Gratitude

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." --Melody Beattie

As I'm rushing around this week, getting ready for Piccolo Spoleto and my Open Studio/Open House party at the end of the month, I'm trying to remember to be grateful for all I have in my life.

Today, have a day to be grateful for.

New Work

I've been working on producing product for the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina later this month.

Here are two of what I hope will become a series of 14"x 20" mirrors. I've used my leaf/pod design, hand-tinted paper decoupaged onto the acrylic painted wood mirrors. Though the photos are just quick ones I snapped in the studio, I think you can see the gradation of colors in the background (a bit better in the orange than the blue, I admit!). I think the leaves work well, and the empty areas at the bottom prevent them from being predictable and static. I'm hoping to be able to get more of the unfinished wood mirrors. As often happens, I bought two as samples, and now I'm having trouble finding more. I won't go into the rant about why art supply stores can't stock what I need when I need it (awfully inefficient of them, and self-centered of me, I know!). I'll just think positively, and envision lots of them in the store when I go to buy more later this week.

Have a day of positive possibilities today.

Happy Mother's Day of Peace

Tomorrow's Mother's Day, and my son's 15th birthday. I remember 15 years ago, waiting for him to arrive, and fielding the calls from friends and family to see if I was actually going to be a mother for Mother's Day (missed it by 2 days). So, this Mother's Day is a special one for me.

And, thanks to Tammy Vitale, I now know something about Mother's Day I didn't know before: that it was originated by Julia Ward Howe, women's rights activist and the author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, and that it's original name was Mother's Day of Peace. Here is her proclamation, which still resonates today:

Mother's Day Proclamation - 1870

by Julia Ward Howe

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Happy Mother's Day!

Inspiration and Improvements

This weekend was a good one; among other things, I was able to decorate the studio with some of my favorite images to look at. I've done a wall of photographs from an old calendar: Women of the African Ark. If you're not familiar with this series, go here. Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher's photographs of the women of Africa are moving, beautiful, evocative and very engaging. I framed five of them, and hung them gallery-style. I love looking at and being inspired by them. I'm also enjoying my newest purchase: a batik, made in Mali by Theodore Shole, entitled "Three Races". Suspended from the ceiling, its deep browns, cinnamons and teals complement the colors around it, and I love the multi-hued women it depicts. The batik was an Ebay find, from a terrific seller called Hand it To You.

Another improvement is here at Blogger. Finally, we can post date blog entries. This will be great for when I know I'll be away, or too busy to post. Thanks, blogger!

Have a non-mundane Monday.

Reconnection

One of the things I love about doing shows is connecting with, or reconnecting with artists whose work I admire.
Art & Soul was no exception. I got to reconnect with Courtney Tomchick, a clay artist whose work resonates with me. We met for the first time last year, and I was glad to see her in Charlotte.
Unfortunately, she doesn't have a website, but here are some examples of her work.

The other very cool thing about doing shows with like-minded artists, is the practice of trading work. Courtney and I traded work; she loved one of my 12x12 clocks, and I love the "totem" shown here, hanging on a wall in my studio, which is the first wall piece specifically for the studio. Thanks, Courtney--'hope you enjoy your clock as much as I'm enjoying the totem.

Thank you, Charlotte

This weekend in Charlotte at Art and Soul was a good one, despite the dire predictions of severe weather for both days. We did have severe weather, just not during show hours, which was a great thing, to say the least! Saturday, the rain held off until we had zipped up our tent, and walked to our car. Then, as my mom would've said, the bottom fell out of the sky! When we returned in the morning, the inside of the tent was completely dry--we LOVE our Trimline Canopy! Yesterday it sprinkled a bit during the early afternoon, then the sun broke through. Severe weather was predicted for about 4:30, so the show organizers allowed everyone to begin load out at 4. We did our load out in record time--90 minutes--and got a bit rained upon ourselves at the end, but no stock or display items got wet. As we drove home, we traveled into and out of a number of storms, but by that point, it didn't matter.


The show itself was considerably smaller than last year, with more kids' art activities. I was one of only two African American artists; also a significantly smaller number than last year. Our placement wasn't ideal; we were 4 booths away from the dance stage, and our location included a large street drain, and a decided downward slant toward it ( although you can't see it in the photo, we felt like we were standing in a ditch behind our desk, writing up sales!).


Despite all this, we had a fairly successful show. We'd lowered our expectations in terms of sales, given the economic climate we're in right now, and we were right; compared to last year, we were down about 40%. As usual, the Ancestress Series shadow boxes and mask wall hangings garnered many positive comments, but none were sold. The new bamboo piece got lots of ooohs and ahhs, but wasn't sold either. The big hits were mirrors and clocks. Two of the new "pod" design clocks were sold, and most of the mirrors I brought now have new homes. We were able to cover our expenses, make new contacts, and have an enjoyable time connecting with customers and potential customers. I got new names for my mailing list, (oh, and two customers mentioned receiving postcards!) and I'm looking forward to returning to Charlotte in September for Festival in the Park.
Off to unpack the car, and get back to creating...I have LOTS to replace before Piccolo Spoleto, in less than a month...a good problem to have, but a challenge, too!

On Our Way...

To Art and Soul of South End, in Charlotte. Here are the show dates and hours:

April 26 & 27, 2008
Saturday: 10am - 7pm
Sunday: 10am - 5pm

The show is held on Camden Street, and is accessible by public transportation, which is new this year.

The car is packed, the ProPanels have been loaded onto the roof, the checklist's completed, and now we're just waiting for rush hour traffic between here and there to subside before we leave. I'm hopeful of a good show, if not good weather (I'm hopeful about that too, even in the face of predictions of thunder showers for both days). I also hope to see some repeat customers, or collectors of my work, as I should call them. I've used my publicity postcards again this year, offering a 20% discount off any purchase. I'm always excited when people actually remember to bring them! I think Alyson Stanfield would be proud of me for using my mailing list, and actually giving customers and potential customers value for signing up for that list! In fact, it's Alyson I have to thank for the ideas on marketing I've adopted, and for the Art Salon I've led for the past year. If you haven't checked out her fabulous art marketing site, do it now--you'll be glad you did if you've been looking for information and ideas about how to get the word out about your work.

Wish us luck, few raindrops and even fewer lightning bolts (!), and I'll let you know how it all went on Monday.