Solo art show in two weeks!

I cannot even tell you how busy I've been for the past two weeks with art exhibits... better just to dive in and tell you what I'm up to right now. If mess = productivity, I am clearly WINNING.

Here's what I'm working on:
My solo art exhibit at the Mountlake Terrace Library: I've found hanging hooks for the slatboard wall where I'll hang the show, I've sent a save-the-date email to some collectors, and I'm matting prints of the assemblages. (The actual 3D assemblages will be at the reception, but I don't want to risk them being knocked down from the display area.)

I'm about to dash off to the Schack Art Center for an artist reception -- three of my book-related works are in their current show, "The Creative World of Book Arts." (More on that later.) If you'll be in Mountlake Terrace on May first, here's the information for my solo show:

I have GOT to go -- will update you soon!

Missing Artfest? Me too.

This is the first spring in four years I haven't gone to Artfest, the dearly beloved/dearly departed art retreat held in Port Townsend, WA for the past 13 years.

It's not just the frenzy of trading precious bits of art... or even the amazing techniques I've learned there... it's missing the chance to let my freak flag fly with my besties, no apologies necessary.

There's a very good chance I'll see some of my Artfest friends later this spring, thank goodness. Here's what some of my other favorite Artfest peeps are now up to.

Teesha and Tracy Moore, the founders/organizers of Artfest, are now offering smaller, more intimate retreats closer to the Seattle area. Teesha's also offering her first online class, with co-instructor Jane Davenport.

Michael DeMeng and Andrea Matus DeMeng are about to team-teach at Art Is You-Nashville. (They got hitched New Year's Day 2012). They still teach separately as well.

For those of you who never experienced Artfest in person, here's a tribute, courtesy of filmmaker Andrea Kreuzhage of 1000 Journals. (Artfest veterans: get the tissue box. You might get a little weepy.)
Have you been to any retreats recently? Making any plans for a retreat later this year? Tell me in the comments or on Facebook.

Work in progress: barnacles and clinginess

My great-grandmother had both of her children by the time she was 22 years old. I got to thinking about that, and which direction my assemblage about her should go, on a gray day at the beach...

... and then I noticed the barnacles. They'll cling to whales, to rocks...

and I imagine Mickey found her kids clinging to her about as appealing as barnacles are to a boat owner. (Remember: she was not a Mother of the Year candidate.) I created my own using a papier mache recipe, and scattered them along doll arms.

Everything I've heard about Mickey sounds like two children were too early, and too much, for her. Her relatives told me Mickey constantly stashed the kids with her siblings or her father, to go out drinking. I'm going to add a drinking glass to the assemblage as well, one that I gave a faux-mercury effect.

But as I mentioned in the last post, I don't have an image of Mickey as a young woman, sober or not. So I'll use a stand-in image I painted over. More on that in the next post...