Mini Collages

I'm going to start posting my collages because I want to share and this is a way for me to keep on with it.  Basically, these are exercises, like the ones from the last post, but mini.  I went on a tear and have almost depleted my 12 x 12 inventory of unused matboard, and can't buy more from a certain hobby chain for a big discount because they don't bundle them up anymore.  But I did make a ton of little 4 x 5 letters and such that didn't sell and I happen to still have them in storage, so I'm reusing!  It's my favorite!

See more of these, or groups of them, or them in process, on my Instagram feed, because it's FREE and FUN!

I will share these in the order in which they were made.

Number One:

Watchman
cutouts from magazines dated 1950-2011
painted 1960s book page

Stay tuned for more!  We'll see what they do to my larger work as I start back on bigger scale "canvases" (wood and such) and add lots more vinyl and paint to stuff.

Here's to 2016.  Let's do this.

Collages

My first collage was five or six Dubble Bubble gum wrappers glued to a piece of paper measuring approximately 3 x 4 inches.  This masterpiece was gifted to my Kindergarten teacher, Miss Becky (awesome person).  This action spawned artistic gifts from my other classmates, but I started that trend (just like I did with overalls in the early '90s--YOU ARE WELCOME).

The first collage I made that made me think, oh, this is an okay way to make a thing and you can't tell I'm a child, was in 3rd grade.  It was a lady with body parts pulled from different images, including mismatched eyes and different limbs.  I feel like I've been chasing this particular dragon my entire life.

The last couple weeks I've been making collages with my plethora of ephemera.  I'm looking at this as an exercise in getting back into the swing of things for 2016, but it's completely possible I could actually try to make some money from this endeavor through an online reproduction-selling entity (Fine Art America, Zazzle, Society 6, etc.).

Here's some of what I've made recently (all are 12 x 12 inches):

matboard, color pastel, vinyl, paper

matboard, paper, vinyl, color pastel, colored pencil

matboard, colored pencil, fabric paper, paper, vinyl

matboard, paper, vinyl

matboard, paper, vinyl, charcoal, colored pencil, color pastel

matboard, paper, fabric paper, painted book page

I can guarantee all the found paper I use is older than I am.

Here are some of my favorite artists I follow on Instagram right now:
The Daily Splice
Mountain Cur
Spinner Web
C.Pic 

Instagram is a never-ending rabbit hole of wonderful art, so be careful!

Found Cards and Names

As is the way of our family, one does not throw out old cards or envelopes.  It just doesn't happen.  So I get to time travel occasionally when I find these treasures of yore.  

Found in a Russell Stover box, these cards and other papers are in decent shape.  Musty, but usable.

Six cards left...I wonder how many family members got RD subscriptions that year.

Fun fact: hawthorn is the Missouri state flower, which you can see here.

Names on the back of anniversary card: April 25, 1951
Jeanette
Catherine
Kathleen
Harriet
Elizabeth
Ruby
Shirley
Katherine
Henrietta
Blanche
Paulina
Dorothy
Catherine
Elizabeth
Kathleen
Ann
Marie
Irene
Lois
Agnes
Mary
Mildred
Edna
Julia
Thelma
Margaret
Nancy
Edith
Laura
Jean
Marie
Elsa
Ann
Barbara
Irene
Carol
Bessie
Grace
Gladys
Violet

What goes around comes around!

I have no idea whose anniversary this is for, since the envelope is labeled in SHORT HAND.  Thanks, aunts.  Helpful.  But it's a safe bet that it's a friend of theirs at Ma Bell telephone company.

This weekend: 4TH ANNUAL OPEN STUDIO//AMY MEYA + FRIENDS, 3345 Baltimore Ave, KCMO.  Come see us, buy art, eat brownies, drink wine.  

Dumpster Delights

It probably doesn't surprise anyone that if I see a Dumpster (or just a pile of stuff on a curb) I rubber-neck to a dangerous degree.  If I'm biking, I'll stand up on my pedals or just jump right in with my helmet still on.  Generally, if there's anything good in there, I huff it home, grab the truck, and bee-line it back to the honey hole...with gloves, if I remember.

This summer and fall proved quite fruitful for all things Dumpster and curbside.  My shed is already really packed, but that doesn't stop me!  I took some booty pics of my adventures, but not all of them.

After hitting two INCREDIBLE Dumpsters on Holmes.  One was full of clean pieces of
MDF, the other had lots of dirty pieces of wood from a bathroom tear-out and porch demo,
along with adorable picket fence posts and even a boardgame.

