journeys and dreams: a mixed media art exhibit

you’re invited to “journeys and dreams” — my art opening at radio room

thursday, october 2nd
7-10pm
@ radio room on ne alberta.

in conjunction with my opening, i’ll also be hosting a benefit for children’s healing art project (CHAP), who is quite possibly the BEST (if not THE best) non-profit in the state. i’ll tell you more about them in a moment and how you can help, if you’re so inclined, whether you’re near or far.

yesterday i hung all of the pieces for my show, sans a couple that i’ll be getting up in the next few days (long story but part of it includes me knocking a fragile assemblage off a table thus having to fix it — oops!).  my exhibit is comprised of 20 paintings, 2 dolls and 2 assemblages.  i’ll probably have 3 more assemblages and two more paintings by the event.  plus i’ll have a heap of small art prints and tiny framable paintings for those with a smaller art budget (like me).

during this whole process i’ve learned that i’m not very good at hanging, aligning things or making things look straight, even with the assistance of my sister.  but we got it done and i think it looks fantastic, even if there are a couple quirky misalignments and height discrepancies.

i forgot to take photos of the fourth wall, and part of the third, but you get the idea.  lots of art!  and yes, i’ve been bitten by the color bug — i’m loving color play as of late.

this piece, entitled “nothing really bothers her, she just wants to love herself” is my favorite.  if i recall, it’s 15×30″ — collage, acrylic, graphite and ink. i’ll try to get a better/head on photo during my opening.  she’s a great representation of my deep adoration of malformation, disproportion and things that don’t properly match (all my hands are absurdly small, for example, and look like they were drawn by a child — love kid art!).  it makes me happy.

despite having just hung, and the opening not being until next week, i’ve already sold two pieces which has me ecstatic.  i am so grateful to be able share my art with people who enjoy it!  it too makes me happy — i’m pretty giddy right now, truth be told.  one gal messaged me on facebook after posting a couple of images and asked if she had to purchase it in person.  nope!

these are the two that have found new homes so far. “one raven girl“…

and this piece, entitled “i can’t see the end of me“:

(clearly i’m still working on my photography skills.)

and here are a couple of close-up shots of two more pieces that are now available on the walls at radio room.  this piece is entitled “finding feathers on her medicine walk” and is highly inspired by my new shamanic pursuits. her eyes are my favorite, slightly askew and off kilter, over a slightly-too-small nose.  she’s 12×12″, collage, acrylic, pen/ink, graphite and water soluble wax pastels.

and “describing wisdom” — with a deer and an antler girl.  she’s 6×12″, collage, acrylic, ink, graphite, charcoal and water soluble wax pastels.

(i’m seriously going to beg some of my photography friends to take better photos because these are so embarrassing!)

and this is my 3d wall so far.  i’ll be adding additional pieces before the event.

and now for the good stuff!

children’s healing art project brings the healing power of art to children in crisis through a mobile team of teaching artists working in a partnership with hospitals, community organizations and schools. at CHAP, children are known for their creativity and ingenuity—not by their disease, diagnosis or disability. their innovative healing arts programs reach critically ill, chronically ill and disabled children (and their loved ones) with programs that strengthen, encourage and inspire.  i love all that they stand for and do in our community and as a result decided to host a benefit for them.  i am donating a 5% of all of my art sales during the opening night to them, and radio room is donating 15% of all food and drink sales during the event to them.  in addition, envelopes will be available to make direct cash donations and a big huge box will be out from now until october 30th to collect donated art supplies to CHAP and the children they serve.  they are always in need of sequins, model magic, beads and beading supplies, colored feathers, paints and brushes, non-toxic adhesives, collage papers, colorful pipe cleaners, blank t–shirts (kids sizes) and masking tape.

