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!

art every day month continues: arting with the kids

i have had such a blast working on little handmade books with some of my favorite arty kids over the past month and a half or so, and finally, they are pretty much done!

during our first book get-together, the kids covered some bookboard with masking tape and then sculpted their covers with paper clay.  i had some photos of this but i seem to have lost them, so you’ll just have to see the final phase photos instead.  during our second get-together, they collaged the inside covers of their books and prepared the pages (this was a sunny day and the kids were distracted by playing so we didn’t get much done on the books, but it was such a fun day none the less!).  finally, this past weekend, we painted our covers and started binding.  here are some fantastic photos of elie, jack and finn working on their creations:

one of our favorite places to meet is the st. john’s mcmenamins.  love the huge table upstairs with all of the natural light AND the fact that they don’t mind us getting messy.  🙂

elie is the master sculptor of the group and made a precious snail, flower and mushroom on her cover:

jack is more focused than finn.  🙂  notice finn hasn’t even started painting his cover (we’ll be finishing his oringial book this week)…

elie’s gorgeous front cover is now complete!  snail in the snow.  i love it!

here is a picture of the precious little mushroom — i am so in love with the way she painted it:

and her easy binding was started with some of her favorite fabric and embroidery thread (we’ll probably get to finish this next weekend else she finishes with her mama):

here is some detail of one of the other books (i probably did more work on this than finn did, at least with the paint, and of course it’s not done, but you can peek at it anyway).  we will be painting some more on it, filling the holes with black and adding some crackle:

i think finn’s favorite part was embedding objects into the clay while it was still wet.  not sure what happened or why i didn’t get more photos of the other two books, darn it.  i’m easily distracted sometimes.

of course there was plenty of time to play on the cozy couch once we washed up (here you can see one of the more calm moments — should have gotten some shots of the pig-pile they made on top of each other).

and last but not least, their almost completed books — love them!!

thank you audrey for some of these fantastic photos!!  (she took all of the good ones)

during our next art group, we’re going to be making holiday trees.  the boys are making minecraft inspired trees once we can figure out what to do for the blocks and i don’t think elie has decided what she wants to do yet, but i think mine will be created from fabric-wrapped wire and will be in a wooden base.  then of course we’ll have to make some ornaments to decorate them.  we always have so much fun together!  with our other group of kids that we get together with from our neighborhood, we will probably just make some ornaments for their parents.  last year we did special boxes, some with drawers, with treasures inside like handmade books and ornaments.  whatever we do, we’ll be sure to have heaps of fun.  i’ll share more photos, of course.