Tag: Hampton Historic Inc.

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Hampton National Historic Site Art

Watercolor Workshop

On Sunday, I taught an online watercolor workshop as a fundraiser for Hampton National Historic Site, through Historic Hampton Inc.

This was our first zoom art workshop, and I have to say it went really well. There were 19 participants that created beautiful paintings of spring flowers, inspired by the watercolor paintings of Helen Ridgely.

Helen Ridgely’s Watercolor Paintings

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In many ways, this lady was a model of the modern woman during her time. It was said that she could work at the farm tending chickens all morning, go back to the Mansion and change clothes, then catch the train for Washington and have tea at the White House with her friends, the President and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt.

She traveled independently, continued her studies, managed the estate and its finances, formed her own opinions and expressed them openly, was active in civic endeavors, kept an apartment in Baltimore, was Chair of the Ladies Auxiliary for the Maryland Delegation to the 1907 Jamestown Exposition, had a telephone installed in the mansion, and learned to drive an automobile.

She took great interest in the natural world, whether depicting landscapes nearby and abroad; in the science of botany, taking courses in the subject; managing, reorganizing and enhancing the formal gardens at Hampton with an astonishing array of varieties; participating in gardening clubs, including founding the Amateur Gardeners; or simply observing local plants and flowers. She used her great interest and knowledge to manage the flower and vegetable gardens, orchards, and trees at Hampton. Years later, Helen was awarded a Diploma from the prestigious Maryland Academy of Sciences based on her studies and achievements in botany and horticulture which she had put into practice at Hampton.

https://historichampton.org/

After discussing Helen Ridgely and looking closer at her watercolor paintings, we dove into watercolor tips and techniques. Participants became familiar with different ways to use watercolor and everyone created their own flower paintings.

Thank you to everyone who participated, and thank you to HHI board for being such a wonderful team to work with! Together we raised almost $400 for Hampton!

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Hampton Art Experience

For the past 6 years the Historic Hampton Inc. non-profit has hosted an art show for any Maryland students and teachers to submit work inspired by Hampton National Historic Park.  It was always a wonderful show, however this year we decided to work with BCPS Visual Arts office to create our first Hampton Art Experience at the historic site.  I took my 8th grade GT students!

Teachers in Baltimore County signed up to bring 20 of their students to the Hampton mansion for a full day art experience.  Students rotated between 2 of the 3 art stations which included:

  • Gardens & Light where students learned about the history of horticulture at Hampton Mansion, and about the properties of light as they created cyanotypes using natural objects located on site.
  • Understanding Architecture where students learned about the history of the architecture and engineering at Hampton Mansion, and were able to work on creating their own mansion, or recreating the Hampton Mansion in a drawing like an architect.
  • Fibers on the Farm where students learned about life on the Farm at Hampton Mansion and used fibers to create artworks that were inspired by Hampton.

My students attended the Understanding Architecture station, lead by architect Anne Boyce and Gretchen Maneval.

and Gardens & Light station, lead by Carroll Cook.

On Saturday, the student work was on display in the orangery for a reception.  Families were able to come and see their students work, as well as take a tour of the Mansion!

This was by far the best art experience and we are looking forward to hosting our second experience next year.

<3

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Plein Air Painting

For the first three days of summer break, I participated in a Baltimore County Public Schools Art Educator workshop at the Hampton National Historic Site.

The first workshop was “Painting with Pastels. We got an overview of some of the history of the site prior to choosing where and what to create and were able to roam where we pleased to create art inspired by the park.

We gathered together around 2pm to discuss all of the work we’ve created! The workshop was scheduled to be over at 3 but we didn’t even finish our talk until 3:40! Art teachers really like to discuss each others work.

 

The next workshop was Plein Air Painting for 2 days! The weather was gorgeous and I surely got some vitamin D. I love being able to create art inspired by a place I am drawn to. The Hampton National Historic Site is one of those places. Baltimore County Teachers have come to Hampton for the past 4 years to practice our skills using our very own National Park.  Most teachers use this workshop to create their own art for the Student/Teacher Art Exhibit the Hampton Historic Inc. facilitates in April. Teachers also take their inspiration back to their classroom and teach their students about Hampton while creating art that is inspired by the site.

