at the shipyard (part 2)

There was SO much foot traffic at this event. The studios consist of 4 -5 buildings housing the largest concentration of artists this side of the Mississippi! (Seriously- I read that somewhere!) I only managed to visit one building. Each building has two floors and after 2 hours I'd only been in one building, on one floor! There was so much to see and so many talented artists.




This was inside a jewelry designer's studio. I couldn't get close enough to photograph her actual works because her space was packed! However, I found myself enchanted by the little umbrellas she has hanging above her display table. Do you see them?




These are photos of some beautiful national park in Arizona! Breathtaking isn't it? I talked for a few minutes with the photographer. His space was filled with so many breathtaking images!

at the shipyard (part 1)

This past weekend I headed over to the Shipyard to visit the open studios. This is the one building I visited out of the four open buildings of artists studios. As you can see, there are plenty of people roaming around.




This is my friend Alex MacLeitch's work. He is also the guy who curates the windows downtown. I was excited to see some of his work out here as well as to stop and chit-chat. I saw about a dozen people I knew during my stroll through the studios.

the artists surrounding me - part 2

I took photos at the live/work space where I had open studios this year. Many of the artists hung work in the halls so there was more to see than most years.



In front of my friend John Chiara's studio. The big black thing on the right is one of his cameras. It fits as a trailer behind a car. This is his newest camera. The one he uses most often is parked outside. It's huge and fits behind his pickup truck - sort of the size of a U-Haul trailer. The lights are hanging over one of his photos. He creates large scale photos - 50 in. x 70-80 in.




Cathy Feiss works with ceramics. In addition to her sculptural pieces she makes cute little tiles like this with images and fun narratives.




Lee Germano is a photographer. He has travelled extensively around the world but he also has a great collection of photos of San Francisco.




Rosa De Anda creates massive wings out of driftwood and class tiles. She has been making sets of wings for over 15 years now. I remember seeing her work when I first visited this building over a decade ago.




These drawings are characters for a book one of the artists from the building is working on.

all souls day

Today is All Souls Day. {A day of remembrance for friends and loved ones who have passed away.}

I don’t usually observe or realize/recognize this day but a blogger mentioned it and I found myself giving it some thought. In her post she talked about the people around her who’d died and the memories they left her with.
I’ve had so much on my mind lately – insomnia is back because my mind won’t stop processing all of the thoughts that fill my brain. As usual, I have been thinking about my place in this world – my purpose and how others fit into my life. I have lots of questions and not many answers. Eventually I get to a place where I say the scripture that I have had hanging on my closet door for the past two years –
‘As for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right.’ – Jeremiah 26:14

Souls. I have been thinking about my dad. He died in a tragic car accident when I was 3 years old. I’ve never gotten over it. I don’t expect that I will. It brings up feelings of emptiness – this gaping hole inside me is exposed at the mention of his death. It’s hard to think that I missed out on having him in my life. I know some things about him – stories my mom has told me and there was a period of time in my twenties when I read a stack of letters he’d written my mom. Yes, he was a letter writer just like me. Through those letters I found out the most about him. I saw his personality. I heard his voice and the way he expressed himself. I saw the maverick in him. I saw the risk taking and also the foolishness of his youth. I saw the man he wanted to be and the love that he had for my mom. I realized that he was as full of goodness as he was flawed – imperfectly perfect.

Souls. When I was a little girl, I found myself fascinated with two women whom I considered my heroes (although I’ve never used that word…). They were spirits of sorts that I felt a connection to. Harriet Tubman and Helen Keller were women who I found myself obsessed with – looking at any book that I could find that would tell me more about them. Yesterday I realized what they had in common. They both spent most of their lives traveling in darkness and calling out to God to guide their path. They both had courage beyond what any ordinary person would display and they did things that most considered impossible. This is a very simplistic summation of their lives but nevertheless it makes sense to me at this moment as I wrestle with my thoughts – questioning if what I am doing what I should. I get confused when I compare my life to others until I remember that I’m not living an ordinary life and so trying to make comparison is like attempting to fit a square peg into a round hole. I wonder if people told Harriet Tubman that she should rethink her plans and do something more ‘rational’. She lead 300 slaves to freedom taking trips on foot more than a dozen times. She risked being caught again and again – becoming such a threat that there was a reward for her capture worth $40,000! (back in 1856!) I wonder if people thought she was insane.

Souls. If you notice, Jesus was anything but ordinary. And if I am to follow Him then I should expect to be misunderstood at times, to take the road less traveled, to ruffle some feathers, to create change...
Lord guide me today.

the artists surrounding me - part 1

My friend Jennifer Ewing creates 'spirit boats'. This is a work in progress - a drawing of one of her spirit boats...



She adorned the doorway to her studio and then inside her studio was a collection of paintings and sculpted boats - all centered around the idea of spirit boats.



a big canoe at the entrance, drawing you in...

my open studios show

Here are some blurry photos of my artwork on the walls for open studios weekend...

the group show

I realized over the weekend that I had so many photos on my camera and had forgotten to share them!
Here are some shots from the past month... I'll be sharing a few each day until I catch up.

Every year there is a huge group show that accompanies Open Studios. On this particular day I headed over to the gallery to drop off my piece in a salon style show with over 400 pieces.




Outside SOMArts Gallery






This show had a size limit of 20 in. x 20 in. As you see, the spaces are divided up with twine, and labaled (They ask for all of the information about your piece months before the show so that when you arrive labels are already in place.) Once all of the work is hung they take away the strings and have a nicely plotted out wallspace.



