So I Gathered...

A Few More Boxes...

So I am stealing a few moments away from hand-addressing and stuffing 200 formal cocktail party invitations (one of my many jobs!) and posting a few more works in progress...

Hook 'em...wow, this photo is way crooked!  Sorry!  BTW, "Hook 'em" comes from the University of Texas...hook 'em horns.  I went to A&M, but I will still post a rival's motto, lol!

 

The Domino Effect...isn't this coat hilarious!

 

Another Button It...

 

The Eyes Have It...

 

Gerald Wondered Where His Y Chromosome Wandered Off To...

 

Yes, It Is Natural...

 

Tip Toe...

 

I hope to have other boxes and pixies completed and photographed in the next few days.  I will also have new art prints ready to go.   Always this last mad dash before a show, wondering if I will have enough inventory.  Ah well, back to the invitations...

My 15 Minutes...

So it was back to Houston on Thursday for a TV interview with the NBC affiliate, Channel 2, and a photoshoot with the Houston Chronicle to go with a telephone interview from earlier in the week!  I have to say, I was quite nervous about the whole thing.  This all came about because last October, I participated in my first nationally-acclaimed art festival, the Bayou City Art Festival in Houston, TX.  There were 300 participating artists (over 1000 applied) from all over the United States and I placed second overall!  It was a shock and an honor because the caliber of artistry was extremely high.  So, Channel 2 was doing a story on BCAF artists who were green...they interviewed a man who built kinetic sculptures from scrap metal, a woodworker who used windfall from Hurricane Ike and me.  The Chronicle interview was just on me because I had won an award.  We met down in the Heights area again, but the TV crew was running late, so I just had to kill some time wandering through a couple of new antique places I found and hanging out at a wonderful little plant nursery.  Here are some of my finds this go around...

These amazing wooden keys from an old pipe organ...

 

An antique wooden bocce ball, ebony and ivory dominoes, opera glasses  and a miniature press... I will admit that the ball is for my studio...

 

At another wonderful new place I discovered, Installations, I found this cool tin, vial of headache pills, pearl button card and tart tins for future jewelry-making...I want my house to look like this place!  If you are ever in Houston, you have to check it out!!!

 

The photoshoot went well...Mayra the photographer was very fun and put me at ease.  The owner of Grace Hart & Co. Antiques was very accomodating and let Mayra shoot me while I was positioned in the front window display.  I sat in this large chair with a shopping bag and some "finds" around me.  Needless to say, we did garner a few onlookers.  I just smiled blithely and waved like this was something I did every day.  NOT!!!   The TV interview went well also.  Tracy and Ty (sp?  Sorry Ty...) were great and again, I wasn't nervous at all.  Tracy just talked to me like we were having a regular old conversation over coffee. 

So, if you are in Houston, I think there will be a 3o minute special on the Bayou City Art Festival tomorrow at 10:30 pm on Channel 13 and I might be in that because they did interview me last fall after winning the award.  The green artists special will air on Channel 2 on Thursday, March 26 at 4 or 5 pm, and the Chronicle piece should run that same Thursday.  I need to find someone to tape or TEVO for me because I am curious to see how others see me...sort of an out of body experience!

I escaped for a few hours yesterday (I should have been working!) to attend a paper and postcard show here in town for the weekend.  I found a wonderful dealer from Waco who had some great photos and antique receipts...see the one from Austin?  And I couldn't resist the Boney Bros...

 

I found this letter from a Masonic Lodge-type group...the lumbermen...The Concatenation Order of the Hoo-Hoos.  Weird.  Check out the letterhead... 

 

Some photos for my boxes...

 

And these kabuki guys just because their expressions are so fantastic!  I love the graphic patterns!

 

What a nice sword you have, sir!

 

I will post some pics of works in progress tomorrow!

Adding to the collection...