image copyright children’s healing art project (CHAP)

and actually, scratch that.  it had originally been the plan to donate a portion of my sales to them from opening night only, but i’ve just changed my mind (looking at that precious painty face and colorful tiny toes).  i will now be donating a percentage of my art sales from right this minute through opening night.  so if you’re interested in a piece that is available, you can help CHAP to0.

i love them and i’m going to see about being a volunteer artist now that finn is back in public school and i have the time to do so.  ❤

hope to see you at the opening if you’re in the area!

summer arting with the kiddos (is fun!)

what a grand summer!  arting both alone and with the kids, camping, traveling to see properties (that we can’t buy — more on that another day), weeding my ass off in the garden.  it’s all around good times.

i’ve been spending a lot of time painting over the past couple of weeks while gearing up to break out piles of assemblage supplies (i like painting in the summer because it’s more portable — i can sit in the sun, or shade if i’m smart — i fry in the sun).  here is a peek at some recent girlies.  i call them my imaginary friends.  well, four of them at least.  the others are a bit standoffish.

these are available in my shop, here: http://alteredbits.com/alicia-caudle-art.php

the “tallest” handmade book in the world is slowly but surely coming to fruition and more resembling an actual book than a pile of gorgeous pages.  i’ve just added drawers to the back cover but no peeks yet!  i shall post some in the next week or three.  i don’t know what it is with me and drawers and secret places in books, but i like it.

in the meantime, i wanted to share some of the fun art some of the kiddos and i have been creating.  we’ve been trying to get together with a couple specific friends every friday for art, and have another couple of friends who come here on an irregular basis.  friday before last, we made collaged “special boxes”.  we thought we would make them so they can put other projects they’ve made into them to keep them save, along with other treasures.

finn (my 10 y/o son) reminds me of myself sometimes.  somehow a nude stamp got into the pile of goodies which i thought i had edited well, but i hadn’t.  his friend elie turned it up-side-down and diverted her eyes when she happened upon it, and finn snatched it up before a word could be said.  here is the top of his box with the nude stamp and some skull beads (AND i am the lucky recipient of this box!):

miss el started to create a box house for some of her tiny dolls.  i wish i would have gotten photos of the completed box house but i was too distracted.  they both had so much fun collaging, painting and finding random items to glue on.

here is the table — think i brought enough stuff for two kids to make boxes?  (this wasn’t even all of it!)

after that, finn was quite inspired to surprise elie with a doll house the following friday, and look what he made, complete with popsicle stick hardwood flooring, wainscoting, etc.  i helped, but shhhh.  she loved it and we had super fun making it.  good times all around!  this is a bad angle — there are photos of birds on the walls on the lower level.

soon we’re going to be working on some sculpted covers for handmade books (i’ll probably bind them for them).  i love sculpting with the kids!  in fact, here are two bird dolls el made before summer.  these weren’t done when i took the photo, but you can tell she is an amazing talent!

here is a detail shot of their super cool heads:

anyway, having lots of creative fun both alone and with the kids, and loving every minute of it!  hope you’re having a creative summer too.

the tallest handmade book in the world (but not really the tallest)

i have truly and sincerely not meant to take so long on this project and feel like an ass.  i could make excuses about it, but i won’t, however since today is the last day of school i am back in action on this!  (i spend a good 7 hours a day homeschooling in addition to everything else, so summertime is the time to get stuff done around here!).  i’m very excited!

currently, all pages are ordered and the intro page is written out with all names, locations and either urls or email addresses except two people who did not provide contact information.  (this is part of my delay — trying to track them down.)  so, here i will list the participants and if you know either of the two and can provide me with their email address or blog/site url, i will send you a virtual kiss.  i want to get this up fast so not adding urls right now, but don’t fret — i will of course include them in the book and the pdf version so everyone is properly credited as they should be.

