Studio Friday, er, Saturday

After stumbling across a hidden stash of lovely artwork given to me by friends, the inspiration wall started to expand...

And the found-object sculptures continue to evolve, as I putter around and play.

Studio Friday

was away from the studio today.
It started with a moody morning drive to Madison, to the campus of Dakota State University,where I'd been invited to give a collagraph printing workshop.
It was a pretty hectic scene, helping more than a dozen complete beginners make their own collagraph prints... but it was also very rewarding, and I think the students had a lot of fun. I know I did. Especially at the magical moment, when the print is first pulled off the plate. For complete novices (there is no printmaking at DSU, and these students were, for the most part, non-art majors) there were a lot of really fun results.
Thanks to Linn Nelson, who invited me out. It was a great experience!!

Studio Friday

Playing around with boxes. This actually took much longer than they look like they should have... because I deconstructed what was an elaborate jewelry box.

I didn't think it would show up in the picture, but here you can see the wonderful ghostly image of Mary that bled through to the back of this old print. I love it! Very subtle...

Some of today's Civic Council (thrift store) finds.

I love Fridays!!

Next Friday I will have to skip my studio, unfortunately... as I'll be a visiting artist at DSU - doing a collagraph workshop. Wish me luck!

More Sculpture Love

Varujan Boghosian.

Another long-lost favorite. Found his work rather randomly once, in a book about art boxes, pulled off the shelf by chance at the Vermillion Library. I can't find the book now, or the name of it. Finding books with his work in them is not easy... but I am determined to find some.

The Best Part of Halloween

is coming up with creative costumes... hands down!!

Who cares about candy?!

Studio Friday, or

the return of STUDIO CHAOS.
"How do you get anything done in this mess?"

Good question.

Somehow, I managed to clean, organize, and play. These aren't finished pieces, but may become something eventually.

Took the kids out to the movies later in the evening, for some good, clean, family quality time...

Couldn't resist the temptation to have some fun in the photo booth. I edited the last photo out, because it was fun, but not very tasteful...

A wonderful All Hallows' eve to you! Be safe!

Sculpture Love

Or more specifically, "wunder-kammer"/curio love...

Been thinking a lot lately about my long term love of all things Joseph Cornell. I will never tire of it.

Shop Update...

Studio Friday

Studio Friday began with an ungodly, early morning drive to S.F. for a medical appointment (blah!). I did turn it into a decent morning, however, by stopping for breakfast and coffee afterward at Kaladi's. Sat by the fireplace, and wrote in my long-lost art journal. Where have I been for so long, my dearest journal?

The afternoon was spent in the studio proper, working on random sculptural ideas that have been swimming about in my brain for some time...
here are some of them, in progress:

Using a plastic anatomy toy as a mold - we'll see if it works.

Evidence of the odd way my mind functions...

A Full Day

Happy Birthday to my number 1! son!!

You are finally a teenager - and no, that doesn't mean that you can play T-rated games now...

Productivity

comes in spurts.

Felt compelled to start a new batch of books today. I currently have a large-ish stack which are still waiting to be stitched, from last month...

Also spent a considerable amount of time preparing for birthdays: a 13th birthday tomorrow, one the next day, and one next week. Of course, then there's Halloween!

Visual Inspiration for the long weekend

Studio Friday is going to be Studio Sunday, Monday and Tuesday this week!

Wish me luck!

Morning Walk in the Country

It seemed like all that rain, cold and gray would never end.

Hope it's a lovely day wherever you are...

Big Gallery Night

Last's night's reception at the Washington Pavilion went smashingly. Had such a lovely time. Nice to see so many friendly faces, as well as many new ones.

Amy Fill, Patti Roberts-Pizzuto, and I decided that we wanted to change the format of the artist's talk, so that we weren't each under pressure to be on "center-stage" during our allotted speaking time. We used a discussion-format instead, so that when it was Amy's turn to give her talk, Patti and I prompted her with particular questions we found pertinent, as well as opening it up to the audience/visitors to participate.

Patti and Amy did the same for me, when it was my turn.

It worked out really well, and sure took the pressure off.
We had a lot of really great questions from the crowd, as well as nice feedback. I would have to say that we were all fairly proud of ourselves by the end of the evening. Making the work is the easy part - having to get up and talk about it, is whole 'nother thing... It feels like quite an accomplishment to make it through an evening like this.
Thanks to everyone who came out to support us!
The exhibit of my work, as well as Patti's, is up until the end of November. Amy's work is up until the beginning of January. Plenty of time to go see it, if you haven't already!

Catching up, quickly

Although catching up will require a rather long post.

Last week's (week before last's?) Art of Fine Craft conference at the Lux in Lincoln was great. A good experience for the students, I think, and a chance for me to do some arty stuff to fuel my brain. Especially inspiring was the work of Victoria Goro-Rapaport (master printer), and Jason Briggs (master ceramicist!).

The day after returning from Lincoln, my sweetie participated in an exciting triathalon in South Sioux City. He'd been preparing for it for a long time, and was very happy with his performance. What next?

We'll wait till things warm up...

This past weekend was homecoming for USD - or D-days, as it's called. It's mostly an excuse for college kids to spend the entire weekend drunk, but we tend to look forward to the annual parade! This year, both Kenyon and Dylan participated in marching bands (although my camera died before I got a chance to catch a pic of Dylan - the high school marching band is always last). The poor kids were freezing - and so were we!

Speaking of freezing, this is what I woke up to today:

This is what I'm trying to keep in my brain (not always successfully, I must admit...)

Would have loved to stay curled up in bed, but had to get to work. WSC doesn't take Native American Day off! Of all the nerve. The kids have the day off from school, and my husband had the day off of work - but not me:(

It was alright, though, as I needed to be on campus for my exhibit opening. All went well, and it looks pretty good. I'm very happy with it - even if it isn't the most recent work.