Studio Sale

Over the second weekend of September (already three weeks ago?!) I had my first solo studio sale (that wasn't associated with any organization).  It was great!  It was exhausting!  Here's a look back...

I'm prolific--can't stop with the making--so my inventory is vast.  

My shed housed mixed media work from my salvaged wood days.

Turned my shed into a display room.

I had surprisingly few wall clocks left.  I was able to get several out to new forever homes!  Hurrah for aluminum, it doesn't degrade!

Clocks are dwindling...

 These little dudes were hanging out in my closet.  I still love them all and was able to share several with customers!

table toppers

 The biggest part of my sale was the ceramics section.  You can make a lot of work in just a few years if you keep it in your basement most of the time.

So. Many. Ceramics.

Love these faces.

I still have plenty left, so I'll be having an online sale through Facebook and/or Instagram.  Stay tuned!

I had a lot of help from friends during the set up and break down process, and seeing all your lovely faces and meeting new people from the neighborhood was awesome.  I might make it a yearly thing! There's certainly enough making still to be done...

Fall Shows!

This weekend I head to Sioux City, Iowa, for ArtSplash.  This show kicks off my Fall Time Art Show Whirlwind when I will have five shows over six weekends.  Yikes!

5 x 5 black with blue heart

Like ArtSplash, I will be going to ArtSarBen in Omaha for the second year in a row.

5 x 5 cream with orange and turquoise orzos

For the first time Art Westport has accepted me--a show that only takes artists from a 40 mile radius of the show's zip code.  I live 1.6 miles from there but I might as well have lived on Mars for the last decade because the judges passed me up year after year when I applied with my clocks.  For a few years I boycotted the show (both going and applying) because of hurt feelings and general WTF-ness.  This year I applied with mixed media ladies and they asked me to show.  So it better be good!

funky legs

There are two other shows I've never been in--CRAFT and Barstow Arts Festival are first-year shows, but they're in Kansas City proper, so I thought I'd give them a shot.  If things don't go well, at least I will be sleeping in my own bed!

8 x 8 turquoise with white dino

Later in November I'll be selling at the Lake Quivira Holiday Bazaar for the second time and then gearing up for our big Studio Sale at Meya Ceramic Studio through the KC Clay Guild the first Friday weekend of December.  It's our fourth year!  

I'm excited that my shows are relatively close and packed together, because then I'll be able to see just what many of my friends go through when they're showing every weekend.  I might hate it!  But what if I love it?  I don't have to drive more than 4.5 hours to any location, which I can definitely handle.  I'm looking forward to meeting new people and finding new ice cream joints along the way!

pink barn

OKC Year Six

It's the end of April, and that means that my studio is a mess, my back is out of whack, and I am recouping from a six-day show in Oklahoma City.  Unlike previous years, I didn't drive around the Monday after the show and take pictures of the town...I just wanted to get home to my Clover (and see the guy I live with, too).  I was invited to attend this year, unlike last year, when I drove down the day of set up without knowing if I was actually going to be in the show--waitlisted up to the last minute!  But it paid off and not only did I get the relief of planning my inventory knowing I'd show, I also get to show next year, too.  

So...here are some pictures of my little spot at booth 23A...

That's a lot of stuff.  I packed it in with both bodies of work.
(The clocks are what people wanted this year, as it turns out.)

My neighbor, roommate, mentor, and friend Laura Nugent.
She is normally not as wind-blown.
(Also, all  photos of me were taken by her.)

 Let's talk about the weather...just kidding.  I think these pictures say enough.

Sold all my heart clocks!  This was the last small one, and it was gone by Thursday.
There is a large cardiac center in OKC, which I forgot to take into account...

I took this while it was raining and water was jumping onto the clocks.
Here's proof that my clocks can take some weather.

Over half-way through the week.

What a business woman I am, unwinding from the day with a laptop and some pistachios!

A repeat customer came and almost cleaned me out of small hearts
 for his macabre dining room.
Repeaters are so wonderful!  He also scored the skeletons above.

I ate many, many, MANY sweets over the week.  The OKC Arts Council makes sure that the artists are full of calories in refined sugar and bleached flour form.  I had a few apples as well, but, you know...when in Oklahoma.

Big Things Are Happening...

I've been making BIG CLOCKS.

30 inch diameter; weighs 5 lbs.

All hand-cut salvaged vinyl, naturally!  And sanded aluminum behind.

24 x 24 inches; probably weighs about 5 lbs., too...

PAINTED aluminum (and sanded twice) with hand-cut vinyl scrap!
I love the look and will be making more with this technique.

I've been making BIG ART.

Close Your Eyes 'Til You're Blue in the Face
Salvaged 100+ year wood flooring, paint, 1960's
Prevention magazine paper dots, vinyl
16 x 35 inches

There are still some nails in the wood, too.

Big Smoke
Two panels salvaged wood shelving, paint, hand-cut vinyl, hand-cut paper
23 x 37 inches

I've been preparing for a BIG SHOW.

Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts!!
Sixth year running, crossing fingers for zero storms/high winds/clouds of locusts.