Last year there were over 100 submissions into the 4th Annual Student/Teacher Art Exhibit. This is a perfect opportunity for teachers and students to be recognized for their amazing work.

This year I decided to do an intuitive painting for the plein air workshop. I used tools, and my color combination layer to create an emotionally fill painting.

When I first started painting I was drawn to the Bee Balm flowers, so I started with them in mind. After making my first two layers of colors I noticed a mark that looked like a woman! I knew I had to keep her, as I felt like maybe she was Eliza Ridgely or her daughter.

 

Eliza Ridgely was an avid gardener, and in the 1830s and 1840s she improved the gardens and enhanced the landscape at Hampton, planting exotic trees such as the Lebanon Cedar which still stands on the house’s south lawn. She is said to have brought this herself as a seedling from Europe, carrying it in a shoebox. She did a lot for her slaves, was which was unheard of in her time. She took care to make sure they were clothed, fed, given gifts during Christmas, church services on Sunday and even marriages between the slaves, not caring that slaves weren’t able to actually be apart of a civil act.

Eliza’s daughter, Eliza, did not want to be the lady of the house and take over the duties her mother had so willingly adopted. Her daughter wanted to be friends with the slaves, and to be free to be a normal girl. She felt trapped in the life she was born into.

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While I was painting I kept hearing, “everyone has a story.” A lot of times the major story focused on at the mansion is the story of the enslaved people at Hampton. I appreciate the awareness and knowledge I gain from the park rangers about the life of the enslaved. I know their story is vital to the Ridgely family history… without their slaves, life for the Ridgely’s wouldn’t have been the same. But it is also important to see that within every experience, there are multiple perspectives, there are multiple stories to be told.

The Ojibwe teach that not one road is higher than the next…that each road shines light on the others. Each of our perspectives, each of our stories are valuable and vital to the totality of our life experiences.

I am grateful to be able to learn multiple perspectives about the history of the Hampton National Historic Site, from life as an enslaved person to the life of the family. I am able to learn about plants, flowers and landscaping along with art and culture in the 1800’s. There is still much to uncover and learn about Hampton and I look forward to how the history at this location resonates with experiences I have in my life.

<3 Migwetch
Raine Dawn

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Finding The Story

A few Fridays ago I was given the opportunity to take my GT art students to Hampton National Historic Site to see plays that were being put on by students at The Baltimore School for the Arts. Sophomores at the school are asked to develop a project that shows history through drama. These students used the Hampton National Historic Site for historic research and inspiration to create plays based on the theme “Find your Park.”

 

 

My 8th grade students enjoyed watching the plays, and hearing from the students afterwards about everything that went into completing their project. The quality of the story line, character profiles and costumes made this an amazing event to attend. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful experience with Ridgely Middle School.

 

 

 

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Hampton National Historic Site, Artist in Residence

I have recently been honored by being elected to the Board of Directors for the Historic Hampton Inc. non-profit organization. HHI works with the National Parks Service for the Historic Hampton Site. Their mission:

…to promote directly the historical, scientific, educational and interpretive activities of Hampton National Historic Site and to accept gifts, contributions, or loans and otherwise engage in fundraising to finance and pay for the above mentioned activities in respect to which no funds from the Federal Government or other sources are available.

I am working with a few lovely ladies on the Arts Initiative, bringing art and education together using the collection at the Hampton National Historic Site. The mansion was preserved mainly because of its art collection, mostly due to the piece “Lady with a harp” by Thomas Sully, a great american painter. portrait-of-eliza-ridgely-the-lady-with-the-harp-056

This past weekend HHInc. hosted its first Boutique Art Show in the Orangery, at the Hampton Historical National Site featuring our first artist in residence at Hampton, Paul Moscatt.

Paul is a very talented and expressive plein air painter. I laughed many times this past weekend, Paul has a wonderful sense of humor. He will be holding a workshop for educators at the Hampton site, date to be announced. Check Paul out on his facebook page!