So it was a good day at the Austin City-Wide Garage Sale.  Some times I find nothing, and then there are days (like today!) when I feel like I have hit the jackpot.  I left Paul with two four year-olds and took off for a few hours.  One of the first things I found were these amazing plates from a stringed instrument.  The seller had sixteen available and I couldn't take my eyes off of them!  I only wanted a few, but she was selling them as a lot.  Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet, hit the ATM and buy something...I probably think that way too often!  Maybe someone can tell me exactly what these pieces are called...  The seller said she had purchased them 15 years ago at an estate sale in San Antonio and the elderly lady who owned them couldn't tell her anything about them.  The seller decided to sell them this weekend because the South by Southwest Music Festival was starting here in Austin.  If you haven't heard of SXSW, it is where bands from all over the world hit town for a week or so and perform at every area that possibly could be called a "venue". 

 

I just love the engraved and embossed metal and the faux mother of pearl knobs...

 

Aren't they gorgeous and interesting?!  I will have to keep at least one for myself!  My brain is already clicking away with ideas!

 

I also found a few other goodies...some tiny mother of pearl buttons, vintage ticket from the Empire State Building and a nifty metal vial.  I have a collection of tiny jars and vials as can be seen in my banner.

 

A couple of wonderful architectural elements from my friend, Linda.  She shows at Uncommon Objects and I always find things when I visit her there.  She sets up wonderful displays of unusual objects all in shades of cream, white and beige.

 

And last but not least, a few metal channel letters.  Too bad my mom, Sidney, isn't into this stuff!  I think I am going to have to start a letter wall in my studio...I can't ever pass these up, especially when the seller gives me a great deal on all three! LOL!

 

I exhibited extreme self-restraint and did not go to the Whole Bead Show that was going on next door...I figured the kids might have Paul tied up by then...maybe I will sneak over there tomorrow!

Settling in...

So, I am finally finding some time to post about how things went in Houston.  On Friday afternoon, I met with Suzanne over at The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft to see about their carrying my work in their retail gallery.  I was a bit frazzled going into the meeting because even though I had Mapquested directions, I still had to wander around downtown Houston a bit as I am directionally impaired, challenged, whatever.  At one point, I thought I would need professional help to extract my husband's large crew-cab Ford truck out of the alley that I had accidentally turned into thinking it was a street.  But with a 20+ point turn, I managed to extricate myself without damaging the truck or anybody else!   Suzanne was super-friendly and very easy to talk to.  She wants to carry some of my pixies and even had a helpful suggestion about improving them.  They really don't have a lot of wall space, so the butterfly boxes were a no go.  No problem...

Then it was over to Betz Gallery to speak with Lori.  They were getting ready for an opening that evening, so I got to meet some of the artists who are already carried there.   Lori is a very talented woman...her metal sculptures, wrought iron work and paintings were all around.  She has the situation that I think many of us would be envious of...a neat old house that contains lovely gallery space, a courtyard, a workshop and living space.  I was quite jealous.  Different things came up in the conversation and by the end of it, she was inviting me over for a play date where she would teach me to weld and I would teach her how to fuse glass.  It is always fun to find someone else who has artistic ADD.  There just aren't enough hours in the day for all that I want to do!  She also said that she definitely wants to carry my work later in the year after my art festivals this spring.  I wish I had taken some photos of the interior to share with you.

 

The next morning I drove over the Heights area of Houston.  This area has lots of wonderful old houses and funky stores and galleries.  Here are a few photos of 18 Hands Gallery:

 

I kept wanting to pick up this piece that looked like a crown and hold it over my head, but the $2200 price tag stayed my hand...

 

 

And here was my area...check out the rather creepy bust behind me!  It was called the "Onion Eater" and had sold the night before...there was another bust of a woman who was eating butterflies.  Should I have been worried?

 

It was a very slow day.  There was not a lot of foot traffic, despite the pug rescue across the street from us and the women's roller derby team 2 doors down (turns out the rodeo was that weekend).  Becky Booty kept skating by in her fishnets, short black skirt and hot pink top.  I spoke briefly to Hellabama about the derby that evening.  Their boyfriends were skating up and down the street handing out fliers and pronouncing to any who would listen that "It's girls on skates!  It's a sport, not a spectacle!"  Or maybe I have that backwards...  Anyway, I wanted a picture of the gals, but was too nervous to ask.  It looked like they could have taken me out without even trying.

