Art All Around Us!

Heidi Ragsdale, Alpha Mu, Colorado

Welcome to Fall, a great time to put on a sweater and make some cider from the orchard down the road. Fall’s also a fantastic time for artistry with friends!! This time with other women in your life can make for a grand adventure with super positive energy, that we all crave and need in our lives beyond the classroom! 

I have found that crafting and making beautiful things with other women helps to serve as a reset for my soul, and so much so, that I am writing a blog about it!  Here, I will share some ideas to get your artistic energy flowing, right from within a DKG Chapter.

Perhaps in your Delta Kappa Gamma chapter you have that one gal who has bags and boxes and a never-ending supply of fun items to use for arts and crafts.  Well let’s look to her and other members for supplies and lean in for guidance to make beautiful creations.

Look for the Yolandas, the incredibly inspiring fabric and quilt artists, who can guide you with whip-stitching or how to make felted wool, which can then be made into a small sachet or coin purse. Those quilters inspire others with generous donations to hospitalized persons and cancer patients.

Search for a designer decorator like Elizabeth, who teaches you to be an elegant and artistic host for your Founder’s Day. What she helps you learn is that art and beauty can be found in some of the best spots, including on vinyl cutting. 

If your chapter member has an Ann, who showcases her beautiful sustainable yard, you grab your camera and snap the super in-focus bee, chicken, or foliage photos! You might even capture a photo of her many canned items that will likely be up for sale at the upcoming scholarship auction.

You may have a chapter member, Kelly, who shares her love of designing beautiful meal art,  which may be worthy of inclusion in a local magazine. This published artistry is worthy of sharing with many more women.

Ask your dual language school educator to read her most recent poem or story in her beautiful first language. Have her tell you about her students learning in two languages and encourage her to share her stories of the art, culture and history of her country.

Look and listen closely and perhaps there is a Therese who can share creative art and baking strategies of her incredible handmade celebration cakes. Don’t forget to snap a picture of your cake creation, then lick the bowl. 

Find your science teacher members and ask which night sky, satellite image, or mission  by which they are most  inspired. Ask to see their latest painting or mixed-media art piece of which they are creating.

Perhaps ask one of your chapter’s master yoga instructors to share the artistic colors of auras. Then sit in that moment to create colorful art on a pallet of your choice.

Look to your members who share beautiful cultural meals. Take pictures and  inspire others to find their inner chef or baker.

During meetings share photos of places visited, activities with family, your favorite landscapes, seascapes, and plans for next trips. But don’t limit yourself to just photos. Paint, sew, or write about what inspires you from these experiences. 

As a chapter, encourage each other in the arts, and to members who may say, “But I am not an artist”. share the ideas you have just read about. Ask your chapter members for support because they might just be the inspiration you need for your artistry, or ability to become a potter, a fabric artist or to write poetry, stories, or music. If you need more Inspiration, check out:  https://gallery.dkg.org/ 

Finally, how do you synthesize all these ideas, photos, pictures of bees and gardens and felted wool and the poems that hit your soul? Well by golly, you head over to the DKG Arts and Humanities Art Gallery, and you share your works with the entirety of members worldwide. Other members may inspire you and you may inspire others to see Art All Around Us!