Showings here and there

I had some showings at wonderful places around town over the summer, as well as pieces in shows across the country...

First, local:

May--Holy Cow Pop Up

Starting May and still running: Spencer Fage, a law firm downtown

June--First Friday in the Crossroads

July--Essential Goods for the Lawrence Annual Sidewalk Sale

June through January 2018--Women to Watch//Metals show at the
Kemper Museum...this one gets its own post in a few...

July: Paper works at One More Cup

 And around the country...

"Bird of Columbia" at CORE New Art Space, Denver, Colorado;
Contemporary Abstraction, 24 x 24 aluminum/vinyl/paint

"Air Mail" and "Peeping Tom" at Fabulon, Charleston, South Carolina;
Souvenirs of Summer, 11 x 14 paper collages

"Prairie Porthole" (although I've decided to rename it if it doesn't sell to "Cottonwoods" or something)
at Verum Ultimum, Portland, Oregon; Abstract Catalyst, 30" diameter aluminum/vinyl/paint

I'm applying to many shows here and there, and will be having some sales locally soon...VERY SOON, as in, this weekend at Art Westport.  More on that later...

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

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...

Completely Random Things

I've been neglectful, so here's some random stuff!

Been listening to a lot of The Beatles lately.

This illustration is ridiculous.  Poor Ringo.

Experimenting more.

Salvaged wood, acrylic paint, fabric paper, vinyl, gel medium

5 x 7 matboard, used tea bag paper, paint, vinyl

Dreaming about a larger studio so I can more fully realize all my artistic endeavors.

This would be an adorable little backyard studio if it was
in my price range and my backyard was bigger...
Not a lot of room here in the heart of the city.

Prepping for the Loring Park show in lovely Minneapolis.

From last year's show in this amazing park next to the Walker Art Center.

Making lots of table top clocks.

I love making these.  I'm going to try to have a huge back stock for the holidays.

Eating a lot of ice cream, especially when I'm on the road.

Sweet glorious bowl of heaven from Des Moines's (Pleasant Hill to be more accurate) Over the Top.
Go there.  Go there now.

Made It: More Experiments

I've been on a tear playing with new materials and throwing caution to the wind!

Let's start with the skeletons (all sizes are 5 x 7 inches unless otherwise noted):

matboard, tea-stained old book page, acrylic paint, vinyl

matboard, found sheet music, acrylic paint, vinyl

I painted over the vinyl and tried to scrape it off...works better on the thick black vinyl.

matboard, painted found sheet music, vinyl

squiggle time

matboard, painted found book page, vinyl

matboard, found seed catalog page, paint, vinyl

8 x 10--salvaged wood, acrylic paint, vinyl
I actually have a tentative title for this one:
"Fill My Hollow Bones"

9 x 11.5--salvaged wood, acrylic paint, fabric paper, vinyl, gel medium

Gotta finish those edges!

Hearts!

matboard, found book page, vinyl, acrylic paint

matboard, painted found book page, vinyl, acrylic paint

 I painted over the top of this and then scraped it off, sgraffito style

matboard, layers of found, painted, and/or made papers, vinyl, paint

 throwback:

matboard, found painted hymnal page, vinyl

matboard, found and painted collaged paper, vinyl, acrylic paint

domestic goddesses:
matboard, music pages, paint, vinyl

 I have so many ideas, and I'm just not going to settle for one image style.  I love the weird, macabre skeleton and heart images, because everyone brings something different to those, depending on their history and feelings about health, guts, death, life, color, whathaveyou.  And the retro images just make me happy.  More of a Pop Art feel comes from those, and having some levity in a line of work isn't a bad thing.

I have a one day show this weekend in Lee's Summit, MO, during a bike race--Tour of Kansas City-- so I'm pumping out lots of stickers and other fun cycling-related paraphernalia.  Plus, it's the first day of summer, and I love spending the solstice outside all day.

Here's to the makers out there.  Keep plugging away!