365/2013 - Day 228

I LOVE doing stuff like this!

I may have mentioned that I am curating an art exhibition in October at the Northville Art House.  It is my first time ever and I so excited...but I am not sure that I mentioned (out loud/specifically) that I am coordinating the exhibit part of the November/December NAH holiday festivities. 

I cannot put into words how much I absolutely love doing this sort of prep work and organizing -- I'm a triple Capricorn and this is so "me".

Click on the image to be directed to the PDF entry form for the show!

Thursday and Friday I was addressing/stuffing envelopes to send out the call for entries.  I included galleries, art centers, a handful of Detroit-area colleges, as well as some individual artists.  I also chose venues that are outside of our immediate area and included them in the open call.  Last week Juana and I teamed up to hand deliver the flyers to some key local spots.  Joan and Patti sent flyers to ten locations when the flyers first arrived.  All together thirty-one venues will have the flyers. 

Today Joan helped me with the computery stuff and put the call for entries on the Northville Art House's Facebook page.  I shared the post a couple of times, Juana has as well.  I hope lots of other people will share it, too.

One part of the Northville Art House's November/December holiday festivities is the all-media juried fine art exhibit "[small] Works".  The artwork in this show will be no larger than twelve inches in any dimension (including framing).  A fun element of this exhibit is that it is a cash-and-carry show -- purchasers are able to take the art they buy home that day -- great for holiday gift giving.  

Another part is the amazing array of raffle gift baskets FILLED with incredible items and coupons from local merchants, artists, and sponsors.  There are also gorgeous hand made wreaths available.  I can't wait!

And the upper gallery is not the only gift-filled shopping area -- Patti Witte, the Art House's new Art Store Manager, is working on getting fresh, new artwork in the store...including new artists as well as new work from current artists.  Patti will have the store decked out for the holidays!

I realize that all of this is still a few months away but for me it is front and center.  My goal is to get a lot of entries from artists who have never submitted work for an exhibit at the Northville Art House.    Jewelry artisans, woodworkers, metal smiths, and so many kinds of clay and ceramics -- many artists make such delightful smaller works.  But I am also hopeful that the smaller format of this show may challenge and encourage new ideas from artists who usually work in a larger size.

I am very excited to see the entries come in!

2012/365 - Day 244

a call for art and some changes for the holiday season

Instead of the usual Holiday Art Market at the Northville Art House this year there will be a juried all-media fine art exhibit called Small Works.  

Each piece will have an outside dimension of 12" x 12" or less.  It will be a cash-and-carry show so when you see something you want you can actually purchase it right then and take it with you. 

The gorgeous wreaths and the ultra-popular raffle gift baskets (filled to overflowing with items and gift cards from local merchants, businesses, restaurants, and artists) will still be offered in the upper gallery as well.  

The Art House Store will be filled with select and juried holiday items.

Here are the basics:

Original works in all mediums --  2D or 3D --

made by traditional or experimental styles.

Artwork must be 12 x 12 inches or smaller

(for 2D work this size restriction includes the frame)

No video as we do not have the facilities to accommodate. 

Work must have been completed within the last 3 years and not previously exhibited at the Northville Art House.  

2D work must be finished and ready for hanging with a wire -- no sawtooth hangers, etc.

Download an application HERE or click on the pic above.  Scroll down to the very bottom of the page to find it.

Entries MUST BE DELIVERED BY or MAILED TO ARRIVE BY 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 13, 2012.

365 Day 226

landscape, schmandscape...so far

Believe me, I am totally aware that I don't really "get" landscapes and have no experience with trying to actually create a landscape in any media -- aside from taking an occasional snapshot of something that looked pretty at the time (and those are mostly lost to time and long misplaced negatives, etc.)

Well...the Northville Art House has a call out for art for their upcoming landscape show. You know I (at least) want to give it a go...whether I end up submitting anything or not.
So today I became the intrepid landscape hunter. I had a notion that I could possibly take some photographs and then either manipulate them somehow -- or use elements of them -- to make a landscape (or three). I had a few specific areas in mind. The only problem was that it was just about to rain when I started out this morning. Overcast and slightly sprinkly, but I still voyaged out. At least it wasn't 100 degrees and humid and super sunny.



Pretty needless to say, it has been a wash today. The shots were not really what I had in mind. I think because I have no real clue what a landscape is about, I am having trouble achieving something I even mildly like. Here are some of the photos I took (I actually shot over 40 pics) and you can see how some of them were used in the various failed attempts.







#1 -- taken for the pond and ground and little trees













#2 -- taken for sighting down the fence and the path










#3 -- taken for the clouds














#4 -- one of my front yard trees













#5 -- taken for the hills












#6 -- my street, taken for the downhill angle and perspective(s)






Now for the failed attempts so far:

a collage mock up made with elements from #1, #3 and #4









a tracing (for a linocut block carving) traced over elements from #2 and #4










a traced then erased and
hand drawn/manipulated and
then transferred to a linocut block
using elements of #5 and #6







My biggest problem is that what I have feebly come up with (so far) is not even mildly interesting to me visually. And when I try and add something else to the imagery, the picture becomes more about the object that I added in, rather than focusing on the landscape. Like...I added in other trees (and was pretty happy with the picture) but it became more about the new trees. I added in a few little hand drawn houses, but they were the main element you noticed. I kind of understand that there can be other things or people or whatever in the picture, but I am not familiar enough -- or comfortable enough -- or something enough (confident?) -- (yet) -- to understand how to construct a landscape. And maybe that is part of my problem with this. Perhaps you don't "construct" a landscape...you either just "feel" it and photograph it or draw or paint it or collage it or something...but you "feel" it to begin with.

I am not entirely done yet. I will keep brainstorming about this. It really isn't what I do, but I still want to give it a try. I don't want to force it too much because then it won't be something I am happy with and therefore it won't work...you know? I am capable of coming to a point and saying "nope...not right for me at this time." But I still want to pursue it...for a little while longer. (triple Capricorn thing kicks in)

365 Day 135

prep work -- taping

Wow -- I cleared the big studio table enough to be able to work again!














Today -- all day -- like from noon until now (6:15) -- was spent in plaster cloth guys preparation...namely, taping. There were paper tubes, little boxes, wooden plaques and two balls that all needed to be taped separately with masking tape, then joined together with masking tape.

There is a local call for art that these may work out for. The theme is for small(er) art and everything submitted must be 8"x8"x8" or less. I am not totally sure yet what they will turn out to be, but I know they will be plaster cloth. I am excited to find out as they reveal themselves.






I started out taping paper tubes, thinking I was making parts for the studio snake. That really l-o-n-g skinny tube was a donation from Juana --it will be used for a different project.

















This is the first potential plaster cloth guy from earlier today.
















This is all seven of them...waiting to tell me what or who they are when the plaster cloth starts going on.