From Studio's to Street -ARTISTS Abound in Downtown Anchorage

We had a GREAT day of selling and visiting at the Art on

 G Street Market, especially considering this is a BRAND NEW event. The first Saturday was last week. I'm signed up to be there again on July 25 and August 15. We applaud the Anchorage 

Downtown Partnership for organizing such a professional event, giving talented Anchorage artists an affordable venue to show and sell their work. People

were saying that this event is long overdue and a wonderful alternative to the Saturday Market. Booths were only $100 (with NO commission taken) and they offered artist's the option of renting one of their tents set up for an additional $25, which I took advantage of since I'm not a "regular" festival seller and don't own my own tent. 

Though I am a little rusty on having a good feel for what kind of items I needed to have on hand, sales were wonderful -though I should have had way more driftwood salmon. The salmon sold out by 10:30 am and the large garden chimes by noon! We didn't think customers

would be up for the large purchases of the chimes and figured if we did sell one or two, Derek and Willie would need to be making deliveries today, but not so! Customers pulled up and we loaded them into their trucks. I was also a little worried because although the morning started out sunny, the large buildings downtown kept us in the chilly shadows. But as the sun moved around, thankfully

 most of the vendors had some sunshine. The day gave way to a crazy wind gust that toppled the street barricades and sent the cool wind kites blowing through the intersection. Quick thinking by my sister and Derek rescued the barricades and huge flags before cars ran over them! Yes, there were sand bags -just a brief, crazy strong wind that sent displays and tents flying. Thankfully there didn't seem to be any damage. Hey, it's an OUTDOOR venue and vendors need to be prepared for all types of weather, especially in Alaska! I was a little disappointed in a couple of vendors because they packed up and left in the afternoon due to the shadows and then the wind. Not very cool. You just don't pack up and leave when everyone else stays put. Hopefully, the Downtown Anchorage Partnership will address that issue or at least those vendors won't be asked back...

My friend Jana's store!

The Art of G Street Market wasn't the only event happening. The Alaska Statehood Celebration brought a LOT of people downtown to the streets to watch all of the performers, listen to several stages of music, check out the Hero Games, see the Antique Auto Mushers car show, street circus and even skateboard ramps with skateboard demos!

Famous potter Kris Bliss whose pottery can be found around the state, had a booth with her ware and also had set-up a throwing demo booth that everyone LOVED! Downtown Anchorage Partnership organizers were able to run power out to the street so the clay could fly. Kris also bought one of my large, garden plant stands and chimes first thing in the morning! Thank you Kris :o) though after she bought it, she said now she'd have to sell a lot more pots at the fair! We were joking that the good thing about artist-to-artists sales and bartering keeps the art world a spinning.

My friend Stacy, Stray Cat Designs, (they don't have a web site because they're currently off the grid or I'd put a link) had customers happily buying all day long. Stacy is very hip and has always had style. She (and her daughter) creates hand made jewelry, hand dyed fabric items and her batik T's are wonderful! We were booth neighbors at the Bad Girls of the North Show last November. Stacy and her family live in Talkeetna, AK and do a lot of fairs and shows. Thanks to her, I learned how outdated my credit card machine was and upgraded to the latest technology! We've known each other since high school and our paths crossed again about 20 years ago when we both worked at JC Penney department store, she was a women's dept. manager and I was the display manager dressing mannequins and windows all day -we're both soooo glad we've moved on to living artful lives that don't involve escalators.

Laura Mendola of fused glass fame and my clay mentor, traveling artist Bill Sabo (now spending his winters in St. Pete's at the Clay Company) stopped by to say hey and check out how the sales were going (which were great!). I sent Bill home with a Raven for his FL digs and he's trading me one of his delicious pots. I think the best part of the Art on G Street Fair Market was that our family had a chance to see lots of artist friends and customers. Derek saw lots of his teacher friends as well as his students and their families. Willie was a great help at 7am (well before he is normally up on a Saturday) helping us set-up and delivering the large works in his open bed truck (again!) then he stayed home to keep an eye on Tauzer-Schnauzer, who is thankfully on the mend. Gus got to eat his fill of festival food, get free silly putty at the Imaginarium, play the race cars and watch the Silk Acrobat girl Jessica Joy McVean, perform death defying feats high above the street -all in a beautiful, skin tight, shimmery gold suit... (We think the costume was his favorite part).

Easy Come, Easy Go

The check from the sales of my art in the Alaska Botanical Gardens Outdoor Art Show arrived in the mail yesterday. Good thing, because half of it needed to go to Pet Emergency last night. Within 24 hours, Tauzer (our Giant Schnauzer) spiraled downward to needing to overnight at Alaska Pet Emergency Treatment, hooked up to full IV meds and fluids. She had what the doctor described as acute hemorrhagic gastroenteritis (HGE) -the name alone hopefully spares me from blogging any further graphic details. We have no idea what brought on her illness, but she went from happily going on her morning "walkies" yesterday, to not being able to keep anything down (or in her) and with each passing hour became lethargic with more violent purges. It was horrible. She just stood motionless looking at us with pleading eyes. Thank goodness PetEmergency was open, as our regular Vet's office had just closed. I rushed her to the Treatment Center as she lay motionless in the back of the car, and they immediately did blood work and ran other tests. A big thank you to the dedicated staff at Pet Emergency and Dr. Diederich, who was on staff all night keeping watch over Tauzer and administering IV fluids to her in her special pet bed. 

