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.

2012/365 - Day 243

picking up the story from last night...

Okay...so we were at the Running With Scissors meeting and fiber artist/felting person Jan Waller came in towards the very end of the evening with the big bin of her work to show everyone.

Jan and Patrice and Kat looking at Jan's work.

I was soooooo blown away by all the intense color and the workmanship...these photos are just a small glimpse.  Honestly, I don't have the words to even begin to describe this stuff so I'm not going to try.

 Jan had this piece with her, too (although this photo was actually taken on April 14th when Ruth and I went to see Peggy's work in the Faces exhibition in Plymouth...we were totally knocked out by this piece back then.)

Today at the Northville Art House (subbing for Carla -- day 4 of what was going to be 6 and is now 5) the fiber artists who had artwork in the Thoughts With Thread exhibition started to pick up their pieces.  No, good folks of Northville, don't get your hopes up...Carla is not coming back one day early, it is just that we all forgot that it is the Labor Day weekend and the Art House would be closed on Saturday.

This was taken at the opening reception -- Jan won first place.

(I am including this photo in case you missed it the first time around.)

Today Jan came to pick up her work "School of Thought" and to meet up with Ruth and me after work to go to another opening in Huntington Woods.

There she goes out to the car with her amazing artwork.

Then the 3 of us piled into my car and headed out.

ANYway...we picked up Juana on the way to the opening and then Franciney showed up (and Ruth and Franciney finally got to meet each other in person) (and I talked to Christine for a bit and then took a quick look around) and then it was time for the 3 of us Northville/Plymouth-area girls to head back to our side of town (Juana and Franciney stayed longer and were planning on going to get dinner, Franciney had planned on taking Juana home).  We want to go back during the run of the show and look at the art more when we have more time and when it is less packed...and I can take photos of the show then.

Ruth and Jan and I ended up at Deadwood Grill for dinner -- man, was that good -- then we stopped at Tuscan Cafe for coffee.  We had a really good time talking and talking and talking and getting to know each other.  Jan invited us to come to her place and learn how to felt and I invited her to join us to do more stuff, too...and to come over to my house sometime.  GREAT night!
 

2012/365 - Day 242

a jam-packed FULL day of art and art stuff with plenty of pics

Wow.  What a day!

First it was a mobile version of Wednesday Morning at Joan's over at Leann's house. 

Leann on her porch, welcoming me in.

Leann was working on the finishing touches on a really really neat art quilt for the Above and Below show that opens in September.  More about that show when it opens.

I was looking around at all of the wonderful things that you can see from Leann's incredibly fabulous big table at the edge of her kitchen and my eyes stopped at her shrine to George Harrison.

detail

Yep -- my task for the morning was to wrap the Penciled In artpacks in cellophane and pack the box for shipping.

Joan arrived!

As I was wrapping the boxes I realized I had forgotten to write a note for Carol (at AIC) and I also forgot the sheets of placards for the series so I had to stop back at my house...oh well.  

Leann working on another part of her naked mole rat quilt.

Leann was also very keen on sharing the totally marvelous completed prayer flag.  The muslin squares were made by some of the people in the ATC group and they are all just amazing.  Leann put her flag together with ribbons in between the muslin squares.  It really is just amazingly wonderful.

Joan's project for today was some knitting.  This is part two of a two-part long vest (I can't remember what it is called) and she started it eight years ago.  It is very very long and the gauge of the needles/stitches is small and the whole thing looks really great.  It will be really pretty cool when she completes it.

Leann finishing up the back of her quilt -- the hanging part.

Ta- daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!  They are all wrapped and marked and I chose the pieces I am ordering for my machines.

And see...I had the labels and everything...too bad I needed to stop at home for the inserts.

Back at my house to finish packing up the artpacks and this photo op happened.

Awwww...my sleepy boys.

My sleepy boys with the sticky outy legs.  I love it when they reach their arms out like that.  They look so comfortable.

Okay...at this point I am starting to run into a time crunch because I need to go to the post office before getting to the Art House.

This is when Bootsy decides he needs to "help" and give me a few pointers.

See?  I made it to the post office -- and NO lines!!!

One of my jobs today was to put address labels and postage stamps on the new postcards for the upcoming exhibition at the Art House.

I will talk about the show itself as it gets closer, but it is a super super mosaic tile show -- a benefit auction for Doctors Without Borders.

Done!

Another exciting upcoming show at the Art House is a call for art for the holiday season...the fliers arrived today.

More about that tomorrow!

And as if all of that wasn't enough...I went along with Leann and Joan to the meeting of the fiber group Running With Scissors!

 O.M.G.  What a bunch of talented, creative women!  And what a night to just happen to attend!

The show-and-tell items were incredible.  A few of the art quilts were going into the Above and Below show.  I am going to go to that opening with Leann and I will take lots and lots of photos.  But all I can say for now is "WOW!"

Deb Kolar made this fabulous appliqued felted pieces quilt.  I probably have the description wrong, but I don't know what else to call it.

The colors are eye-popping.  The work is incredible.  I really love it!

detail

another detail

Deb also did the demo for the meeting.  Again, not being a fiber artist or sewing person I don't have the right words...but it had to do with jute cording and wrapping the cording with thin strips of scrap fabrics and sewing them on the sewing machine with a #3 zig zag stitch (tearing up here over the mathy elements) and you can make a bowl or coaster or all manner of wonderful things.  

Demos like this make me think sometimes that I would like to get a sewing machine and try these great projects...but that is truly better left to people who have much, much more experience and who have outrageous senses of color and the ability to mix fabrics and textures.  I can do plenty of other things...but not this.  Wow.

And I got to visit with Lynn and I talked to Kate about the possibility of her doing an Art-o-mat series and maybe making something for the Paint Creek Art Center's Holly Dolly silent auction.  And Kat was there, and Patrice...and several of the members took fliers for the Art House's upcoming call for art.