This is a piece by my friend Kay Weber. He cuts paper. This is one of his more simplistic pieces but it is still pretty amazing.



This painting really stood out to me. Something about it drew me in.

it's finally friday!

I spent the week doing tasks I didn't want to do, procrastinating, daydreaming and listening to lots of music I have never heard before. I feel like I have grown this week, that somehow I have changed a bit. Hmmm...
If you want you can watch the video above. It's a song I was introduced to today.

normal Monday

I’ve had a difficult time getting focused today. I found myself meandering and eventually surrendered to the fact that this is how the day would be. I had lots of emails to answer and they always take up more time than I expect. In between I found myself fumbling around on youtube, watching things that inspire me and make me laugh. I searched my room for random pieces of wire to complete an etsy order. My shipment of wire arrives tomorrow yet I needed to finish a wire letter so I can mail it tomorrow. I’m reading an autobiography which has me thinking about my own life and childhood – things I remember – my version of my life versus someone else’s. All day I have had the desire to abandon all other projects and just read, yet that has not happened. I have many things that need to be done.

coffee

Coffee, an almond croissant and a good book started my day.
Last weekend I was busy prepping my room with art. The executive director of the SF Ballet came over to see my work after seeing it in the windows in the financial district. That was pretty exciting. This weekend I am working on a new piece for a group show I am in (must drop it off next weekend) and I am working on getting a little more organized. I am almost completely out of wire so I guess I'll sculpt today until I run out and then wait for the shipment to arrive next week with more.

this I know...

- Today is an incredible hair day. Sadly enough, I am working from home today so few people will see it. Even still, I look in the mirror and smile.
- Negotiating an art sale is like a game of chess. It's tricky and requires you to slow down and feel things out.
- I found a light blue mug in the back of the cabinet. It's my new favorite coffee cup.
- I love this song lyric - "You can't take from me what God gave me for free." – Lenny Kravitz

busy life

The past few weeks have been so full and moved by so quickly that I thought I needed to stop and take stock - if even just for myself (so that I'll remember this period of time)

Sept 17 - went to check out my space for open studios. It ended up being a few hours since I stopped and visited with two artist friends and checked out their newest work. It was a nice time for sharing the creative process and for realizing that artists all have similar insecurities.

Sept 17 -24 - created a piece that fit into a 20 in. x 20 in space for the open studios group show

Sept 23 - Tanya and I held an artist talk about the fairy tale show. We talked about our creative processes as well as the stories and folklore surrounding fairy tales. I was super nervous about giving a talk and then on the night of the event I felt totally calm as I pretended I was talking to just one person instead of a room of 30 people. It went well. I was approached by someone who told me about an artist-in-residence program and encouraged me to apply.
The UCSF Art for AIDS event was the same night, at the same time so I ended up missing it. I was disappointed about missing it but one of my artist friends showed up to the talk with a program from the UCSF event that she'd picked up for me. She managed to go to both events because our talk started an hour after the Art for AIDS event began. She told me a story about how she was in the elevator at the art auction and overheard two women talking about me and my work! She said they were going on about how I was really one to watch!

Sept 24 - I met our newest family member, my niece for the first time. She is a beautiful happy little girl!

Sept 25 - After getting up super early to put a final coat of paint on my piece, I went to SOMArts Gallery to drop off my piece for the big open studios group show. While there I saw some artists I knew, chit chatted a bit, picked up open studios guides and headed home. It was a very painful day for my knees so it felt like a huge accomplishment to get down there and back on the bus.

Sept 26 - My art dealer dropped off some work from a previous show and picked up a few pieces for an event she is hosting

Sept 28 - Closing reception and wine tasting for the fairytale show
I met some great artists and a few art supporters. The funniest part of the night is that about 6 people mentioned seeing my sculpture in the live auction at Art for AIDS. That blew me away.

In general I was glad I went and that I was able to make it through. My arthritis pain has made everything feel ten times harder to accomplish. When I left the reception I also had to take three of the pieces with me because I decided to show them at open studios. So there I stood, standing in front of the gallery in pain, with three big plastic wrapped sculptures, trying to hail a cab on a super busy street.

Sept 29 - gathered art and supplies, made labels, gathered tools in preparation for the Open Studios show

Sept 30 - installed show for open studios after my brother gave me a ride with all of my work over to the space
I was surprised at how quickly the install went and that I was able to do most of it alone (this rarely happens - I always need help). I had lunch with a couple of artists from the building and then went home to spend the evening taking care of last minute details for the show.

Oct 1 & 2 - open studios
The event was from 11 am - 6 pm each day and because I live all the way across town I had to get up at a decent time each day and be completely ready to leave the house by 9 am. The weekend was good but fairly quiet. The number of visitors was small compared to other years and yet the visitors I had were great for networking. I talked to someone who'd formerly been accepted for an artist in residence program I am applying for. I met a handful of artists whom I've only heard about but never met before. Many of them made a point of visiting my 'studio'. I also met a number of people who showed up specifically to see my work after having seen it in the Open Studios guide.

Oct 3 - felt the let down/ depressed feeling that always comes when a big event is over. I put my sculptures back in storage and cleaned my room

October 4 - went to gallery to get the rest of the work from the fairy tale show
I ended up having a long talk with the cab driver and gave him one of my postcards. He was impressed that I was an artist and black. Seems that he had all of these assumptions about black people and I blew many of them out of the water.

October 5 - I was going to install a new group of work in the windows in the financial district yet the rain this week has kept us from doing it. Hopefully we will install it tomorrow...