The Artist's Way - Week Nine: Recovering a Sense of Compassion

What can I say about our session last night? We painted mandalas. Paint+stencils+old record albums = bliss.

Beneath the Surace - Searching For Memory: The Opening Reception

Thursday night was a RED LETTER day. It was the opening reception of my solo show, Beneath the Surface: Searching For Memory, in the Feature Area of  Guardino Gallery in Portland. Thirty pieces of my art were hung on Tuesday and Thursday night was the party. I had such a tremendous turnout that I'm still a bit verklempt. It sort of felt like an episode of This Is Your Life. Friends I went to high school with attended, members of my Salem Art Group, Portland Art Collective, and Lunaria Gallery all attended. So did friends from long ago and new friends from Facebook. Boating friends surprised me as did family members. Artist friends, former art teachers, and fellow artist classmates all came to support and cheer me on. It was truly a grand night. If you want to see dozens of photos of who all attended the party, you ca head to my art Facebook page:
Dayna J. Collins/Alley Art Studio. In the meantime, here's a glimpse of the night.

A sampling of the thirty:

Beneath the Surface - Searching For Memory: The Hanging

My solo show at Guardino Gallery, Beneath the Surface: Searching For Memory, was hung last Tuesday. Gratefully, my posse was with me and actually did most of the work. Stephanie, Tory, and gallery owner Donna all pitched in to make decisions about what and where to hang my 30 pieces of art (and then did the hanging!). Donna's son Galen helped with all the title cards and hanging a grid of 8x8s. It was a surreal day to see my art go up on the walls. When I left at the end of the day, four pieces had already sold!

The Artist's Way - Week Eight: Recovering a Sense of Strength

Tonight's creative project was to make a spirit stick, sometimes called a dream stick. A couple of ladies brought a nice bunch of branches to use as our base, and then the fun began. I brought out beads, bells, fibers, feathers, ribbons, wire, and charms. Their beautiful embellished walking sticks were stunning.

The Artist's Way - Week Seven: Recovering a Sense of Connection

After warm-up stretches, sharing about our week, and then discussing the chapter on strength, I handed out Paperclay and set out a variety of mark and texture-making tools and guided the women through an exercise on creating a personal plaque. It was a pleasure to watch their hands in motion (and Frida even stopped by for a table visit).

The next morning, I set their drying plaques in front of the window for a better view. Aren't they beautiful?

Beneath the Surface: Searching For Memory