alicia caudle (that’s me)
mum and finn (that’s my son and me)
marni smith-gentry, usa
jill zaheer, usa
marit barentsen, the netherlands
patty szymkowicz, usa
hermine koster, the netherlands
jo murray, austrailia
bonia rose, usa
dave hayes, usa
bernie williams, usa
maggie mannwieler, usa
erin perry, usa
darline campbell, usa
janette gregson, uk
isabelle favre, france
sarah harris, uk
amanda kuykendall, usa

update: have tracked everyone down and gotten all info.  woohoo!  (and proper spelling)

for those who don’t know, the tallest handmade book in the world (which is really only about 4 inches thick) is a book made from donated pages that will be auctioned off to benefit my art group for children on the autism spectrum — click the link to the left in my side-bar to read more (but please note that i no longer have that PO box address).  for the summer we are bumping up art groups from one or two a month to one or two a week.  many of these kids’ families can’t afford contributing to the art supply fund and i can only buy so much.  currently i’m working with four kids on the spectrum on a regular basis, and a small handful of others here and there.  i cannot tell you how amazing it is to see their work!  i will seek parental permission and post some things soon.

what’s left to do?

make covers for both front and back.
finish my last spread (i did the rest of the pages in the intro spread and helped the little man with his four pages at least!).
take photos for PDF upload.
bind the whole thing up.
post it up for auction.

not sure if i should do a silent auction here on my blog, or if i should do it on ebay.  what do you think?  there are pros and cons to each option.

what can you do?

once it’s all complete, i will spread the word for a week or so and you can help.  tell anyone you know who may be interested.  i’m so excited to see how many people are interested in this book.  i cannot even begin to tell you how gorgeous it’s going to be!  the work in it is amazing and a half, squared!

i will try not to sleep much for the next couple of weeks so i can get this done, however i’m not stating a date of completion because i don’t know how long it will take.  i do hope you understand.  just stay tuned.  🙂  you can sign up for email alerts somewhere on my blog if you want to make sure you don’t miss anything.

check back soon for peeks!  i’m revving up my camera to get shots of all pages (wish my scanner was accessible, but i kind of lost it during some remolding projects — totally dumb!).  also, i’m going to have a give-away associated with the book but not sure how i’m going to do it just yet.

a charitible cause: art fundraiser

some of you know that i recently had the idea of starting a non-profit art group for kiddos with aspergers syndrome and autism… and it’s finally happening!  i’m super excited.  we’re getting bids to remodel the garage and make it our little group’s “art shack” and touching young lives with art and expression.  right now we’ve just been having tiny groups of two to four kids at a time at the dining table but soon we will expand (in the spring) to being an open group with up to eight or ten kids at least twice a week.  it will be donation driven for supplies and things, like “pay if you can” sort of thing, but no one will be turned away if they can’t afford it.  one thing i’ve noticed is that the kids feel so comfortable with teach other and can totally relate to one another.  one little guy told me that he liked that he wasn’t picked on at our house for being “different”.  happy tears for me!

in preparation of trying to file the non-profit paperwork, getting the garage remodeled into the kid’s studio, and setting up website hosting (shameful admission: i can’t afford to do it all myself money-wise), i’ve created a few pieces of art with the kids to make a little start-up money, in a joint etsy shop with the boy called mum and finn (our monsters will be going there soon, too, but i thought it would be a good fit for this stuff as well).  100% of profits go to the kid’s art group, of course.  the first three pieces below were based upon the kid’s talking about feelings and some of their favorite things to do.  they picked the colors and things and i painted the pieces as best as i could based upon their descriptions (according to six to nine year olds, i’m “really good” at painting their words — they are so sweet!).

