quiet

So, I have this chair that the previous owners of our last house left behind. I dragged it along to this house- and I keep meaning to maybe sand it and paint it- but part of me loves the rust and the grit.

My mom has stories of visiting her grandparents on their house on a lake- and in the winter, when the lake froze, she and her sister and cousins would scoot eachother around on the ice in this kind of chair- the metal legs apparently made great skis. So that story doesn't include me (before my time), and it doesn't include this exact chair (though it may easily have been from the same time). But it's a family story- so I, being supremely sentimental, have always liked these chairs in general - and imagine myself getting pushed around an icy lake so clearly it's almost as if the story really does include me.

Another person the story doesn't specifically include is my mom's mom. But I've always just lumped everyone in the family into the scenes I build in my imagination while hearing about my mom's memories of her grandparents. So these chairs make me think of my grandmother too.

Today I'm facing the reality of losing my grandmother- she's coming to the end of her life, and though I'm glad her suffering is nearly at an end and I feel very at peace with my realtionship with her- I'll miss her very much. She was a quintessential grandmother: She thought I could do no wrong, she was a champion of my art and she taught me to make swedish meatballs. When I was little she always had stacks of drawing paper and a million markers and pens to draw with. She kept a copy of a story I wrote in first grade taped her fridge until I graduated from college. She loved my husband and my boys- quite possibly more that she loved me.

I'm very comfortable with my own personal beliefs in terms of the cycle of life. I'm sure she'll be a part of me forever, and I am so thankful to have had her in my life for these 36 years of mine. Nevertheless, I've been wandering around feeling swirls of natural emotions and felt a really strong urge to do something with them- and there stood that chair, out in the afternoon sun. So I let some paints swirl around for a while and came up with this:

It's no masterpiece- but it felt good to do, and I know my gramma would like that I spent a little time thinking of her and painting a simple chair.

a super sunday opening

Hello hello! I was having some blogging difficulties yesterday, but here I am now to post about the wonderful opening I had on Sunday. Woah- people were so amazingly nice and the response to my work was overwhelming. I just loved seeing people smile, and seek me out to talk about my process. People had some lovely things to say, but more than that, they had insightful responses and heartfelt reactions. You just couldn't ask for more. See: happy me:

It was a super-serindipitous weekend overall...On Saturday after dropping off my work I met a fabulous local artist while I was out for a walk- she was building an enormous bird's nest which she planned to install in a tree in her yard. Upon talking she strongly encouragd me to apply for acceptance to an area professional artists organization she's a member of, which was flattering. I later stumbled upon a weekend show of an artist whose work I have long loved: Pat Hidson. More exciting than getting to see loads of her work all in one space was meeting the woman herself and finding her to be one of the warmest, most encouraging people I've ever met. I then wound my way home with one more stop at a group show featuring the work of an artist whose name I recognized from a guild I recently joined. That show turned out to be a huge wow, and I was amazed by how warm and welcoming the artists were- and how they accepted on my word alone, that I was an artist too.

Then the opening on Sunday, which I've already gushed about...and after that, I went right back to Pat's show and snapped up a piece of hers I'd been thinking about all night. I felt so lucky to have had such a huge early response (5 pieces sold) at my show- I decided to just turn a portion of that right back around. It's been a while since we've been able to buy a piece of original art, and I'm sure we could have used the money to fix our washing machine...but it just felt right, so we did it.

So, it was a great weekend...I'm curious to know whether any more pieces will sell over the run of the show. If they do, I'll put the money right in the bank to pay for that washer.

all in a row

I'm framing up the last of my pieces for the show I've got lined up for the summer. It's a show that was booked last spring, so I've been looking forward to it for a year! They jury once a year, and when they accepted me, they assigned me their summer time-slot, which feels like a good time of year for my work, given the somewhat bright, cheerful colors etc.

If you're in Milwaukee, stop in and check it out- it runs until September 10th. The show opens this Sunday at the Leenhouts Gallery, which is within the First Unitarian Church of Milwaukee, 1342 N. Astor Street (Astor and Ogden). The gallery is obviously open on Sundays, but also during regular building hours through the week - which I believe are 10-4. It may seem like a bit of an unconventional space, but they've been operating for years and have put together some really great shows- I was honored to be accepted. It was a great challenge to have the year to build up a body of work- it's a solo show in a big space, so I think I'm bringing about 20 pieces down!

untitled

*editing on 5/25 to share the title: Random Influences

I don't have a title for this yet, but I had to post it. I'm really, really excited about this piece...I've been struggling for the past few months in terms of trying to break through to another level of narrative with my work. I've been wanting it to say more, but I'm not an illustrator, nor do I feel comfortable with really heavy symbolism, etc. I always end up feeling like my work looks contrived when I go in those directions.

