Online Sale

Hey, folks.

It's cold now.  The end of the year is nigh.  So I am FINALLY putting together an online sale.

It's old school (as far as internet shopping goes).  I've grouped together ceramics and hearts in some folders on Facebook. You message me with what you want and we work it out from there.  I take PayPal online, but if you don't use that, we can figure it out.

Also, FREE SHIPPING, AMERICANS!

CERAMICS SALE CLICK HERE

HEART SALE CLICK HERE

barnacle vase

bowl

bowl

soda fired vase

bowl

vase with cocklebur stamp

soda fired planter

planter

Remember What's the Deal with the Hearts?

Contact me through Facebook, my website, or email deswar14 (at) hotmail (dot) com.

You can also pick up some cat head planters at the Kemper Museum Shop when you check out the incredible shows they consistently have in this gem of a museum.

Art Westport report

For my only show of the year, it was just like getting back on a bike...the only thing I forgot Friday night was chapstick.

I noticed this year I got far fewer obvious questions, like, "You make ALL THIS STUFF?"  More likely, I had conversations with visitors about the meaning behind my work, my process, my inspirations, how certain pieces connected to the viewer and new perspectives on my collection.  Many friends and long-time festival-goers stopped in and I was happy to share my good news about my spot in the Kemper right now, as well as the new direction I'm taking my work.

The anatomical hearts are always my best seller, not only because they are the least expensive pieces, but because of our general connection to this organ as both our literal center and poetic touchstone.  I heard stories of dads who are pace maker distributors, new med school grads, cardiac nurses, and open heart surgery survivors.  People feel comfortable showing me their scars and telling me tales of their near-death experiences and what steps brought them to my booth today, often because a friend happened to stop by when they were having a heart attack or someone they didn't know came to their rescue.

(Check out my post about the making of these hearts here.)

front view

night view from my desk...I don't like that blank spot in the bottom left, but
I didn't want to cram in anything else

outside wall

I was cross-promoting my Orzo series but had them tucked away
because, although they are clearly cousins to my other work,
they don't exactly mesh visually for this small space.

This was my third year at ArtWestport, and being able to know home is a mile and a half away is a great comfort, along with seeing many great local artist friends and making new ones from the area.  Check out these cool people:

Justin Marable

Bailey Marable--Dulces Jewelry

Charley Forsythe--SeeForce

Louise Carroll--Delicate Hammer Studios

Jen Unekis

Melanie Harvey

So now I'm going to spend some time organizing--OMG it's necessary--looking at opportunities to show my work, dabble in some ceramics, and write more...here!  

As always, follow me on Instagram to get up to date info on my art makings and the occasional cat or flower pics.

Astro

Astro
flooring, acrylic paint, spray paint, vinyl
33 x 33 inches

This is my show piece--I rescued this sub-flooring from a Dumpster at 36th and Cherry here in my neighborhood (they let me really get anything I wanted from it--thanks, guys!).  I painted it white and stared at it for months and months.  Then I painted it every other color, sanded it a lot, and decided to add the hearts (white and metallic) when I knew it was meant to have Spunky Siren on it.  Many more layers of paint and sandings later, I added her lines in vinyl in three parts and painted inside the lines (mostly).  I added the final bling of metallic stars all over to give her a story--a story different for every viewer.

Mini Collage Number Thirty-Two

It Was a Lovely Trip
reproduced map from a calendar, found photo, ink, vinyl,
matboard, painted book page
4 x 5 inches

Still feeling happy after my nice trip to San Francisco.  Saw cool things there and highly recommend a visit to anyone and everyone!

What's the deal with the hearts?

I started making small mixed media pieces with an image of an anatomical heart a little over a year ago.  They were debuted at the OKC Festival of the Arts, and with that came the question, over and over again,

"What's the deal with all the hearts?"

I wasn't prepared for that.  I'd been seeing anatomical diagrams used in art for a long time, especially collage, and had even been selling some bovine medical imagery through The Retro Ranch, so I just thought it was cool and everyone understood it.  Silly, silly artist.  You live in the monkey house!

It started with trying to get over my fear of "cheating" by doing the same design twice.  I have this great digital cutter now, so using the images I've worked hard on in multiple ways only makes sense.  Printmakers do this everyday, so what's the problem?  I can mix it up, add different colors and textures, and each piece is its own individual entity.

This exercise has also been a bridge between my picking life and my art life, and a real stepping stone to my newest line of work, especially the imagery.  Using the wood I had from a worn, defunct fence from my own backyard, no one was there to stop me from using all the sanding pads, leftover paint, and "fabric paper" I had to make something new.  Also, it turns out that I really love woodgrain.

What happened when I started talking to people about how THEY felt about the hearts was enlightening.  My customers and visitors brought much more to the pieces and images than I had ever imagined.  One of my first sales was to a woman who wanted to commemorate her husband's TWENTY-FIFTH anniversary of a heart transplant.  (I get goose bumps every single time I talk about it!)  Some love the color combinations, others are drawn to a particular design or piece of music that I have on the paper background.  In any case, I learned so much more about how a simple thing can become a very meaningful thing in someone else's eyes.

Okay, enough with the words--pictures!

Here's how they're made...

1) Cut out the shapes.  I feed the vinyl sheet into the vinyl cutter and my
blade is run digitally by a computer.  I nest them together as much as possible
to limit wasted material.

2) Take a painted piece of wood and adhere to that a piece of
paper cut by hand in the heart silhouette shape.

3) Place the cut vinyl over the paper to fit appropriately.

4) Take application tape and...

...peel it back, picking up the vinyl decal. (It's sticky like masking tape.)

5) Move decal background out of the way and get ready to
stick that sucker down.

6) After laying decal on paper, carefully pull back application tape so only the
decal sticks to the wood and paper.

7) Stand back and smile!

Make and make and make!

I've had requests for hearts on clocks, so sometimes those make an appearance in my Etsy shop or the walls of my booth. 

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.

New Anatomical Hearts

I made more hearts!  I really enjoy playing with this design and was happy to have an excuse to work on more (because I delivered some to a great shop in Lawrence called Essential Goods!).  I've been able to add more pretty textures and salvage pages from original texts.

3.5" x 5" painted fence wood, paper, vinyl

5" x 7" painted fence wood, paper, vinyl
You can see where these started here.

I will try to have them all up on my Etsy site in the next few days, but computer work really bums me out, so I have to go in shifts...

Old Fence, New Art

This summer I purchased a Tuff Shed.  It's a dream--just wish it was bigger!  (Show and tell about that in a future post.) I now have a place to put my art inventory and tent set up stuff that is only three steps from my truck.  Before, I was going up and down the basement stairs 25 times (literally--I counted) every time I had to load or unload for a show.

I took this opportunity to salvage the fence that had to come down in order to construct the shed...at least, what was left after ALL THE TERMITES OMG IT WAS HORRIFYING!

Anyway, I cut the slats down to 7" lengths, and then did some sanding and painting magic before adding some paper and vinyl in the popular anatomical heart design.  Multiples are fun!

Buh-bye, sucka!

I managed to get 90 pieces measuring 5 x 7 inches

Add some paint!

Sand it and add more paint!

"Fabric paper" with vinyl on painted wood

I like leaving the back rough to help tell the story.

I'm working on more of these for my spring shows and will have them in my booth regardless of if I'm showing clocks or "fine art."  People like 'em and I like making them.

After I deliver some to Essential Goods in Lawrence, I'll add the remaining piece up on my Etsy shop.

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...