I have a million different ideas and have been discovering new ways of making art, fumbling my way through, as usual.  I'll be showing both types of mixed media (abstract and imagery) as well as clocks at my season opener in OKC starting April 21st.  Pushing my scale has been fun and scary, and hopefully it won't literally push away the kind of customers I usually enjoy while there.  The smaller versions will be with me as well, so there's something for everyone!

My Last Custom Order

The most recent wall clock I made was for one of my dearest, oldest friends.  Well, for the baby he just had (on Kansas Day!  Whooot!).  Well, for her room, anyway.

I like the way the animals turned out, all stylized and cartoony.  

12 x 12", white vinyl with black vinyl over colored vinyl that I cut around.

Here's an action shot.  It actually is outside the room because...reasons.

Another great friend supporting my work while I get to contribute to their family's heirlooms.  Warm fuzzies.

What I'm Making Today

Well, I've passed the transition from 2014 to 2015 without even a peep here on the blog.  I was working almost literally up until Christmas and then was too burnt out/lazy to try to write something worth reading.  So I'm going to try to just put up some pictures to get the ball rolling again.

TODAY I'M WORKING ON: DESK CLOCKS!

3.5 x 3.5 inches/MDF/paper from old hymnals, Mary Poppins book, and "fabric paper"

When they're done I'll have them up on my Etsy site or they'll go live in Lawrence, Kansas, at Essential Goods!

Happy Belated New Year/Ground Hog Day!

Self-Portraits

Once upon a time, pictures of oneself were called "Self-Portraits."  Nowadays they're called "Selfies."  I have a hard time with these, at least the blatantly Millennial version of looking at the camera, instantly sharing it with my closest 500 friends, and hoping no one notices the spots and sun damage the Kansas sun/genetics has caused, and giving me the banal compliments that are to automatically come along (or so one hopes).  

But there is something about straightforward, eyes-directly-at-the-camera, brash in-your-face images that I admire.  I'm not quite that daring.  Not wanting to be the subject of my own self-portrait is kind of weird, but it is the truth, nonetheless.  I make sure to add interest in the backgrounds, looking off or adding a weird face because, well, I think that's more interesting.  I don't want anyone to think I'm serious, for crying out loud.

They're really more portraits of my work, but I know that sometimes it starts to seem as though these things I make are produced by disembodied hands when I direct people to my online presence, so I thought I'd put my face here for proof that a human lady-person is attached to those hands.

Also, I get bored at shows sometimes and taking creeper shots of patrons isn't okay.

Whatever...here's a few from the last year and a half.

Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts, 2013, during rain.  Probably FREEZING RAIN.

Loaded up and heading to Des Moines, 2013.

OKC Festival of the Arts, 2014.

Loring Park, Minneapolis, 2014, Day One.

Loring Park, Minneapolis, 2014, Day Two.

 

ArtSplash, Sioux City, Iowa, 2014.
Covering up a zit with that finger.

Handmade & Vintage Market, Leawood, Kansas,
 last weekend, Day One.

Handmade & Vintage Market, Leawood, Kansas,
last weekend, Day Two.

It's clear that I have many pairs of glasses.  Very important.

Here are artists who use themselves in their art:
Cindy Sherman (one of my all-time favorites): Untitled Film Stills.  THESE ARE NOT SELF-PORTAITS!!
Nina Katchadourian: Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style
Elizabeth Layton: although these are drawings, they leave me speechless.  She is an inspiration.
Ricky Gervais: not really his medium...but these are ridiculous and I love a person who doesn't take himself seriously.  Scroll through his Twitter feed.  Lots of him and some palette-cleansing kitty photos, too!

Showed It: Sioux City

I showed for the first time at ArtSplash in Sioux City, Iowa.  Aside from the show being book-ended by rain during set up and tear down, we had lovely weather.  

Post-show sky after I'd dried off and was searching for dinner.

The show coordinators really know how to take care of their exhibiting artists, including a dinner at the Sioux City Art Center the Friday night before the show.  

Yaaaawwnn, right?  Oh, wait, that's Jackson Pollock's Mural from 1943!
Over nineteen feet of art-world busting greatness.

Get it where you can.

Due to it being Labor Day weekend, the downtown was a bit sleepy, but I enjoyed walking around after the show closed.  I didn't see one speck of graffiti, but there was plenty of art on display due to the SCAC sponsored Sculpt Siouxland public exhibition.

I don't think the clothes were part of the original design.
(They were gone on the next time I saw this.)

And because it was Labor Day, I wasn't able to visit this place on my way out of town because it was closed for the holiday, which made me very sad.

I'll coordinate my meals better next time, because this looks great.

So anyway, here's a bit of my booth.

I added several more hearts to my inventory and sold
some of my favorite clocks.

I enjoyed Sioux City, and now I can say that I've spent time in the middle, east, and west of the great state of Iowa, which is more than I can say for my home state of Kansas or my current state of Missouri.

UP NEXT: I'll be in Leawood, Kansas, Sept. 13 and 14 for a new event, The Handmade and Vintage Market.  I'm excited to stay home and meet some new Kansas City area folks!  Better get to making...