In this piece, I'm using vintage materials like time cards and ledger pages and a practice target, which speak to me of accuracy, record keeping and validation- but also bingo cards and game pieces, which to me represent a kind of randomness. I've been thinking lately about how all of kinds of ordinary things can make you feel a little pushed around and windblown. So many obligations demand our attention, but in the big picture, you really have to wonder how much of your energy they all deserve. I think if you have a strong foundation that makes you feel at least a little anchored, you can weather the storm. I like how the house is feeling the strain of that big blue cloud- but it's pretty solid, and you get the feeling it'll still be there, and it'll be just fine once it all blows over.

There are two more detail shots I wanted to share - they were difficult to capture, given the reflectiveness of the glass, but they're critical parts of the whole piece:

It's in a shadowbox frame that my husband and I built. Someone once suggested that if my work was going into shadowboxes, I should consider pushing that third dimension a little more. I've had that in the back of my mind for a while- and love the way I went for it in this piece - I included a handful of vintage bingo chips and numbers in the space. They're not fixed down- that's intentional. I like the idea that they'll move around a bit in transport- and if someone were to take this home and hang it, the way the pieces end up will be totally random and largely out of their control. But that's not something to be concerned about- they'll be just right- however they end up. 

I'd love to hear what you think about this piece...if you're not sure about how to comment here on blogger- just know you can submit comments and choose 'annonymous' as your identity. Or, if you click the link up top for my full profile, you'll my email on my profile page.

OK- now, enough chit-chat, I've got to go get some stuff ready for showing next week!

barn sale bonanza

For the longest time, I've envied my friend, Kim, of the wonderful chez-sucre-chez, for her access to great Amish thrift and vintage finds. I've done pretty well for myself in the antiques multiplexes of Milwaukee, but loved the idea of finding treasures in a more intimate, personal setting. Now that we've moved out of the city up to the edge of rural farmland, I've no more reason to envy- because it's Barn Sale Season!

Check. It. Out:

All this great stuff for the studio- sewing and needlework patterns, school books and a vintage Bingo game, a box of random papers- lots of tiny calendars and ledger pages- as well as, I believe, some targets for shooting practice (?). Last- but so, so, so not least-  a cigar box stuffed to overflowing with rick-rack, piping and other sewing notions. If I weren't so excited for the potential those actual textiles hold for my wine tags & notecards, I'd have still bought the lot for the fantastic labels on the cards.

And wait, wait! That's not all! I also got 5 big tomato cages for the garden (I can justify these jaunts easily when I also find useful household items), and this fantastic old honey container and some wonderful berry cartons:

I'm off to the studio now...Today was supposed to be all about getting work ready for hanging for my upcoming show, but now I'm itching to dive into my new stuff and get some new work going. (Oh yeah- almost forgot: all of the above (including the tomato cages) was $15...made my day!)

responsibilities and productivity -v- comfy denial

I thought I'd stop in and just say sorry for not really posting much about new work lately...it's just been hard to take the responsibilities of having a blog too seriously, as we've had lots of great spring weather to muck about in. Over the last week or so, we built a big box and wheelbarrowed 4 yards of a dirt/compost mix and now the garden is in! (everything's sprouting!) The patio's cleaned off and a new picnic table has been assembled, and many moments have been enjoyed with a good book and something to drink while the kids perfected monkey-bar-swinging and the dog relished interesting smelling spring smells in the yard. Sorry I don't have pictures of all that, but I've always had a hard time breaking off from enjoyment to take a picture of whatever it is I'm enjoying.

Today, however, I thought I'd share this: Laziness and snuggliness on a Friday morning.

Let me tell you, letting the dog and the little brother climb in to snuggle with the big brother is a sure recipe for big brother being late for school. But look at those faces- It was totally worth it. You won't see many pictures of my kids on this blog- but this one just felt like it needed to be shared.

Enjoy your weekend!

bottleneck

Yay! I've something to post! Just some little things- some wine bottle hang-tags I whipped up. You just slip the ribbon loop over the neck of the bottle, and voila! instant hostess or birthday, or whatever present. I made the two up top from vintage alphabet flashcards- W for white, and R for red. I added some old origami paper and a bit from some old notebook paper for writing your greeting on. And a classic gold star for merit. Is it inappropriate to be decking a wine-tag with vintage elementary school ephemera?

The other ones are some of a bunch I made and presented with a lovely Chardonnay for my mom as part of her Mother's Day gift. They're made with bits of old tag-board, some maps and painted bits from my studio. The crazy orange and yellow paper is vintage shelf-lining paper!

I've been making these, and similarly constructed notecards, as gifts- but have a goal to work up a stockpile of such handmade items as a little side-line business I plan to start up in late summer. It's hard to find quality studio time in the summer, what with the kiddos home from school- but I'd like to steal away a half hour here and there to make up cards and notes and tags and such- maybe even a few more celebration buntings. The plan is to open up an online shop in late summer, and also to have some of these items available for an October art show I'm participating in. Both kids are in school all day next year...I'm already planning ahead for the extra time I'll gain each day!