piece one: i love skipping rope in the rain
4×6″ canvas
available here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/90242520/skipping-rope-in-the-rain-mixed-media
sold. thank you. 🙂

piece two: kicking a ball while wearing a funny hat
4×6″ on canvas
available here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/90239254/kicking-a-ball-while-wearing-a-funny-hat
sold. thank you. 🙂

piece three: watching orion (in bunny ears)
5×5″ canvas
available here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/90238257/watching-orion-in-bunny-ears-mixed-media
sold. thank you. 🙂

stuffed monster (based upon my son’s drawing): eunice traded her right art for george’s intestines. she survived… but he did not.
(not intended to be a child’s toy — small parts — removable intestines)
available here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/90244911/stuffed-monster-bunny-eunice-traded-her
sold. thank you. 🙂

and last but not least, a special playful but weirdo mixed media book/journal.
available here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/90248419/two-story-book-mixed-media-art-journal
this one is special in that it’s a “two story” book™ (© alicia caudle, 2011, all rights reserved) which is one of my recent creations (i will be posting my other two story book creations soon and will be hosting a small workshop on how to make them but more on that at a later date):  THIS PIC MAY TAKE A BIT TO LOAD.
sold. thank you. 🙂

all of these pieces have been added to our new etsy shop (with LOTS of new monsters coming soon): mum and finn on etsy

note: both the girl and the boy above that are listed as 4×6″ canvases are the same brand of canvas but for some reason the size is a tiny bit different.  what’s up, winsor newton!?  the girl is about 1/4″ taller… and i didn’t notice until i finished each of them.  hmmmph.

art and lessons

over the past couple of weeks i’ve experienced several good lessons.  some background on lesson number one…

last week my son’s school had a benefit art fair to raise money for more arty programs at their school.  i helped with the advertising (designed all of the fliers) and had a table there, which was joyous fun — 30 amazingly talented artist parents were there selling things from high end metal sculptures to jewelry to original paintings to t-shits (but really, really cool ones).  i really didn’t think i would sell anything but i was quite wrong.  i spent weeks getting ready, making lots of “little things” to sell with my art pieces — cheaper stuff like art print cards and such so that hopefully i’d make a few bucks for the school (20% went to them).  none of the “small things” sold except some of finn’s cards (of course!).  then, i also made a few more “tame” things — not really alicia-style but i thought maybe it would be better not to have everything anatomical or “weird”.  despite being well made and cool, none of those things sold.  i sold several prints (even the black and white woman and man which i didn’t feel would be interesting to school parents), some journals — just the funkier ones, some collages, some charlotte assemblages, etc.   lesson number one:  i sold almost everything i created from my heart.  things i loved.  i sold nothing that i made to be more acceptable to others.  just sold the skulls and rib cages and charlottes with anatomical hearts and alice in wonderland “stuff”.  so, i’m not making anything to “please” anyone else again.  that was my first and last time.  if i were to place blame, i’d say it was my mother’s fault, but i won’t.  next time she says “you should try making something a little less dark or weird sometime and see how it does” i’ll just smile and ignore her… then paint a girl with bone arms or something.

i had also started making several cuff bracelets.  these were the first two which i forgot to take like a jackass.  i didn’t sell any at the art fair but got a call two days later that a gal wanted the ones i had for her shop.  just six.  but it was nice to sell them (even though it was wholesale).  i had mentioned to a new customer and my friend kerin a couple/few weeks ago that i was trying my hand at making cuff bracelets.  i’m not a jewelry person!  at that point i think i had 7 finished and 2 more started.  BOTH of them asked “have you seen or heard of sparrow salvage?  they literally both told me of this person within an hour or so of each other.  wowz!  her stuff is so very amazing!  i have since finished my two last cuffs and haven’t started any new ones.  go look at her stuff, seriously.  i LOVE it!

this one is a little too big for my mini wrist but i think i’m going to keep it.  it has so many things i’ve gotten from my sweet friends.  lace from jo in england, lisa in maryland and debs in new zealand, watch parts from rainey in ireland, little bits from kerin in this place called oregon, wonderful fiber (what is it called?) from patti in kentucky, etc.  needless to say, it’s special to me.  i just have to shrink it a bit… and give it one more quick dip into coffee as the white is still a little too white.