 

The center had a groovy sign.  I love neon signs like this and have a hard time keeping myself from photographing them...

 

I played with the image a bit in Photoshop...

Even though sales were slow, I had fun catching up with my friend Nancy (one of the owners of the gallery) and people-watching.  I also got to hit two antique malls that were on the same block, so I considered it a very good day!  

 Here are a few of the things I found.  I will put pixies in the cup and candy dish and I have to admit that the rhinestone crescent moon is for me...

Make Like a Kite and...

So I couldn't remember if this saying ended with "fly" or "blow"...  I wanted to post a few photos of some new pixies before I left this weekend, but that almost didn't happen because my photo light dome decided to impersonate a kite and take a whirlwind trip around the neighborhood!  The day was extremely windy and I had left the hatchback of the car open while I took some things inside...when I came back, no light dome!  I walked back inside to make sure I hadn't already taken it in, because I have been known to zone out like that, but no dome.  I got into the car and started driving in the direction of the wind, but couldn't find it.  I turned and went back down the street and finally found it down against a fence between two houses.  Who'da thunk?  Anyway, here are the pixies...

Button It!

 

Pour Pitiful Me

 

Prone to Violets

 

Yeah, I crack myself up...

Out the door to drive to Houston for my trunk show at 18 Hands Gallery tomorrow.  I am following up on some contacts made during the Bayou City Art Festival last October and meeting with Lori Betz of Betz Gallery and Suzanne Sippel of Asher Gallery at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft today.  I am a bit nervous, but I keep telling myself that they contacted me first, so it is ok to contact them back!

Oh, and here are a few more pics of the house...I realized I hadn't posted any shots where you see everything all together.  Have a great weekend!

From the front door...

 

From the back door...

 

My studio door...I ran out of u's, so the v had to do...

Swing That Cat!

So I would like to say that no cats were harmed in the creation of this post!  In fact, Harley is quite content here in my lap.  They say that you can't swing a cat in Austin without hitting an artist of some type...musical, literary, or visual.  I have had the good fortune to meet and befriend a couple of extremely talented ladies recently.  It started last December when I participated in the Austin Museum of Art's Holiday Art Fesival and the Blue Genie Art Bazaar.  I met Sarah Fox at the AMOA show and Judy Paul at the Blue Genie.  Funny, but we have all ended up at the same gallery!  Haven Gallery is my favorite art gallery here in Austin because of its eclectic collection with mixed-media work well represented. 

 Imagine my excitement when I contacted the gallery owner, the lovely (and approachable!) Mindi Partee, and she selected six of my pieces for display after exchanging emails and having a meeting (I was sweating and nauseated the entire time!) several weeks ago!  I am SO not the marketing maven.  I would much rather sit in my studio and make stuff than get out there and hawk it!  This is my first gallery to be accepted in with my butterfly boxes!  I went in one afternoon and took a few photos...

 

You can see Sarah's amazing shadow boxes on the right hand edge of the photo and you have to check out John Petrey's sculptural dress series on his website (I haven't met him...he's in TN)!

Another view...

 

I had seen Judy's smaller mixed-media pieces at Blue Genie, but the large panel behind the counter is awesome!  I want it!  I am a sucker for birds and the blues and greens...

 

This past Saturday the AMOA sponsored an Art Walk where 8 galleries were paired with restaraunts and participants were chauffered around to all of the different galleries.  Haven was one of the galleries, so Judy and I, along with some of the other artists, dropped in for a meet and greet.  Of 1000 tickets available, about 900 were sold, so yay for the arts and people still supporting them despite the state of the national economy!

Here we are in front of a triptych that Judy created.  Judy is on the left, Mindi is in the middle and I am on the right.

 

Step back and you can get an idea of the sheer size of these panels!

 

It was quite crowded for several hours...

   

A very fun evening!  I will leave you with a picture of some bird sculptures by one of my favorite artists, Jim Mullan...it's that bird thing again...