Duets: Opening

The 100th Monkey Studio Duets Show opened on Friday night. Destree and her family (Champ, Olivia and Deven) piled into our car with Howard doing the driving. After arriving in Portland, we dropped off our piece, Dark Heart, for the 5th Annual Portland Love Show (which opens next Friday), then headed over to Old Wives' Tales where we met up with my daughter Amy and her family (Mike, Jackson, and Emmett). We chose the restaurant not only because it has delicious food, but it is also within walking distance to the 100th Monkey Studio where the Duets opening was being held.

Here I am surrounded by two of my favorite women!


Champ and Olivia (Olivia is opening a journal I made for her to celebrate her 7th birthday, which is TODAY!).



On our way over to the studio, Amy and Destree got into a little mischief . . .



Welcome to the Duets Show!






Here is some of the art done by other artists in the show.

13 Pieces of Art, 4 Venues, 2 Cities

I have 13 pieces of art scattered across four venues in two cities. Here's a listing of what I have cookin' for the month of February!

100th Monkey Studio: Duets Show

In collaboration with Destree, we created the following piece, Into the Abyss.


Here are the details of the show:


(Above image was featured on the show card: Lotus Lady by Jennifer Mercede & Anna Todaro)

Opening night: Friday, February 5th from 6-9pm

Show Dates: February 5th-28th, 2010

The event will be from 6:00-9:00pm and is free and open to the public, all ages welcome!

This month all the art in the show was created in a collaborative effort.

Featured artists this month:
Collaborations by Jennifer Mercede & Anna Todaro

Additional collaborations include:

Chris Haberman & Jennifer Mercede
Jessica Breedlove & Joshua Latham
Laura Poynor Daley & Beth Ann Short
Troy John McCray & Todd Meisler
Michelle Freedman & Doni Connor
Beth Ann Short & Mina Bella Kreiter
Ans & Stuart Ellis
Kerrie Hubbard & Kate Morris
Carli Davidson & Beth Ann Short
Dayna Collins & Destree Ruldolph
Junko Suzuki & Jessica Cornelius
Ian Shickle & Karen Loehner

We will also be featuring live music by Scott Eaves, Ronnie Taylor & Tom Lund

The 100th Monkey Studio
110 SE 16th Ave
Portland, Oregon 97214
503-232-3457

100 Artists at Mary Lou Zeek Gallery

My entry in Mary Lou Zeek's annual 100 Artists show, Pieces of Memory.

The details of the show from Mary Lou Zeek's website:

Nourish and Sustain
100 Artists Show
February 1 – 27, 2010
Benefitting the Marion-Polk Food Share

100 Artists agreed to a challenge to participate in our show to raise awareness and funds for the Marion-Polk Food Share. Each artist was mailed a simple food can, unpackaged, nothing inside except two beans and a small tag with the name of the show “Nourish and Sustain”. During this month the artists present their own ideas of what it is to “Nourish and Sustain” while creating these striking and inspiring art pieces.

The 5th Annual Portland Love Show

Another piece done in collaboration with my friend Destree.

The details of the show:



Four Fabulous Females in February


The details of the show:

Month of February, 2010

Opening Reception is on Saturday, February 6th, at Cafe Noir (610 Marion Street NE, Salem), from 5:00-7:00 p.m.

Into the Abyss: A Duet

Duets. It's the theme of the February show at 100th Monkey Studio in Portland. And by duets, it means any theme as long as two artists both contribute to the piece being submitted. So Destree and I teamed up to create a bit of heart art, which we titled Into the Abyss. The title came from some lines taken from a book by Paul Coehlo, Eleven Minutes:

At every moment of our lives,
we all have one foot in a fairy tale
and the other in the abyss.

For our substrate, we chose a wood panel (16 x 16 x 3). I slathered on a rich layer of Golden's Molding Paste, drew in a heart, left the studio, and sent Destree a text message telling her it had begun.




Destree, who lives next door to my studio, popped over and drew in some marks of her own.


Then the painting began. Here's how it worked: I made my marks and splashed paint during the day, and under the cover of darkness, Destree would pop over to the studio and add her vibrant touches to the piece. We left notes for each other like we were back in sixth grade!

Nice color!
This is fun!
I did two days' worth because I'll be gone until Friday.
Have fun!
I guess we have a green heart!
Where could this go?
Yikes Almighty! Now what about that arrow?
Chartreuse green?

And so it went.







Last Sunday, we both scheduled it to be at the studio together. We needed to add final touches, paint the edges (and that pesky arrow), and add our text.

