World Collage Day, May 12, 2018

The first ever World Collage Day will be held Saturday, May 12, 2018. You know that’s right up my alley!

Uncommon ART will have artists doing collage demos and a make-and-take project for visitors. The Learned Owl Book Store will host Gretchen Bierbaum signing copies of her book, Collage in All Dimensions. Gretchen, as you may know, is President and Founder of The National Collage Society.

Activities at Uncommon ART will run from 11am-3pm. The book signing will take place from 11am-1pm.

Come join in the fun!

Kolaj Magazine, an international publication dedicated to the art of contemporary collage, is organizing the event.

For more information about World Collage Day, search for the hashtag #WorldCollageDay or visit:

National Collage Society: www.nationalcollage.com

Kolaj Magazine: www.kolajmagazine.com/worldcollageday/

Learned Owl Bookstore: www.learnedowl.com

Uncommon ART: http://www.artstudioinhudson.com/2018/04/29/celebrate-world-collage-day-on-saturday-may-12th/

Delivering Stories, July 14-August 19, at the BOX Gallery

“Delivering Stories” is a two-person exhibit of artwork by me and Amber McElreath.

The show runs July 14 – August 19 at the BOX Gallery in Akron.

Come join us for the opening reception on Friday, July 14, 5-8pm.

For this exhibit, I have made lots of new artwork that is more textured and dimensional than I've done in the past. The pieces have been exciting and challenging to make..

The piece pictured here is one of the new ones, titled “From a Fond Heart Faithful and True”.

Amber makes assemblages from found objects. She and I have different styles, but they play off each other very well. This show should be really interesting.

The BOX Gallery is open Friday and Saturdays from noon-5pm. It is also open till 9 during the Akron Artwalk on August 5th.

The BOX Gallery
140 E. Market St. Akron, Ohio
3rd Floor of Summit Artspace
Fri – Sat, 12-5pm
artistsofrubbercity.org

Once Upon A Time

This collage titled “Once Upon A Time” is another of the pieces I made for our “Threads of the Past” show at Uncommon Art.

The photo is of my parents drinking a toast on their wedding day. Behind them is sheet music for “Will The Circle Be Unbroken”, which has the lyrics:

There are loved ones in the glory

Whose dear forms you often miss.

When you close your earthly story,

Will you join them in their bliss?

Will the circle be unbroken

By and by, by and by?

Is a better home awaiting

In the sky, in the sky?

For more about this piece, visit: http://www.lifeneedsart.com/gallery/once-upon-a-time/

Evolving Landscapes at Summit Artspace

I am delighted that my “Roots and Roads #1” has been selected to be part of the “Evolving Landscapes” exhibit at Summit Artspace!

The exhibition runs March 3 – April 8, 2017 with an opening reception on Friday, March 3 from 5-8pm.

The 50 works chosen for the exhibition by juror Alexandra Nicholis Coon, executive director of the Massillon Museum, explore landscapes from traditional and contemporary perspectives.

For more information, visit http://summitartspace.org/6233/look-past-the-horizon-to-evolving-lanscapes-juried-exhibition-opens-march-3-with-reception-5-8-pm/

Summit Artspace is located at 140 East Market Street in Akron, Ohio.

from WOMAN X: art created by women, of women, about women

I am honored to have been invited to participate in an exhibit at Lakeland Community College called “from WOMAN X … Created by women, of women and about women”.

To see my entries in the show, visit http://www.lifeneedsart.com/events/from-woman-x-a-celebration-of-womens-history-month/

The exhibit includes artwork in a variety of media from 44 women artists from Northeast and Central Ohio, Arizona and Indiana. Part of a celebration of Women’s History Month, the exhibit has been curated by Mary Urbas, along with a month-long series of other exhibits and events.

The exhibit at Lakeland runs February 26 – March 31, 2017. The closing reception is Sunday, March 26, 2017, 3:30-5 pm along with the Women of Achievement Awards that begin at 2pm.

Lakeland Community College is located at 7700 Clocktower Drive, Kirtland, Ohio 44094. Gallery hours are Mon-Fri 9am-9pm, Sat-Sun 9am-5pm.
For details about the gallery tour, visit http://lakelandcc.edu/gallery or https://www.facebook.com/events/737316676432078/

Fall Art Classes

This fall, I’m offering a collage class as well as a couple of open studio events. For a change, I’m posting all of my classes over on the Uncommon Art website: http://www.artstudioinhudson.com/events/ . It’s a place to put all of my classes, plus Shannon’s and Dana’s, too.

Beginning September 27, I am offering a 4-week collage class that will cover the basics, altering and transferring images, using text, and maybe even a scavenger hunt (weather permitting).

Plus, check out our procrastination busting evening on October 7th. The idea is that we all have unfinished projects at home that we WANT to finish, but can never quite find the time for. Well, this is the time! Bring your project – anything from knitting to painting to scrapbooking to writing to whatever as long as it fits up the stairs – and work on it that evening. We’ll give you time and space, plus a creative atmosphere and occasional friendly nudge to get you going. It will be fun, relaxing, and productive. Come give it a try.

Painting parties are always fun. Just give me a call or email and we'll find a time that fits your schedule.

Keep an eye on the calendar for the most up-to-date info: http://www.artstudioinhudson.com/events/. Our schedule is filling up and changing pretty quickly, so the calendar is the best place to know what’s happening.

Coming Soon To An Art-o-Mat Near You

It’s been a while since my last series of artwork for Art-o-mat, and I’ve missed making them. I really enjoy working on these series, and love seeing these little guys come together.