Towards the end of the meeting Jan Waller showed up with a whole bin FULL of her exquisite felted artwork...including her piece that will be in Art Prize in Grand Rapids.  Oh. My. God.  That will be a whole blog entry on its own.  Plus, Jan will be picking up her first-place piece from the Thoughts With Thread show that just closed and then joining Ruth and me tomorrow to go to an opening, so it will all roll together in one blog post.

Wow.  What a day!

2012/365 - Day 241

finishing up...what the heck is taking so long?

I had planned on finishing the packaging of the Penciled In artpacks this afternoon and getting the box packed and ready to ship today.  Ha.

The cats needed to go to the vet this morning.  Then my sister and I went to Sam's Club.  I was nearly asleep when Sue and I were leaving Sam's...I don't know what the problem was...massive attack of allergens?  I could have laid down next to my car in the parking lot and gone to sleep right there.  I got my stuff and myself home, put it away, sat in my chair with Bootsy and (apparently) I fell asleep.  For a long time.  A l-o-n-g time.  Like all afternoon long time.  Geez.

When I woke up it was starting to get a little dark out...time to feed the cats.  Then I sat and finished up what I had planned on doing.  Now the boxes are ready for cellophane but man -- I am sleepy all over again.  This will actually be the perfect project for tomorrow's Wednesday Morning at Joan's -- wherever we end up.  I can wrap the boxes in cellophane, take a pre-printed address label and seal up the box.  On my way to the Art House (day 3 of subbing for Carla) I can go to the post office...the post office is right at the beginning of the block.

2012/365 - Day 240

Art-o-mat production mode -- Penciled In version

I'm on auto-pilot at this point.
  

I have a real rhythm going of grabbing a box, writing what the basic character is (was) on the edge of the box, applying the labels, folding the info insert, wrapping it together with the block in tissue paper, tearing off a small piece of tape and taping the tissue paper shut...then putting it in the box and closing it and stacking it. 

All there is left to do tomorrow is wrap each boxes tightly with cellophane (acetate), securing it with heavy duty packaging tape, and packing up the box for shipping.  Then taking the box to the post office.  YAY!

2012/365 - Day 239

finishing up (day one)

Today I am finishing up the prep for packaging Penciled In for Art-o-mat.

I gathered up the completed blocks from downstairs.  That is where I painted the edges and sprayed the protective/sealer coats.

It is sort of hard to tell, but the edges are painted with Lumiere metallic acrylic paint and are a little bit sparkly...not overblown and glittery...just a little sparkly.

Then it was printing out the information inserts and cutting them to size.

Then printing out the labels and the end labels for the boxes, running them through the Xyron machine to turn them into stickers (because I really hate gluing the labels...I am too messy with the glue stick), then cutting the edges off...but not cutting them out totally because the paper is slippery and I can't seem to get it straight and close on the paper cutter.

Now tonight I will cut the labels closely while watching television and sitting with my kittehs.

I will probably also do the folding of info inserts.  

Shoot...I just remembered I need to print some contents labels...so whoever ends up pulling them at Artists in Cellophane can see what's inside, and maybe not wind up sending all rabbits to one machine host.  Glad I remembered that...although I suppose I could hand-print what's inside.  I will decide later...I'm not crazy about my handwriting.

2012/365 - Day 238

subbing for Carla...continued (day two of six)

I flew solo today at the Northville Art House.  It is a good thing that Carla and I spent so much time prepping me to sub for her...I got a chance to do pretty much everything today!

Today was the final day of the "Thoughts With Thread" juried fiber exhibition.  What a marvelous show this has been.  I must say that everyone who came down the stairs today had smiles on their faces and the folks who stopped into the store commented on how much they really loved and enjoyed the show...people were really happy today.

It is also a very good thing I am a volunteer at the Art House vs being paid...I would've spent my check several times already.  I get to sit in the Art House Store for four hours...and that means (among other things) that I get to actually look at stuff...a lot.  I mean really look at it.

I am going to start sharing some of my favorite things in the store.

I am not a wearer of jewelry or accessories, although I really like a lot of jewelry and accessories.  However, if I could wear jewelry and/or accessories I'd be buying a bunch of Deb Kolar's felt and zipper items.  They are really great!

I love this shade of red.  I also love the stitching and the zippers.  This heart is edgy and yet girly at the same time.

And this one makes me think of a flower without being overly flowery.

If I was a wearer of pins, I would've snatched these up today!

There are also some really lovely leaf pins with gorgeous shades of green felt and wonderful stitching on the edges.  I will probably show them next week.

I absolutely love this wood and rocks rack.  The artist is Casey Williams.

The wood and the rocks are so smooth.  It is just beautiful.  I wouldn't want to hang a coat or scarf from the rocks, though...I wouldn't want to cover them up.  I am trying to think how I can use this in my studio for something so I can still see the wood and rocks.

Another advantage to being a volunteer is that I can sit and work on my stuff during slow times.

As of this afternoon, I have completed prep work on fifty Tookies finger puppets -- I did forty of them at the Art House.  Fifty down, fifty to go -- then I start adding the colorful, decorative stuff!

2012/365 - Day 237

subbing for Carla (day one of six)

Yep you're correct, folks...I'm not Carla.  It cracked me up how many people told me today that I am not Carla.

 But what a fun and wonderful place to come to come to volunteer/work!

I got to talk about the juried fiber show up in the gallery, answer questions about the Art House and the yarn bombing -- and bonus -- I got to tell a bunch of people about 

Art-o-mat...and that a portion of each sale benefits the Art House.

During slow-ish times I was able to work on Tookies prep.

I like this volunteer job -- I like it a lot!