Look at this beautiful chippy porch ceiling!

Cut down pieces of the picket fence for small lady faces

From an alley near 31st and Cherry...more clean lumber and plywood!

From 33rd and Troost.  A brick building was getting demolished and there was lots
of loose, wrecked lumber everywhere.  These pieces had the best story with
nicks and paint, so home they came.

And tonight in Mission, Kansas, I took an early turn  on my way to my cousin's house
and found a Dumpster FULL OF PERFECTLY GOOD STERILITE BOXES.  WITH LIDS!!

They're a little grimey but I can deal with that.

I didn't get pictures of the great group of stuff I found in a Dumpster in Janssen Place (the super fancy sub division in the middle of my 'hood with $1M+ mansions), but it included 500 Kodak slides from the 1960s, interesting household things and planters, and some homemade drawers/boxes that I was able to break down and use in my art as backgrounds.  The neighbors walking by were happy I was recycling and thought someone was cleaning out a basement.  Fine by me!

I also got a truckload of lumber from a rehab near 36th and Cherry that included super long-ass boards and pieces of a burned garage.

Square One studio at 31st and Holmes occasionally puts out free wood and MDF panels under a big sign that says "FREE WOOD" and I hit the mother lode this summer.  I could barely get all the 4 x 8 foot pieces in the truck, especially since I now have the camper shell.  I only took what I could lift myself, but that was about 8 whole panels that I had to break down into four pieces each before I could fit them in my shed.  This is what my desk clocks are made of and I have enough material to last a lifetime now!

Oh!  Almost forgot the pile of wood and metal rods at Armour and Holmes that I walked back to my house on top of my head (don't do that, even a few blocks will mess you UP!) and the neighbor who gave me his entire 100+ year old staircase (with risers!).  

Right place, right time.  I do regret that I couldn't get back to an apartment building that my friend used to live in at McGee and 41st that was getting razed, but you have to triage your time, and I was on my way to Omaha.

A Sterilite box saved is a Sterilite box earned!

Like a Real Artist

At Art Westport, just down the road from my house, I finally sold some big capital-A Art!  It felt damn good and has motivated me to make more and push myself.  I have so many ideas and I really just need to be able to split myself into two workers (three would be better) so I can make art, make clocks, and sell both.  I had some wonderful conversations with people that helped me work through my ideas and concepts, as well as get feedback on what is really "speaking" to people.  It's surprising how many of the same pieces sparked something in a wide swath of viewers.  

Aside from SO MANY HEARTS that went out into the KC community, I said goodbye to some of my favorite creations...

Close Your Eyes 'Til You're Blue in the FaceBundled with the one below!
Salvaged flooring, paint, paper dots from 1960's Prevention  mag, vinyl.
Approx. 16 x 34 

The Pink BowSad I didn't get a proper product shot of this one.
Salvaged wood, tea bag papers, paint, vinyl, colored pencil.
Approx. 11 x 20

Forgot My Wallet
Sold to a teenage girl who had to call her mom to get permission to buy it.
Salvaged wood, 1970s STL Post Dispatch,  paint, vinyl.
6 x 16 inches

One and Two Girls/Two Girls Looking
Sold this to a woman who really wanted the large version with four faces but couldn't afford it (me neither, girlfriend!).
Salvaged wood, paint, paper dots (vintage and fabric paper), vinyl.
Approx 10 x 12 inches

Siren (Study)
This resides just a few blocks south of my home in a neighbor's dressing area now!  This piece, as well as the one above, has sparked so much in me--it was hard to say goodbye but I'm so happy she's in her "forever home."
Salvaged wood, paint, paper dots from 1970's workbook, vinyl.
6 x 16 inches

Weird is Good

Sometimes/all times when I'm using my digital cutter I nest images I want cut inside each other so as not to waste vinyl.  And sometimes what I have done out of necessity sparks a new idea for a piece or design.  Sometimes things are just weird.  

This morning what I was peeling away seemed weird, and I like it.  

That's a cow skeleton inside my grandma's face.

Then I kept peeling and now I'm wondering if I even need to do anything more!  Just frame this baby up!

Thanks, Roy, for ruining dots for everyone who knows a minimal amount of art history.

No, I have plans for at least some of this stuff.  Stay tuned.

I've joined all high schoolers circa 2012 and am finally on Instgram.  Since Facebook has made it almost impossible for a business my size to share stuff and actually be seen without paying to "boost" the post, my Instagram feed is perhaps a better way to see works in progress, source material...and my cats.  Sorry.

Next week!  ArtSarBen in Omaha!

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