Trophy Art (?)

Okay, this is not printmaking - it is a little break from carving, inking, registering, etc., which has been being done, but just not on this little project.  At Northbank Gallery we have had a Gallery Chair-person who has just been over-the-top-on-the-job-fantastically-tremendous. She has ridden herd on us with diligence - she has discovered how to nail jello to a tree, herd cats, and get artists to not only do as they have been asked, but to follow the rules and do it on time!  In my mind that deserves a trophy, so I have made one and will present it to her this evening.  In addition to doing her Gallery Chair duties she has also done two shows: one on all things onion and another on all things eyes and her next series is all things bees.  That will help explain some of the items on her Exemplary Gallery Chair award.  Most of the items are pretty self explanatory - paint can and brush for the constant maintenance of the gallery between shows, tool box, hammer, carpenter's rule, for hanging shows and so on.  (Did I mention that I now need a new supply of Sculpey?  That stuff is so much fun.  All of us pre-schoolers (and above) love it!

It is my hope that, upon seeing this amazing object d'art, the membership will be jumping at the chance to take on the Gallery Chair job with the dream of having one of these for their very own.  Either that or they will race across the bridge where they think they will be safe, but we will hunt them down if need be.

                                                                    Front view

                                                                         Back view  (that piece of paper is a list of shows)

                                                                   close up of back

                                                                close up of front

Thank goodness for Goodwill or Salvation Army, memory is not serving as to where I found this elegant trophy, and to the person who donated it so I could pick it up for a song.  Also, to the person who forfeited the Barbie Boom-box which became a yellow tool box.  And, last but not least, to the person who made the doll house chair so I didn't have to make one from scratch (or Sculpey).  And, to our Illustrious Gallery Chair (person) who brought this project to mind.  I had more fun than "Gallagher at a Farmer's Market" to quote a certain car insurance commercial.

And, I beg forgiveness for this having absolutely nothing to do with printmaking!

Wet Concrete Carving Workshop

This is so exciting! Barebones Art will be hosting Elder G. Jones, a pioneer in the development of wet concrete carving, for a three day workshop this July 16, 17 and 18th in luxurious, (we hope it will not still be raining) Vancouver, WA.  We will work from 10 am to 4 pm (more or less) for three days and when it is all over, besides having the time of our lives, we will have a finished piece for our home or garden, know all there is to know about the medium, plus have the tools to do the job again.

Granted, this has little or nothing - probably nothing - to do with printmaking, except that possibly you could ink and print the vessel you produce should be so inclined.  Or maybe you could squish a carved block into the wet concrete, remove the block, and carve around it?  How about pressing leaves into the wet concrete and carving around them?  I'm sure there will be lots of ideas from others and I can't wait to hear them.  Printmakers, especially, can always come up with some way to make their medium work with another.

If you are interested in joining us for the workshop please let me know at barebonesart@comcast.net or you can also go to www.sandpudding.com

I have a lovely flyer I can send to anyone who is interested, but be darned if I can figure out how to get it onto this page.  If you'd like to see it, let me know! 

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall...

North Bank Gallery in Vancouver, where I am one of the artists, is having a Politik: Left, Right and Center exhibition this month. Since I am pretty much chair bound, recovering from surgery, I had to do what I could manage from my chair. This didn't exactly conform to that requirement, but modeling the pig did. The idea was after the reference in the political dialogue of putting lipstick on a pig, the old saw that is just another version of you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear, which was my mother's favorite. Somehow the Right managed to twist the comment to infer that Sarah Palin, the Republican nominee for Vice President, was a pig in lipstick, which was never the intent or context of the comment in the original. But, since that seems to be what is making the rounds, I decided to play on that. The most surprising part of this story is that the piece sold before the show opened, making me think maybe I should go for folk art and give up the printmaking!