Steampunks and garages

Have you ever decided to do two exciting events -- and then wondered if you'd over-reached just a bit? 

Art in the Mother 'Hood takes some time and planning, if you're going to get anything done. So in April, I signed up for the Artists' Garage Sale in June, at the Schack Art Center. (You might remember the Schack is also the place I had to pull TwoBoo out of, kicking and screaming, before he accidentally broke anything in their masks exhibit. Boy, that was fun.)

Then Anna Nasset of AOT Gallery in Port Townsend put out a call for art, for the steampunk festival in June hosted by the Brass Screw Confederacy. And my internal dialogue went like this:

Hey, maybe she'll be interested in offering Miss Lucy Pettigrew for sale!
Oh, she is -- and do I have a steampunk wall piece to sell? Um...
The festival's a week before the Artists' Garage Sale. OhGodohGodohGod.

But I got the wall piece done! So at the festival you'll see Miss Lucy...

... and "The Brothers of the Iron Hand." Here's a sneak peek:

Now I have to pull together the items I plan to sell at the Artists' Garage Sale. It's pretty much what it sounds like: garage-sale prices on artwork, art supplies, and other items from their stash that the artists can bear to part with. 

Sure, it might be just as sunny as it is in this photo. But I'm still going to have a foul-weather precaution plan. I'll have assemblage work to sell, art magazines (mostly Stampington publications like Somerset Studio), and prints of my camera-phone photography.

So remember:

• Brass Confederacy Steampunk Festival, "Bazaar of the Bizarre": June 9th, 10am-5pm, at the American Legion Hall (209 Monroe St., Port Townsend, WA)
• Artists' Garage Sale : June 16th, 9am-4pm, inside and outside the Schack Art Center (2921 Hoyt Ave., Everett, WA)

Click on the Events section of my Facebook friends page so I'll know to look for you. I'll message you a full photo of the steampunk piece if you're going to the festival; if you're going to the Schack, I'll message you a photo of some items I'm selling there.

Coming to a storefront near you: art (and maybe wine)

I'm noticing a trend in right-brain-left-brain cooperation: art + nearby storefront = new creative enterprise that might drum up business in the surrounding area. Today on LivingSocial I noticed this:

Corks and Canvas Events offers a deal for a 3-course lunch and art lesson, usually $130 but only $65 with the deal. Alcohol not required for these events: you remember The Boy's seventh birthday party, right?

Notice the subtitle says "paint & sip studio." Besides kids' parties, Canvas in Kirkland, Washington also does grown-folks events.

If I remember correctly, the Canvas space used to be a pop-up art gallery to occupy a vacant storefront during the depths of the Great Recession. Business and city partnerships in Chicago and Seattle have also used this tool. And it's not just major cities: late last year Stephanie Lee coordinated a pop-up in southern Oregon.

Have you seen new art-related businesses in your area? Tell me in the comments.

It's their party, and he'll cry if he wants to

Happy birthday, Schack Art Center!

The kids and I went to the Schack's first anniversary celebration this past weekend, and like all good parties there was something fun for everyone.

A collage table for kids and adults...

... a print-pulling center...

... even the little guys like TwoBoo could color masks.

The art gallery featured some incredible masks from artists worldwide, both traditional (like the Baule mask from Ivory Coast)...

... and contemporary (by Margo Grothe and Marita Dingus).

But no birthday party for a one-year-old would be complete without a meltdown.

TwoBoo was happy -- well, not happy AT ALL -- to provide this service when I informed him it was time to go. I was just terrified he'd knock something over. Wood, clay, glass... so many choices.

Have I ever mentioned when he commits to a tantrum, he really commits? For about 45 minutes? As I carried him out kicking and screaming, one person joked TwoBoo is destined to grow up to be an artist. Personally, I think The Boy is already the artist...

... while TwoBoo, on the other hand, will be the agent who screams until the art gallery agrees to pay Rembrandt-level prices for The Boy's work. Plus TwoBoo's commission, of course.