copyright judy wilkenfeld

speaking of kerin (which i’ll do again in a sec), she and i are going to be taking judy wilkenfeld‘s 3-day workshop at kc willis’s studio in colorado in august.  i’m going to make us pretty cuff bracelets for the occasion.  i’m a dork, i know.  but i think she is making us necklaces so she’s a dork too.

okay, okay.  lesson number two.  i started a painting of a girl a couple/few weeks ago.  grabbed an old painting i hated from about 6 years ago, painted the background black, sketched a girl, and spent a whole whoppin’ ten or fifteen minutes painting her face.  then i was tired and had to go to bed.  i hated her.  her mouth and coloring were wrong, her eyes are totally wrong, never finished her hair, etc.  i kept wanting to finish it.  my little dude asked me just a couple of days before he turned seven “why don’t you finish that girl, mom?”  and i said “i don’t know if i can.”  he said “the problem here is that you don’t believe in your art.  you CAN finish it but you’re just not letting yourself.  are you afraid it will be bad, or good?”  how can a little one be so insightful and wise?  lesson learned: believe in your art (i’m still working on this one).  i worked on it a bit by adding a border and scribbling in pen on her to emphasize her numerous flaws.  still don’t like her… or feel she’s done.  so, i emailed it to kerin… (told ya she’d pop up again!).

keriny is a ninny.  she said “i love her!  don’t change a thing!”  or something to that effect.  she is ever so sweet, that kerin!  i said “but she’s not done — i didn’t even do the hair.  that was just left over red.  haven’t done her shirt.  her eyes are wonky and i think she should be looking down.  she said “leave her just as she is.”  i think she should see it in person to view the defects of perception and tones.  where is a good place to learn painting faces?  i adore kerin and totally respect her opinion but i think she’s wrong.  😉  i’ve been having fun with my weirdo little girls and want to do a small series of “imaginary friends” but having never taken an art class or workshop, so i’m not sure where to begin.  any suggestions would be quite welcome.  the whole reason i’ve started people is because i was commissioned to paint a nude lady in “my” style.  i don’t do people so wanted to practice first.  this girl here is my third person i’ve ever tried to paint, which i am sure is evident.  maybe i’ll start the nude after my fourth.

this piece is a portrait my son did.  i should take lessons from HIM.  it’s about 18 x 24 inches on heavy watercolour paper and coloured with dyes, not paint.  the black is three dimensional — black ink in glue.  he created this while still six.

apparently they did two portraits in art class and the teacher kept the best of two.  i MUST see it because this is totally amazing to me.  i’m having it framed as soon as i have some money and hanging it on the main wall in our living room.  i’m such a proud mama!

happy mother’s day

happy mother’s day, mamas!!

today has been such a blast!  i was awoken with breakfast in bed of turkey bacon, an egg, a lovely piece of gluten free toast and strawberries along with a hot cuppa coffee and a lovely bouquet of dandelions that the little man hand picked fresh from our ever-growing yard.

upon coming downstairs, i was showered with lots of wonderful gifts.  my boys are the best!  the first was a nice bottle of arrogant bastard ale, one of my favorite beers (this is an annual tradition — see last year’s mother’s day post).  then finn brought me my first gifts — a head massager (i’ve seen them at the store several times and apparently he sensed my fascination):

and three magnets that he purchased at his school art fair last week.  i’ll post on that soon.  i saw these magnets and fell in love — they are part of a huge recycled border that three generations of family members drew on, and the dad/grandpa painted.  how sweet!!

next, i was given the cutest and tiniest little box of japanese fortune pencils.  translation please?  they forgot to get the accompanying hand-out that had them in english.  if anyone knows japanese and wants to enlighten me, i would be ever so grateful, and would trade you some collage sheets or goodies from my shop.  these are so tiny!  maybe four inches tall, and ever so precious!