Into the Abyss!

For the show submission (we'll find out later this week if the piece has been accepted), we both had to write a little bio about ourselves. Here's what Destree wrote:

Destree is the wife of a Champ and the mother of two beautiful children. She spends her days as a Behavior Specialist for an organization that supports adults with Developmental Disabilities. But her real passion, the passion that fuels her day-to-day alter ego, happens after five o'clock; she is a mixed media artist. Currently her favorite mediums are beautiful papers and finger paints. She is also a traveler on the Artist Way Path.

And here is what I wrote about myself:

Dayna is a lover of bright, vibrant colors, especially orange and red. She loves texture, whimsy, and making a mess. She is a self-taught artist who delights in taking art classes throughout the Northwest. She is willing to try almost anything, but her favorite mediums are mixed media and assemblage and her favorite tool is using her hands. Dayna facilitates expressive arts workshops in Salem and Portland and for the past few years has successfully guided women through 12-week creative recovery sessions using The Artist’s Way. When not making art, she is a certified drug and alcohol counselor and presents workshops on wellness and communication.

Both Destree and I agreed that this was a fun way to make art and we already have two future projects lined up . . . just because we want to!

Just Keep Going

Just keep going. That was what I had to tell myself this morning as I approached my studio. I was feeling a bit disheartened, a lack of confidence for sure, the negative chatter getting louder and louder.

Back in early July, I responded to an open call for artists to contribute an 8x8 piece of art to the 100th Monkey Studio in Portland. The studio was assembling a “50-50 Show,” inspired by the 100th monkey phenomenon and with a theme of art as social change. The deadline to submit artwork was today and as of this morning, I had nothing.

I had been thinking about what I wanted to do for weeks and various ideas floated in and out of my head. I talked to my daughter Amy about some themes, talked to Howard about how I wanted to approach the piece. I read and reread the story about the 100th monkey phenomenon. In case you’re wondering what the heck the phenomenon is, here’s how the studio describes it:

The name of the studio was inspired by a story one of the partners read. It is a story that some believe to be fiction, but the message is one of positive social change.

The Japanese monkey, Macaca Fuscata, had been observed in the wild for a period of over 30 years. It was documented that in 1952, on the island of Koshima, scientists had been leaving the monkeys sweet potatoes in the sand in exchange for a look into their social culture.

In 1958, one female was documented as washing the sweet potatoes in a nearby stream to rid it of the dirt and sand. She was documented as teaching the habit to her mother and her playmates. The new trait spread throughout the island. Suddenly not just on this island, but on surrounding islands and onto the mainland monkeys were washing their food.

The number 100 is merely a symbol, but in the story it was used to recognize when the trait forever changed the species. This magical occurrence was named the 100th Monkey Phenomenon.

So today I arrived at the studio knowing I had a small window to create a piece of art for the show and then hop in my car and get it to Portland, an hour's drive away. I took a deep breath, put Black Eyed Peas on my iPod, danced around a bit, said a little prayer, and told myself to “do what I know.” And so I did, I started to glue down tissue paper and words, I added texture and designs. I danced and told myself to just keep going. Before I knew it, my piece was complete, except for a title. I went to my bookshelf and pulled out a book of quotes from author Paulo Coelho and the first quote I read was the one I chose (from The Zahir).

We are all growing and changing,
We notice certain weaknesses
That need to be corrected,
And although we may not always
Choose the best solution, we carry on regardless.

I added a line from the quote to my art: we carry on regardless. I glued the full quote from the book to the back of my art so whoever purchases it can know where the line on the front came from.

The final embellishment was a little clay piece that I purchased from Clarissa Callesen at ArtFest last year and was what I named the piece: ASPIRE.

Here's how my morning progressed:

My finished piece, Aspire.

I jumped in the car, drove to Portland, had lunch with Amy and my grandsons, dropped off the piece at the 100th Monkey, and before hopping back on I-5, I made a little stop at a store I’ve been wanting to visit for years. But that’s another blog post . . . .

The studio where my art will be hanging:

The show is a celebration of the studio’s third anniversary (3rd Annual Juried Show) and a fundraiser for the 100th Monkey Scholarship Fund (50-50 Show). For the 50-50 show, there will be 50 artists participating and each piece of art will be sold for $50. Please join the First Friday Opening on September 4th from 6:00-9:00 p.m. The studio is located at 110 S.E. 16th Avenue and the show runs through the end of September.