Shishmaref, Alaska (population 560) is a small island about 100 miles from Russia.

Peggy Birkenbuel is an amazing lady who taught Zentangle there.

In her first email to us, she described herself as a "70 year old art teacher for rural native schools and bush villages." She had seen a Zentangle on someone's desk and thought Zentangle "would be a good warm-up exercise" and it would "energize and relax participants and get them to be creative without fear of failure in drawing."

We arranged to get some materials to her in time for "Break Up" - that's when the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers' ice flows move downstream into the Bearing Sea and small float planes can set down on the water. She says, "I wanted to help students get rid of the notion, 'I'm not good at art.'"

Peggy teaches Zentangle throughout Alaska as part of her "Bucket List" and does most of it at her own expense. She often works with "found" materials and creates inks and brushes from natural objects.

We just received this picture by mail. Some of her comments about that class:

"WOW and double WOW, what these youngsters did... I made a bulletin board out of their Zentangles and the principal said he was going to preserve it on a wall and laminate or somehow keep it intact."

"Both teachers said they have never seen them altogether so "engaged". More later. Tomorrow I have 60 during the whole day and that will be K thru first and second. I'll share later."

Peggy is planning to join us in October at our Certified Zentangle Teacher training. We're looking forward to meeting her.

 

 

We are having the best time with our new BLOG Zentangle. Please drop by and join our conversations.

 

Discuss this newsletter here.

 

 

Toni Henneman, CZT, created this amazing piece she donated to support the "Hearts for the Arts" school fundraiser in Worcester, Massachusetts.

 

 It's beautiful, Toni. Congratulations!

 

Hi Rick and Maria --

I taught two classes of 30 each at the Hudson Montessori School yesterday - 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. It was an extraordinary experience. The art teacher, who has been teaching there for 20 years, says she has never had such a quiet and attentive classroom. Both the boys and the girls were 100% engaged. We gave them boxes, pens, pencils, and tiles and they caught on to basic tangles immediately. Then I took them on a little tangle adventure, explaining how they could develop their own tangles and name them and showing some of my own and how I found them -- on the upholstery of a booth at a restaurant, and from a quilt, etc. As I walked around the room, my heart was singing and dancing! They took the tangles that I showed them and interpreted them in ways I could never have even dreamed about! They were teaching me about being free and exploratory! Now I want to get a bus and paint it with Zentangles and travel from school to school to teach and be taught by children!

It is also of great interest to me that children can have this creative way of finding peace and calm. They have stress at school, home, and in their relationships. Teaching them Zentangle brings them a fun, creative and uncomplicated way of feeling peaceful.

Thank you once again (and not for the last time) for opening up the world of Zentangle to me, and in turn to so many others.

With gratitude,

Carol Bailey Floyd, CZT - Ohio

Although trademark law is not our favorite hobby, as interest in Zentangle grows, we are learning how important it is to maintain the integrity of our Zentangle name and the Zentangle art form and method.

With help of some good advice, we're developing some guidelines and will keep them up-to-date on our website legal page and probably on our blog as well.

Here's some Zentangle legal trivia:

• We have a patent pending on Zentangle's teaching method. We are several years into this fascinating process and have become good friends with our patent attorneys. We have a bottle of champagne at the ready and will let you know if and when we pop its cork.
• Our square red logo is a registered trademark.
• Zentangle is a registered trademark.
• CZT is a registered trademark.
• "Anything is possible, one stroke at a time" is a registered trademark.

For now, what this boils down to is, if you are writing, talking, making video or whatever about Zentangle, please link to our website and include the following information:

We will keep these suggestions updated on our legal page, so if you're reading this after March 2010, please check there for the latest.

If you have any questions about this, please send us an email. We're trying to do the right thing as our baby grows up and heads out into the world.

 

 

 

Rick and Maria