Mary Lou's "Inside-Out" Show

Mary Lou has done it again! Mary Lou of the Mary Lou Zeek Gallery in Salem just concluded the sixth annual 100 Artists show, this year a benefit for Friends of Pimpollo.

100 artists received a book in the mail and were asked to art it up and return it to the gallery (they had three months to alter their book). The show went up the first of February and people could bid on pieces throughout the month. Beginning bids were $50 and maximim bids were $300. The show closed on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. I hadn't visited the show earlier because, well, I knew I would love what I saw, but I couldn't resist any more so on Friday afternoon, Howard and I visited the gallery and placed bids on three pieces. While there on Friday afternoon, I snapped photos of the pieces.

These are the three pieces we were initially bidding on when we stopped into the gallery in the afternoon. The first was the one Howard wanted, the second was one we both wanted (it was done by an artist in Italy!), and the third was my personal choice.

When we returned to the gallery on Friday evening (to watch over our chosen pieces), it became apparent that the book done by the Italian artist was meant for someone else (it sold for $200) and so we quit bidding on it. However, we were able to bid on a piece we hadn't really seen when we visited the gallery earlier. The outside was rather plain, but when we picked up the altered book and looked through it, we were amazed at the detail and the language. The artist is a psychotherapist in Seattle, Amanda Sargent and the title of her piece is Taking It From the Beginning. She used the following media in creating her piece: Book, wax, photographs, pencils, shellac, and tar! Amazing . . . we placed a bid and got to take it home with us!

Howard won the book he wanted by Eugene artist Mark Clarke. Here are a couple of views of Howard's book (just a cover, actually):



The book I wanted (and got!) was created by Tory Brokenshire of Copper Crow Studio. She is from Salem and I've never even heard of her before this. Hello, Tory, I'm in Salem, too!!

I'm in Aweaaaaahhhhhhawwwwww

It's one of those phone calls I dream of receiving. It goes something like this:

"Hey Dayna, it's Jamie and know you do a lot of collage and classes. I'm getting rid of some papers and I would like to give them to you. Also, I have a bunch of other stuff that you can have for $20 if you're interested."

My reply? "You betcha!"

And it wasn't a dream . . . .

I met Jamie several years ago when she was teaching an altered book class at Stampin' Cat Studio (the studio where I teach so many of my classes in Salem!) I remember that Jamie shared generously of her supplies and her artistic talents. We've stayed in touch mainly through e-mail, usually when one of us had a show or something going on. Jamie is the Jamie of Jamie Moffett and Off the Hook Studios. Go take a peek at some of her amazing artwork (and listen to the cool music she has playing on her blog).

We have been trying to connect for a couple of weeks now, but one of us was always rushing off to work or heading out of town. Today we connected. When Jamie arrived, she said she needed me to help her carry the two BOXES from her car. Ummmmm . . . . boxes?

Jamie and I chatted for a while, Jamie eyeing the goodies in my studio. We agreed that we liked the same kinds of things and agreed that if you're a collector like we are, you know it and understand it, and oftentimes other people just don't get it. We agreed to stay in touch, and she suggested I join the Keizer Art Association (I did this afternoon, Jamie!). Not long after she left, I dug into the boxes. (Insert oohs and ahhs right here - then see why.)










(And I haven't even gone through the large heavy box of ephemera shown above . . .).

We Want More! We Want More!

Last night's Visual Journaling class ended in a rather unusual way - it didn't. Let me back up. Last night was to have been the final evening of a four-week visual journaling class: A Life Collage - A Month of Thursdays. However, the four faithful women visual journalists staged a mini rebellion, at first politely asking me to continue the class for two more sessions and when that failed, they tied me to the toilet with duct tape until I agreed to facilitate for two more sessions. Since I was getting sore being tied to the loo, I relented - two more weeks it is! And graciously, Lisa of Stampin' Cat Studio gave her nod of approval for us to continue using her studio space.

During our session last night, we learned a few new techniques. One technique was using a blue foam block to make our own stamps, another was painting paint on magazine pages then pressing the painted page to pages in our journal. We also cut portions of poems out of poetry books (yes, we defaced books), then glued the words and lines of poetry in random order on our painted pages. We played with using masks (a sort of reverse stencil), and also explored the art journals of Randi Feuerhelm Watts. It was a good night. Here are glimpses of our pages (and our messes).

Well Well Well

I just finished making 52 pages for a fatbook swap I'm involved in at the upcoming Artfest. The swap is being hosted by Kristie LaRose, and she has been most patient with my dawdling and hemming and hawing (thank you, Kristie). The photo above is the front of my page (they are 4 inches by 4 inches) and below is the back, which carries personal contact information about me. The last photo is all 52 pages spread out on my bed letting the glue set enough for me to pack up the pages and ship them off to Kristie. Yikes Almighty! I feel accomplished!