Poster Art: Designing for Not-for-profit events

I don't have a lot of time to make art these days, although I do have a degree in fine arts and always love it when I am asked by someone to create a design for something that touches me. Twice a year, I take it upon myself to design posters to advertise the children's gardening events I head up in Washington Market Park in our hood, Tribeca. For these occasions I turn a blind eye to technology and make collages with some of my collection of paper scraps. Below is this years design for last week's event. I print the copy out on a colorful piece of paper, then I cut out garden themed shapes and stick them down. My inspiration for this collage work comes from the artist Birdie Lusch, whom my husband Kerry Schuss represents at his gallery, KS Art.

 Birdie was an outsider artist from Columbus, Ohio who made everything in her apartment into a piece of artwork. The books of collages she created in the 70's were particularly wonderful. Birdie turned simple shapes cut from pages torn from magazines into other things. She was one of those amazing characters who didn't create art as careerist activity, but more as a natural impulse that made her days happier. Making these posters, and passing by them on the street as I walk in our neighborhood, leading up to an event makes me happy.  And another poster I just finished below was for a not-for-profit Tribeca Foundry, who are helping to build a library of book for children with Jumpstart.  My good friend, Christine Sciulli who heads up the Tribeca Foundry, asked if I would donate the original poster, so they could frame it for the library. I said of course, what an honor! I'll do anything to inspire kids to read.