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More Bullseye BE Con Stories…

June 27, 2011 by Cathi Milligan

Bullseye’s conference BE Con’s theme was Crossover. A material exchange. There were glass blowers, painters, architects, a photographer, a wood sculptor, among other arts enthusiasts. I want to profile each of the speakers in the next few weeks so you can get a taste of what I experienced there. It was truly reewarding and highly educational as well as incredibly inspiring. Some of the artists I have mentioned in previous postings while they were doing work at Bullseye and I have already mentioned Silvia Levenson, who is awesome. Today I want to talk about Mindy Weisel. She was on a panel with Kari Minnick and Tom Jacobs and was discussing the collaboration between the three f them on a large courtyard installation project.

Mindy is an abstract painter that fell into glass as she put it. She started working in glass in 2005 with Kari. By 2008 she had a major commission for a large-scale outdoor kiln glass work in Maryland. She went to Bullseye for fabrication assistance and was helped by Tom Jacobs, the third person on this most interesting panel discussion. During the discussion we learned about the process from Mindy’s introduction to glass through creating a moquette and having it scaled up, and all of the challenges that accompanied that amazing endeavor. So very inspiring!! Read about all of the presenters here…

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Have you read?

Book Review: The Festival of Lights

As if Diwali weren’t colorful and fun enough, The Festival of Lights: A Lift-the-flap Diwali Celebration by Namita Moolani Mehra, illustrated by Darshika Varm, makes it even more fun to read about with flaps and things to lift and pull to see more information or details in the illustrations. 

The book is a story about a family getting ready for Diwali and what happens on the different days of the five-day celebration. There’s cleaning, shopping, crafting, food preparation and getting the home altar ready for the big day. 

It covers decorating the outside of the house with rangoli, diyas and lanterns, buying sweets to share with family and friends, the sights and scents of the mandir (home temple), getting dressed up in new fancy clothes, the story of Diwali and celebrations with relatives.  

Flaps (there are more than 140 in all) give you vocabulary words for different foods and definitions, as well as fun things like what’s inside the shopping basket or where the cat is hanging out. They also help illuminate the story of Diwali, which is the triumph of good over evil as Lord Ram defeated the demon Ravana to save his wife, Sita. 

This pretty and colorful book helps kids understand what Diwali is and how it is celebrated, regardless of whether they practice it at home. This would be a nice book to keep in a classroom (it’s rated for kids ages 3-7) or to have at home to teach kids about Diwali even if it’s not something you celebrate. Where I live there are a lot of people from India so we are probably exposed to Diwali more than some other regions of America, but it’s a nice holiday to know about wherever you live. 

Combine with the book Diwali and check out some fun lantern crafts and printables for kids to round out your experience. 

About the book: 24 pages, hardcover, published 2025 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail prices $22.99.

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