Day 128 - 365/2014

Day One Hundred Twenty-Eight

May Second Thursday:  Juana, Leann, Jane, Julia, Terri, Lisa, Took.

Today was Second Thursday -- and we had a total of seven people, one being new to the group.
Lisa Grix joined us tonight.  Terri printed out old photographs from the Library of Congress and we altered them.  We would choose one to start with and work on it for 3 minutes, then pass it to the person on our right, work on it for three minutes, etc. until the photos made their way back to the person who started them.  It is a really fun activity.

Here are the three photos that I started...and how they ended up.

And Terri took home the first fifty transfers/blocks for our collaboration on Penciled In.  Lisa said she would also like to do a set of fifty with me.  Cool!

It was a great time -- we all talked and laughed and talked and talked and talked.  I really enjoy this group so much!

Day 100 - 365/2014

Day One Hundred

Today is Second Thursday, but I needed to cancel our regular meeting at my house because I needed to attend the opening reception of Working Artists at Woods Gallery.  I needed to meet up with artist Catherine Peet and curator, Ani Garabedian, to deliver some paper work.  And while Juana and I were there we also met up with Second Thursday members Terri, Janice, and Lisa.  I also got to meet artist Gail Borowski, but I had stashed my camera away in my purse at that point.  It is so great actually meeting people in person who you previously only "knew" on Facebook.

About Working Artists:  

About a year ago artist Catherine Peet and Woods Gallery Coordinator Lisa Grix began discussing the idea of a group show.  One of Catherine Peet's coworkers, Ani Garabedian, jumped in and offered to help curate, and Catherine passed the torch to Ani.

Working Artists is a mixed media exhibition, and includes submissions by artists who work together in the studio at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The artists included in the exhibition are Kia I Arriaga, Angelica Baker, Gail Borowski, Betty Brownlee, Jessy Butts, Kim Ensch, Zak Frieling, Ricardo Javier Garcia-Diaz, Charles Thomas Garling, Jenifer Garrison, Karianne Hollowell, Megan Elizabeth Homanick, Molly Diana Murphy, Catherine Peet, Brian Ritson, Stephanie Sucaet-Felczak and Patrick Wise.

The Working Artists exhibition provides an opportunity for this group of individual and unique artists who work together on a regular basis to showcase their artwork together in one space. As Ani Garabedian, curator of the exhibition explains, “We are all artists who work in a variety of media. The Woods Gallery is providing us with a space to share our work for the first time with not only each other, but also with the general public.”

It was such a thrill for me to meet Catherine Peet in person.  I am a really big fan of her artwork.  I have to admit that I became a bit overwhelmed and started to gush after a little while.  Catherine had some small works available for sale and I was able to snatch one really delightful piece...I am so thrilled.

The gallery was very crowded and it is a bit difficult to take photos without glare, but I managed to catch a few.

Catherine Peet and Lisa Grix

Ani Garabedian and Catherine Peet

"Quintaessencia/Significant Others Series" by Kia I. Arriaga

Juana admiring "The House and Two Trees" by Gail Borowski

"Implosion" by Catherine Peet

"Implosion" detail

"Do You See What I See"" by Kim Ensch

"Orange Security" by Jessy Butts

"Open #9" by Charles Thomas Garling

"La Adelita" by Angelica Morelia Perez

Catherine Peet and her piece I purchased, "Last Life"

"Last Life" by Catherine Peet -- back at my house

I need to do some rearranging, but this is where "Last Life" will be displayed.

Working Artists  runs through May 16, 2014
Woods Gallery  (located in the lower level of the Huntington Woods Public Library)
26415  Scotia
Huntington Woods, MI  48070
(248) 581-2696

365/13 - Day 282

bad allergy day

My -- allergies are really kicking my ass today/tonight!  I had a second round of Benadryl after everyone from 2nd Thursday left.  I can't type very much because I am really blasted -- I nearly missed my deadline.

So, we finally had a meeting of the 2nd Thursday group -- we did a trade/giveaway thing.  There is a LOT of stuff leftover for me to haul to a reuse place.  

Wow...I am really having trouble making my hands do what I want them to do.  

