Busy weekend! In addition to making sure my mom is settled back in at home after a 4-week stay in transitional care (after suffering a broken pelvis), including getting all her laundry caught up and reorganizing her sewing area, I managed to make good progress on several projects:
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Last year my friend James Alt spearheaded the Bench Warming Project to bring some color and interest to downtown Lapeer - our first official public art project.
Today we got our first outdoor sculpture. "New Life and Harmony" was designed by Vera Peltonen Bean specifically for this location next to our new rain garden seating area. It represents the "koru" theme which is explained in an engraved plaque attached to the piece. I think it is a beautiful and fitting complement to the rain garden area. I truly hope the graffiti artists around town will respect the artwork and consciously choose NOT to add their own personal touches to it. More photos here. Tonight I will have the privilege of sitting on a design jury for a Baker College architectural design class. I was invited to participate by architect friend Ron Campbell who is teaching the class. Since I was quite possibly an architect in a former life (or perhaps destined to be one in the next?), this sounded fun and I jumped at the opportunity. The students will each be making a presentation of their Schematic Design for a library in the fictional small town of Ambleside that just happens to have a few similarities to Lapeer, not the least of which is the site itself: a slightly modified version of a real site in Lapeer. The other jurors are a librarian and a landscape architect; I am to bring a City Planner's perspective to the panel. But I'm sure my inner architect will be heavily engaged as well. I can hardly wait. My daughter is enrolled in the Master of Arts Administration program at the University of Michigan - Flint. She is planning an art exhibit & event as an assignment this semester. I really love the theme she came up with - City Pride - and can hardly wait to see how it turns out. Of course, I am working on getting a painting done in time for this.
signed, Proud Mom. I'm a bit late to post this - the opening reception for the 2015 "Women" exhibit was held on Friday March 6th. It was supposed to be from 7-10 pm, preceded by a panel discussion from 6-7 pm. When we arrived at 7:15 the panel discussion was still going on .... and when we left at 8, it was still going on.
But, it was a nice exhibit. We got to see some wonderful pieces by some very talented artists. A few photos have been posted on the exhibit facebook page. Below is a shot of me next to my painting, and the accompanying narrative. One of these days I may learn how to smile in photographs. Julia and her team have been busy hanging the JKPP exhibit at the Alley Cat Books & Gallery in San Francisco CA. The exhibit showcases portrait work by 60 artists from around the world. I am honored to have my drawing of Dan Duffy included among them.
With the Winter Dirndl painting finished and delivered to the CAID gallery, it’s time to get moving on the next project: assembling an exhibit catalog for the Julia Kay’s Portrait Party (JKPP) 5th anniversary exhibit and celebration in San Francisco, CA. I found JKPP on flickr about 2-1/2 years ago, and since I’ve always liked drawing faces, it seemed like a fun group to join. Little did I know at the time what an addictive pastime this would become, and what a tremendously talented, diverse, kind and fun group of people from around the world I was now cyberly rubbing elbows with. Since joining in November 2012 I have made 126 portraits in graphite, colored pencils, ink, markers, acrylic paint, and combinations thereof. Most of the work in my “portrait and figurative art” page are JKPP pieces. (See my complete JKPP set on flickr.) Last July I had the privilege of coordinating a JKPP exhibit and meet-up at Gallery 194 in Lapeer MI, which was attended by 6 other JKPP-ers from Michigan, 10 from other parts of the US and beyond (including Oxford UK), and many appreciative people from the Lapeer community. Julia, Jenny Sperry and I teamed up to create a show catalog to commemorate the exhibit. We had 100 copies printed and sold them all to cover printing and mailing expenses. This month marks the 5th anniversary of the JKPP group. Julia and a team of helpers have been busily preparing to celebrate with an exhibit and meet-up in San Francisco. Since I won’t be able to attend or help in any other way from way over here in Michigan, I offered to work on a catalog. The exhibit was hung this past weekend at Alley Cat Gallery and the first public event is coming up in just a few days. The catalog must be done in time for the big closing events weekend March 27-29. This time it will be available by direct order through blurb books rather than pre-printed. My first time using blurb’s “book wright” template is going well so far. Updates will follow. |
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