Hodge Podge Day

It's been a crazy multi-tasking day, and I've got lots of photos to prove it. I ought to save some or break this up, but don't know how...

Took lots of photos of the sculpture as it's being dismantled and prepared to take to North Carolina. I'm learning to use Russ's new digital Canon so that I won't look like a total dork with it on site. Hopefully tomorrow I can post more of the photos on a new secret blog I had Russ set up for me in one of my maniac moments.

Finished up the cover and insides of my portfolio to submit to the gallery we're jurying at tonight. I know I showed you the drawings, but here it is in real life. I know lots of artists make super cool handmade things, but I don't have time so I just went to my friendly Staples and found these neat binders.

You can easily add, or in my case, remove the extra pages. Rebecca said submit 10-20 images, and I had trouble coming up with ten. But I wanted the work to look cohesive and not disjointed, like it would all go together in a room, so I was selective.

Another thing, I rethought my descriptions of each piece since this is an art gallery and not a quilt show. I decided I really didn't like "machine quilting" that I had been using to decribe my stuff, because I think it sounds like a machine did it. The machine didn't do it, I did. Does an artist who works in wood or metal describe what kind of band-saw or welder they use to describe their work? Not too often.

Finally I decided on these type of descriptions: layers of cotton fabric, digital prints, and photo transfers stitched with cotton and rayon thread. What do you think?

I didn't want to mess around writing a full resume, so I just listed my recent exhibition history. Hah, it's all recent anyway because I only started entering shows last year. Was feeling pretty good at this point, you should try this. Even if you don't need to submit one, it just feels nice to have a printed portfolio you can clutch in your hands.

Printed out my new card design. Was thinking I was pretty clever figuring out how to print on these spiffy Avery business card forms. The purple backgrounds are bigger than the card form, so when I punch them out, the color goes all the way to the edge. Except I only get half as many cards this way (5 on a sheet of 10).

And except after I punched them out, I thought, You idiot! Who makes their name so HUGE on a business card? You look like a total egomaniac. I admit I think artists need to play up their name a lot, but really I did get carried away with that typography. Back to the drawing board...

Then I felt stupid again when I got to the gallery, because after all that I totally forgot to bring my portfolio. But actually we were late because I could barely drag Russ away from the studio where he's working so hard to get ready to leave for NC. All the student work was waiting for us, and isn't the gallery nice? I love that polished concrete floor.

This was one of my favorites. It's called "Skirted" by Megan Brown, it's made on a background of paper that comes in dress-making patterns. Pink dot means it's in.

Two more fantastic pieces. The front mobile is made with Barbie doll parts inside little decorated frames called "What's Your Frame of Mind" by Laura Sapa.

The sculpture behind the Barbie mobile was made with little pill bottles and nails. It's called "Pilgrimage to Purity" by Kurt Brethauer. I love it when people make amazing things with ordinary objects.

Here's Russ joking around with Todd Lowry who asked us to jury the student show. Todd's a groovy painter, manager of the gallery this year, and happened to have a blue tongue from eating blue Peeps this evening.