We did not do an activity tonight...we talked and talked and talked and talked.  And Julia found the piece of Frank Zappa lyric that has driven me crazy for so long.  Thanks, Julia!  Now I can obsess on something new.

look -- my stapler is throwing a reflection that looks like an xray of a hand.

My house before everybody arrived (with more stuff).

No activity -- just meeting up and talking about stuff...tonight we had:  Terri, Jane, Leann, Julia, Juana, Joan, and me.  Anita was thinking about coming out tonight, but her foot hurt too much after she got out of work...I can surely sympathize.  Maybe next time!

Man -- I can't change the font on the photo captions...I need to go veg out in my chair.  I guess the more you need the Benadryl to kick out the allergic reactions, the more intensely it does it.

2012/365 - Day 313

2nd Thursday and a sneak peek at my Holly Dolly creature

Tonight the 2nd Thursday group met at my house and we worked on a mosaic kit that is sold at the Northville Art House's store.  

Tonight's group was (clockwise from bottom left):  Deb, Ruth, Jan (the new girl), me (invisible), Joan, Leann, Janice, and Carla.

Yay one of our newest members -- Jan Waller -- was able to come tonight!  We really enjoyed getting to know her a little better and she brought British snacks to share.  Ahem, she is NOT allowed to bring Twiglets again.

 My tile.  It's kind of a garden with green grass, flowers, pink and blue sky and mirror clouds.

I will grout it with a dark gray or black grout.

 The kit comes with a tile, bits of various cut glass, pottery, beads, cool stuff to make way more than one tile.  You also get grout and the whole thing comes packed in a pair of plastic gloves.  They make a really really great holiday gift!

This is Deb's tile.  Deb is already a really great mosaic artist.

Deb was generous and brought her "bits" box with her to share with us.  Fabulous little bits of colorful stuffs.  AND she had clippers to cut pieces with!

This is Janice's tile.  

I like the long stripey bead.

This is Leann's tile.

She glued stuff on top of stuff...way cool.

I really love those two rectangle-y green pieces.  I see a creature in the horizontal one.

This is Joan's tile.   She said it is Mexico (Joan just got home from a vacation in Mexico).

Jan telling us about Kettle's Yard house, one of her favorite places in England.  

Clicking the link will be much better than me trying to explain it.

Listening about Kettle's Yard house.

Carla working on her tile...not ready for a photo yet.

Jan's tile.

Carla's tile...can you see the car?

Ruth's tile...great color and placement of the pieces, eh???

I don't know why I forgot to take a picture of the mosaic kits before we opened them.

Here is a shot of them in the Art House Store.

and...a sneak peek at my Holly Dolly doll/creature's progress:

I like it so much I want to bid on it myself at the silent auction fundraiser.  This is one of the few things I have seen in my head and then have it turn out exactly how I saw it.  At least the spikes and buttons and more spikes parts.  This is the rear view of the creature and his legs and spikes and tail.

2012/365 - Day 285

2nd Thursday -- October edition

I can't believe it is the second Thursday in October already!  Tonight we got together and Joan had the activity.  We made self portrait collages from magazine images.

In attendance tonight were (clockwise from bottom left) Carla, Ellen, (me), Joan, Leann, Julia, Peggy, and Ruth.

 I was having a bit of a hard time then all of a sudden I stumbled across one image and everything started coming together.  Amazingly, Ellen found a companion image to my main image with the same model in another magazine. And Joan had a bear paw torn out that sort of went with my two "bears".

my collage

Ellen's collage

Carla's collage

Ruth's collage

Ruth's second collage -- an homage to her mom and her mom's style.

Peggy's collage

Julia's collage

Leann's collage

Leann's second collage

Joan's collage

Joan's second collage

Carla's second collage -- in progress

One minute the house is buzzing with creativity and happy talking...
 










...and suddenly it is all put away and quiet again.










I was kind of trancing out towards the end of the session, half-thinking about the mess on the table and when everyone picked up their collages and put the magazines back in the bins it was like we'd never even been at the table!  Amazing!

I love this group -- so many clever and creative friends just hanging around and chatting and making stuff.