So I appreciate your patience as this last month and a half has been so hectic that I just didn't manage to post like I wanted to. I found myself composing posts in my mind as life rocketed along, but that doesn't help ya'll much! Hmmm, now where did I leave (leaf?) off...
Paul and I spent all day out touring the E.A.S.T. (East Austin Studio Tour) in mid-November. Over 150 artists and their studios, 20 exhibition spaces, demos and "happenings" were open to the public during this two weekend event. I really enjoyed roaming around and seeing a lot of familiar faces. I feel like I am finally starting to network with other Austin artists.
Our first stop was at one of the exhibition spaces, Big Medium, where I ran into my friend, ceramicist Alejandra Allemule.
I have been a big fan of Alejandra's work for several years and we own a couple of her bowls and funky Christmas ornaments. This year she had jointed dolls...and this one followed me home! She looks fabulous on my mantle!
We wandered around the space, peeking into studios and exhibition areas. We discovered the extremely talented Matt Norris up a flight of stairs. He creates metal insects that are fully articulated...this preying mantis was just incredible! Every last bit of it could be moved and manipulated. I also loved his metal roly-polys!
It was very cool to see these collective spaces where artists worked next to each other. I love having my studio at my house, but there is a part of me that would enjoy a set-up like this...
We walked out of the building and around the side to find this area...artists set up along the way showing their wares, demonstrating techniques, etc.
It turns out that this property was once a dairy and is now owned by a guy who was in the booth next to me at the King Williams Fair in San Antonio last spring. Art Schoenig has converted the dairy barn into a massive workshop where he does metalsmithing and lapidary work.
He also belongs to the Triumph Club of Austin...here is one of the cars waiting upon restoration...
With my marine biology background, my attention is always captured by fossilized marine creatures. We came across a man who had a table set up in this area and was demonstrating how he exposed these fossil remains with a high pressure air gun. He would find a swelling in the stone and then gently begin chipping away the limestone to expose the treasure underneath...
In the course of conversation it came up that he and his wife, who is French, have a small apartment in Paris that they rent out to travelers. Hmmm...must find that card....
Next we headed over to Gingko Studios...this was the entryway through the gate at the end of the road...
Earlier this year I juried into an Austin women artist group, Handmade Austin Women. My friend Lisa Crowder put me up for membership. There are about 20 of us representing a range of media and we will have a show at Ginkgo Studio this coming May. One of our members, Sunyong Chung, owns this property with her husband who works with large pieces of granite to create beautiful sculptures.
Here is our HAW display...
We got in the car and headed over to Flatbed Press to see my friend, Judy Paul. On the way I spotted these characters...I HAD to know what they were up to since Halloween had come and gone...
They said that they were trying to get 100 people to make these papier mache heads and attend a party at the end of the month...
They gave me a flyer and invited me to come...but since the woman on the flyer looked like she was naked with just one of these heads on, I think I will pass. But hey...they were doing their part to keep Austin weird!
I spent the next weekend in Houston teaching my Butterfly Boxes workshop at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. We had a great time and here are some samples from the class:
The center was also hosting a paper exhibition. I was blown away by this artist, Claire Brewster, who cut silhouettes of a myriad of birds in flight from old maps and had them pinned to the walls....
Autumn finally showed up in Texas and in one day I realized why they call it "Fall"...the temperatures fell, the rain fell, and the leaves fell, along with my mood. I don't like cold weather. Period. I walked out in my backyard one morning to find that the silver-leaf oak had dropped all of its leaves overnight. I was enchanted by the vibrant brown and yellow colors carpeting the backyard...
The following week I was in charge of Fiona's kindergarten class Thanksgiving party. Evidently I was so helpful at the Halloween party that I was invited to take over the Thanksgiving party. Yay. This involved planning creative activities to keep 22 five and six year olds occupied for an hour and a half, setting up and sending out the invitations, taking reservations for people to help with things, order hats and favors, etc. No problem...
Here are the treats I made...pilgrim hats created from marshmallows dipped in chocolate and centered on fudge-covered cookies. They were quite a hit!
And here is the table I was in charge of that day. I had collected fall leaves, pressed them and glued them to foam pieces to create nature stamps for the kids to play with. I also cut corn on the cob into small pieces and stuck holders on the sides so the kids could dip them in paint and roll them across the paper to make a pattern. A bit chaotic, but fun!!! I did hear one mom comment after the first round of activities that the ink pads I had supplied for the thumb and fingerprint turkeys were permanent. Oops.
For our anniversary, I had given Paul a six week bronze casting workshop as a present. Here is the wax flower he sculpted for the final project...
The Monday after Thanksgiving was spent decorating the clubhouse for the Junior Austin Womens' Club, of which I am a member by virtue of my mother being a member (and president one year) for years. It is a social club whose dues pay for the upkeep of this amazing historical house in downtown Austin. There is a kitchen on site with a chef, so you can have lunch there with the ladies...all very civilized. Each year the junior club decorates for the senior club's Christmas party. This year the president of the JAWC emailed me and said she had run into my mom, who mentioned that I liked decorating, and would I be interested in being in charge of the decorating day? How could I say no? It was like the first year I was a member and I offered to help with the centerpieces for the party and ended up designing and making (!) 18 new centerpieces. Sigh. The new members for the year are supposed to help, but many didn't show. I ended up making at least 12 trips (maybe more) up and down three flights of stairs to bring down all of the tubs and bags of Christmas decorations stored in a third floor bedroom closet. I had a list from the previous coordinator of where things went and a few bags of stuff from Target to replace things that were getting worn. A new fake tree was supposed to be ready to go, but it wasn't. It ended up being a very long morning, but I think it looked lovely in the end. Here are some before and after shots...
This is the door to the original safe...now it holds all of the club's dining and decorating supplies...
Then it was time to set up my booth for the Blue Genie Art Bazaar, a two and a half week gift show that was to open December 2nd. Paul helped me out and we got it set up in record time...
I was very excited to have blank notecards with my imagery on the front available for the first time! I plan on getting them into my ETSY store soon!
And during all of this I was trying to make inventory for this show and the TWO others I was participating in during December. However, I did find the time to stop occasionally and admire the sunsets...
I hope to post December's recap very soon. Wishes for a safe and prosperous 2010 to you all!
