What's Happening in My Art Life? A lot!

I've been hyperventilating just a bit lately with all the wonderful art opportunities that have come my way. When I'm feeling overwhelmed, I find relief by organizing things so I thought I would try organizing my scattered thoughts by sharing what I'm currently working on. Here goes.

LITTLE THINGS 12 at GUARDINO GALLERY

I am participating in the Little Things 12 show at Guardino Gallery in Portland. The show opens on Black Friday, November 23rd, with a reception from 6-9 pm; a second reception will take place on Alberta's Last Thursday, November 29, from 6-9pm. I'll have several Curious Elements in the show.

ONE OF A KIND ARTISAN GIFTS at LUNARIA GALLERY

As a member of Lunaria Gallery in Silverton, I always have work on display in my area of the gallery. For the month of December, the focus will be on One of a Kind Artisan Gifts, where I will also have some Curious Elements available. The opening for the One of a Kind show is Friday, December 7, from 7-9 pm during Silverton's First Friday event.

ARTBLOX at MARY LOU ZEEK GALLERY

I'm currently working on ten little blocks for a Mary Lou Zeek project. You might be familiar with the Art-O-Mat machines that take old cigarette machines and repurpose them to dispense art. I bought my first piece of art from an Art-O-Mat many years ago when I was at an art gallery in Chicago. Then, I discovered another machine last year on N.E. Alberta in Portland. Mary Lou has repurposed an old cigarette machine and named it ARTBLOX to dispense art with proceeds from the sale of the art blocks going to the Artists in Need fund. I'm currently working on a batch of ten blocks.

PULSE OF MIXED MEDIA2 WITH SETH APTER

Some pretty big deal news is my invitation to be a Spotlight Artist in Seth Apter's second Pulse of Mixed Media book being published by North Light Books (here's a link to his first book). This commitment means I need to create two pieces of original art (in process) and answer a series of questions. But that's about all I can share at this point. Seth has done a great job of bringing the artist community together over the past few years in his blog, The Altered Page. I'm hoping I get to meet up with Seth when I'm in NYC next month. (Side note: when my studio appeared in Cloth Paper Scissors Studio magazine in the fall of 2010, Seth's studio was featured in the same magazine.)

THE ARTIST'S WAY at ALLEY ART STUDIO

After a year hiatus, I'm once again teaching a 12-week Artist's Way Creative Cluster. Six brave women have signed up to take this journey with me at the helm, beginning in January. I'm happy to once again be offering these sessions.

TEACHING at THE ART DEPARTMENT

I was coaxed out of my teaching hibernation by my friend Katy and I'll be offering something brand new, a class entitled Layers of Memory: Working With Plaster, Paint, and Wax. This will be a six hour class at Salem's Art Department January 25 and 26, 2013. We'll get together on Friday night to spread plaster, then reconvene in the morning after our plaster has had time to set to add layers of paint and texture. Registration is now open, so contact The Art Department to sign up. (And one more new class is also in the works - I'll share as soon as I work out the final details with Katy, but it will involve working with cold wax and oil paint. Yummy.)

SACRED SCRAPS at WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY

In February, I'm part of an exhibition at Willamette University's Hatfield Library. I was the brainchild behind this exhibit and invited five assemblage artists to join me. It took off from there. We already have a website, Sacred-Scraps, and we'll soon have a Facebook page for you to follow our progress. The artists beside myself are: Stephanie Brockway, Tory Brokenshire, Shelly Caldwell, Jennifer Campbell, and Darlene Schaper. Our exhibit will incorporate the raw materials we use in our assemblage work (some would call it junk), as well as completed pieces. The opening reception will be Friday, February 1, 2013, from 4:30-6:30 pm. Did I mention there will be food? The exhibit will be available for viewing through the month of February during public library hours.

MY OWN SHOW at GUARDINO GALLERY!

I haven't necessarily saved the best for last, but it certainly is the most ambitious of my projects. I have been given my own show by Donna Guardino in the Feature area at Guardino Gallery. Yikes Almighty. I've already begun keeping regular studio hours in preparation for this amazing opportunity (and hopefully amazing show). The show will run February 28-March 24, 2013 with the opening reception at Alberta's Last Thursday, February 28, 6-9 pm. You can be sure that I share more about this, although images will be sparse - I want it all to be a grand surprise.

So that about sums up my next four months. I'll be working hard, posting updates as I can, but primarily keeping my nose to the little grindstone of my studio. I'm excited, grateful, nervous, excited, fearful, and excited.

Paper Stack: An Online Collaboration

Once again, Seth Apter of The Altered Page has invited artists to participate in an online collaborative art event (and if you hop on over to Seth's blog, you'll see a list of the participating artists with links to their blogs). Artists were invited to photograph a stack of their art papers and/or handmade journals and post them on their blogs today. I love my handmade art journals and it was a pleasure to round them up and snap some photos. The above picture is my official Paper Stack for the collaboration and below are shots of the individual journals that make up my Stack.







A final parting shot of my Paper Stack before putting my journals away.

The Pulse: Chapter 3

I'm participating in Seth Apter's 5th edition of The Pulse, which he describes as:

The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts.

My response to the first question: How would you describe your artistic style? appeared in his third post, which appeared on the 4th of July. Here's a link to the whole blog post. Subscribe to Seth's blog, The Altered Page, and you'll receive notification each time a post is made.

Obsessions and Collections

Seth Apter is a New York artist who deftly brings the artist community together through a variety of challenges, questionnaires, and collaborations. He is currently facilitating the sharing of artist's collections and obsessions in an open art call. Here is a description from Seth's blog, The Altered Page, about this current project:

Welcome to the fourth edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. Nearly 150 artists have answered a list of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented as a series of online and print projects. Links to the first four projects (Secret Sunday, The Book Guild, StudioScapes, Viewer's Choice) can be found on the sidebar of my blog.

Collectors Edition is the fifth installment in which your favorite artists share their favorite collection or obsession. Today we have an open edition.

And I am participating in the open edition Seth mentioned in the above paragraph. To see the list of participating artists, just click on this link and it will take you to Seth's blog. For my contribution to the project, I've chosen two photos that give you a teeny tiny peek at my obsessions.