My larger artwork has been exploring envelopes. They’re a dying art – who sends letters anymore? Envelopes (at the root, “envelop”) are meant to wrap and contain things, and then to be opened and the contents released. I’m interested in the contrast between open and closed, hidden and visible, and the emotions they evoke.

The current Art-o-mat series plays on the theme with a little handmade envelope with an unexpected surprise peeking out, attached to a wooden block covered in vintage map or book page. The surprise might be flowers or pets, people or sayings. They are light and humorous, and hopefully will give patrons a chuckle.

Insufficiently Wrapped, a collage

“Insufficiently Wrapped” plays on the envelope theme with an image that couldn’t be contained.

I liked the idea of a neat and tidy envelope spilling messy contents all over the place.

Envelopes are meant to contain, but sometimes they just can’t hold it in anymore.

The envelope is made from a magazine image that I altered with solvent, then painted with transparent gold paint. The button is not real – it’s a sticker.

http://www.lifeneedsart.com/gallery/insufficiently-wrapped/

Too Much To Contain

“Too Much To Contain” looks at what happens when the envelope is too full and the contents are released.

I love the mix of modern and vintage bits here: graphs from a 1950s physics book, vintage elements from the 1880s, mixed with modern snapshots and maps. It’s a wonderful, complex mix of items.

The envelope is made from a piece of paper that I painted, along with a vintage stamp. An odd view of it from the side is below, taken while I was holding a mat on it to check the progress.

http://www.lifeneedsart.com/gallery/too-much-to-contain/

Remembrance, a collage

“Remembrance” uses a modern envelope paired with a vintage greeting card. I wanted to echo the greeting card with the other elements in the piece, so looked for papers with a similar feel.

As I have tried to do in other recent pieces, I tried to be somewhat spontaneous in my approach and not over analyze the selection and placement of elements. I wanted the overall effect to be loose and energetic, full of life, though the style of the vintage card hints at having been used to remember a life.

http://www.lifeneedsart.com/gallery/remembrance/

Going Forth, a collage

Remember the excitement of finding a real envelope in the mail, one with a card or letter?

Envelopes are more than paper: their purpose lies equally in being able to wrap, contain, and conceal, as well as open and release. They are the messenger, so rarely (never?) are they the reason for the missive.

Yet being wrapped and opened, sent and delivered conjure up all kinds of emotions for us. In the Envelop/e series, I’ll explore those emotions.

http://www.lifeneedsart.com/gallery/going-forth/

Walk In The Woods, a collage

“Walk In The Woods” continues my exploration with a collage process that is more free and intuitive.

No carefully analyzed plan, no agonizing over each piece. Instead, I tried to put pieces together because they felt like they belonged together.

Do vintage buttons, corrugated cardboard, and French knots really belong together? Who knows, but they seemed to belong together.

http://www.lifeneedsart.com/gallery/walk-in-the-woods/

Waterfall, a collage

“Waterfall” began, as so many of my abstract paintings do, with quick and instinctive swatches of paint on paper. Quick and energetic, applied in an intuitive, physical way.

After the paint dried, I enhanced the paint with some machine stitching to draw attention to it and add texture, then added the puff of shredded black paper.

http://www.lifeneedsart.com/gallery/waterfall/

Deep Blue Sea

“Deep Blue Sea” is a bit different for me.

Collage, the way I do it, is deliberate. I think about each piece before applying it to the artwork, weighing color, placement, size carefully. I’ll often look at a piece for several days before gluing anything down.

It’s a very different process than painting, which for me is energetic and spontaneous.

For this piece, however, I tried to be more free. I glued papers down without agonizing over the placement. After a while, I went over the whole piece with that rusty orange brown to unify the composition. Then I added more papers on top.

For more: http://www.lifeneedsart.com/gallery/deep-blue-sea/

The Dunes, a collage

“The Dunes” was an enjoyable collage to put together. Rather than raiding only my stash of papers and yarn, I took a walk outside and picked up plant materials (grasses, leaves, petals) that I included in the artwork.

So is it an exact place? No, it’s meant to just suggest seashore, dunes, beach grasses, rocks. I was going for a sunny, breezy feel that could be anywhere along a coastline.

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Roots and Roads #3, a collage

“Roots and Roads #3” picks up on cues from the first in this series. A little less realistic than #2, with added yarn – and even buttons!

A tree, along a rocky path, stands along save for bits of scrubby grasses. Buttons and yarn mark the path along with strewn flower petals.

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Roots and Roads #2

“Roots and Roads #2” is a continuation of a series of artwork that explores roots (where do we come from) and roads (where are we going).

Inspired by the idea that we need to be grounded in our past helps us grow toward our future, I made “Roots and Roads #2” from old book pages, maps, and printed images. No thread or yarn in this one; it didn’t need it.

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Garden Gate, a collage

"Garden Gate” is the final piece in the Portals series. Based on “Garden Shrine” with hints of “Frosty Window”, it offers an arch in a cheerful, warm garden setting. As with some of the other pieces, I wanted an image that invite viewers to experience a portal, make the transition through it.

http://www.lifeneedsart.com/gallery/portals-garden-gate/

Garden Path, A Collage

“Garden Path” takes another view of an archway and the view from and through it. I wanted to indicate a sense of space and set up an inviting scene where you’d want to go from here to there.

http://www.lifeneedsart.com/gallery/garden-path/

Garden Shrine

“Garden Shrine” looks at portals as a gateway. An imaginary scene, some views are off in the distance, others are close up. Made of bits of paper, it forms a peaceful, contemplative scene.

Photos of the piece in progress are at http://www.lifeneedsart.com/gallery/portals-garden-shrine/