One of the foundational techniques used when creating a Zentangle involves drawing a “string” – an impulsive line that creates the boundary, or area in which you draw (or “tangle”) your patterns. String’s are not absolute. You just use them as a guide and then “go for it” with your pen.

LEFT: A String is lightly drawn on an official Zentangle tile. RIGHT: Patterns drawn within the String with a Sakura Pigma Micron pen.

String Starters are not, technically a string, they are helpers that start the patterns you tangle within a string.

There are 12 sets of patterns in the String Starters stamp line.

String Starters, It’s only the BeginningTM of your Zentangle inspired art because you can go in so many different, creative directions using them.

I am using words associated with the Zentangle drawing technique as a SEO strategy because Zentangle is a VERY popular art form and a buzz word in the craft industry.

I will promote my post on Facebook, the StringStarters.com site and through my email marketing list (Constant Contact) AFTER I migrate this blog site to my established domain http://www.angievangalis.com – since this blog is a subdomain off WordPress.com url.

Glass Door Opens A Window of Opportunity

When this door closes it will benefit under-privileged, economically challenged and at-risk young people through La Buena Vida Foundation, a non-profit organization serving the greater Irving area.

I tangled this interior, glass-paned door for charity on behalf of Googly Eyes Art & Craft Supplies where I teach classes in calligraphy and Zentangle® drawing techniques. There were a total of 8 doors decorated by participating artists which will go to auction to benefit La Buena Vida Foundation.

I accepted the challenge of drawing on glass with a white enamel paint pen.

While I had more than 3 months to paint the door, the project was actually started only 4 days before the opening reception featuring the embellished thresholds.

I also had no idea of what to do on a glass door!

Then, under the pressure of procrastination, my creative mind kicked in.

After measuring the pane of glass, I went to my iMac and created a basic spiral design or “string” to tangle in Adobe® Illustrator – a vector-based drawing application.

The digital file was then emailed to Kinko’s for an extra large, door-sized laser print-out on white paper.

I set up the door in the back room of Googly Eyes Art & Craft Supplies and secured the paper print-out to the back of the glass panel with clear packing tape.
My Art Music playlist (Intermedium by Kostas Moustakas, one of my favorite songs) set the pace as I picked up the new paint pen and tangled the entire glass panel for almost 4 hours. I wanted to keep the patterns very simple, so I only  used two of the official Zentangle patterns known as Flux and Shattuck, plus my own version of Flux called Paizel.

I think the overall look of the white enamel paint on glass successfully resembles etched glass! What do you think?

The Written Word by Hand or Blog?

Tangled A by Angie Vangalis

I’m an artist with a passionate interest in calligraphy and related expressive art.

This is the first blog entry I’ve ever made that I can call my own, as I create blogs and websites for other small businesses.

I’ve been certified in the Zentangle® method of drawing and my work has been published in several books (one in 6 languages – released November 1, 2012). The “tangled” letter, above is published in a book titled “Zentangle 8 – Monograms and Alphabets” by Design Originals.

Last June, I attended Calligraphy Northwest, the 31st International Calligraphy conference, where I took a 5 day workshop on fluent styles of movement with Ewan Cayton. Ewan is a well-known scribe and excellent instructor from England. Here are some samples of my aetwork from last week.

Vitality

Golden Strokes & Letters

My goal for the rest of the year is to blog more frequently about creativity!