then my little bugsy made me cry.  he gave me the sweetest card!!  the front can be seen above.  inside, this is what it said and yes, he wrote the whole thing himself!  he’s going to be a damn lady killer when he grows up, that boy!

he said he made sure to write it in his very best handwriting.  and then told me that my arms are beautiful because the give the best hugs in the world.  i cried again.  (just typing this is nearing me to weepiness.)

such wonderful boys i have!  boys = husby and son.  half the time people think i’m the mother of two, whoops.  anyway, they clearly went shopping at uwajimaya, which i adore.  they always have the funnest things in their gift/non-food department and the yummiest pho supplies.  the boys love their sushi but i don’t go there.  anyway, the gift giving wasn’t done yet…

i have a “thing” when it comes to coffee cups.  i like MY cup.  and i don’t like anyone to touch said cup.  i had six of these but my husband tainted a few by taking them to work so now i just have two.  while at uwajimaya, they happened upon a big dude named banaru.  banaru is a banana drinking a cocktail on a couch with a fluffy little dog on his lap.  funny as hell!  so they picked out this fantastically funny banaru coffee cup for me.  no one can get away with using this one!

oh wait, here is a photo of the box.  it cracks me up:

look at this tape!  it’s japanese vellum tape.  the husby picked out the package of the pretty red ones and the little man picked out the yellow illustrated one.

and last but not least, they got me this ever so sweet little girl!  i’ve made an animated image of the box and how it opens.  japanese packaging is the best in the world!  check this out!!  AND she was the ONLY red-head and the ONLY one with pigtails… she’s just like me.  and has a dragonfly on her kimono!  so alicia-mama-wife-esque! she is a momiji and her name is laughter.

the packaging is the same stuff they make water wings out of and practically the same shape.  i will be hording it, of course.  there is a little space in her bum, or base, for a mini note.  and the note inside was ever so sweet!  after all of this my lovely ones took me to get this cute little shelf i wanted (and a huge new basket i wanted for fabric so i can have shelf space again) and of course she will live there, right atop the sweet new shelf.  i’ll take photos.  THEN, if you can believe this, they took me to the fabric store.  i took them out to lunch for that one.  so sweet!  got stuff for 3 or 5 new journals (lots of new ones to post) and more snaps and other closures for more cuff bracelets which i’ll also soon share.

anyway, the momiji is so me — she likes integral calculus and scavenger hunts.  if you didn’t catch the quote on the box that makes me laugh, you can see it here:

i love my boys and feel like the luckiest mum in the world today.  i hope you do too!

art collaborations (are fun!)

sheesh, i haven’t posted in forever and a half. this time of year is always utterly insane with thanksgiving, no school days, mum’s birthday (have to attempt make her something sweet every year!), school parties and stuff, winter solstice and gift making, more no school days, christmas and more present making. and baking (i invented the BEST gluten free apple berry pie and gluten free pumpkin tarts though). plus the two businesses go through bouts of time-consuming insanity which i attribute to holiday shopping and “let’s make sure we get this done on this year’s taxes” — last-minute website update stuff.  i’m so glad i postponed the zine — i hardly have time to breathe!

this is what i am most excited about and proud of this week. i have to say that i get giddy with pride and arty-bliss every time i look at this. it’s called (if i can remember correctly) “two birds pondering each other while sitting on a crooked fence under a crazy moon at the edge of a city”. it was a collaborative piece i did with my amazingly talented son (who, by the way, picked the name of the piece). he’s six. and since he came out of my body, i’m allowed to say he’s “amazingly talented” and get away with it (he thinks he’s non-artistic, hmmph!). i love his birds and i’m having him make me several of them to get tattooed around my leg, maybe wing in wing.  their beaks are so fantastically geometric and… just perfect.  🙂  he’s so cute — he wants to make art cards out of them and try to sell them on etsy (so he can buy more legos!).

long post this weekend with super good news and 6+ new pieces of art IF i can find the time to photograph them.