We are very fortunate in Anchorage to have a modern veterinary medical staff and facility to treat our pets, many pets are like members of our families. After gladly pre-paying the bill last night, I was grateful that there was such an animal hospital close by in our city. Had Tauzer gone even one night without treatment, she had become so dehydrated that she would not have lived. The phone call early this morning from Dr. Diederich told us Tauzer had recovered well from her HGE and is on an antibiotic but can resume her regular routine as soon as she feels up for it. She didn't want her "walkies" but is barking, drinking bowls full of water and happily wagging her tail again.

Now that I am a new supporter of the Pet Emergency Treatment center, I am also a supporter of  the Roscoe Fund. 

The Fund was created to help assist owners or rescue animals in need of emergency treatment. It is the goal of the Center to reduce suffering in animals that might otherwise remain untreated or euthanized for purely economic reasons. After a conversation I had with the office manager, Laura, she told me that the fund is used for many things a animal may need, from a single pain injection to ease discomfort that some people may not be able to afford and elect not to have done, to an abandoned animals necessary treatment. The fund has helped hundreds of pets since it's beginning in 2000 and though we were fortunate to be able to pay our entire bill, many others cannot and the fund is used an average of 3 times a week at the Center. If you go to the web site, you can read the stories of many pets who have benefitted from the Roscoe Fund.

 Well before the doggie drama, I was able to go over to Gina's studio to deliver her Raku pieces from the Alaska Botanical Garden Show. I put "Chenik Fox" in the front seat, and buckled him in because he's already been paid for and didn't want any accidents! Customers will be picking up their purchases directly from Gina at her studio. Gina likes to meet her customers and the customers are in for a real treat when they see her and Ward's "art compound." She recently remodeled her studio adding new work tables, tiled floor, stainless steel sinks and ceilings. It's beautiful. After the Gala, Gina, Steve Gordon and I made a promise to have a Raku retreat at Gina's in July. Stay posted for upcoming images of that art soirée!

Taking Art to the Streets

The only independent show or fair I normally do outside of the Gallery shows, is the annual holiday Bad Girls of the North. Not knowing how the economic outlook would shape up this year I committed to do 3 (this Saturday, July 25 and Aug. 15) outdoor venues with the new Art on G Street in downtown Anchorage. "From Studio to Street" is their tag line and the very professional Anchorage Downtown Partnership has organized and sponsored the event. They are even providing me one of their colored tents, which is a good thing because we don't own one of those "vendor" tents. I am set-up to take credit cards, but am going to have to check into getting my vintage, slide-style card machine updated today with merchant services at my bank. I have a list of "booth" to-do's before Saturday am. Pull out and clean thegrid wall, get more cards, make new signage, make new business cards, tag and price everything, gather up the chairs and table and display pieces, etc. 

My friend Jana, the proprietoress of Cabin Fever, a very hip downtown gift store encouraged me to support the new Art

 on G Street event. I trust anything Jana says that has to do with retail. However, coming off of my huge annual show at Half Moon Creek Gallery on June 5, and the Alaska Botanical Garden's Gala and Outdoor Art Show, I admit I'm feeling a little whipped AND out of most of my "inventory." I did save some cool sculptures from the Half Moon Show production schedule but I'm a bit rusty to know what kind of inventory to have at this downtown, outdoor event that will be mainly tourists on a budget (or so the trends are telling us). I'm not used to making things with a price point of under $50 -because by the time I pay Gallery commissions anywhere from 35 -50% the prices of my work need to be a lot higher for me to pay the bills. However, these non-commission events are PERFECT for lower priced, smaller, lovely works...if only I had been making things like this instead of my larger steel sculptures! 

I have always tended to work backwards, in that I first decide what my monthly budget and bills are, set a goal(s), take a material and time inventory, then create, then sell. The whole clay and kiln idea was to support the "Art on G Street" kind of event... if I had been making more time to do clay work. The clay bisque and drying shelves are completely empty and there is no kiln to be loaded in the foreseeable future. I have a few sea tiles with the steel crabs that have been really popular at the Gallery when I was testing their "viability." I also resurrected a popular, lower priced wind sculpture of a Salmon with driftwood "bones." These were a big hit at Bad Girls the last couple of years and they are fun to make.  It's even more fun collecting the driftwood from the beach in Homer. But mainly, I've got the guys to help me load and set-up the heavier garden chimes and sculptures and we'll just have to offer free delivery for customers on Saturday who can't schlep their purchases several blocks to their cars.

I am a bit worried of the volume of people that will be downtown this Saturday. I learned that there is a HUGE Alaska Statehood Celebration and Hero Games going on in the same downtown location as the artists will be set up! I thought Summer Solstice was busy, holy cow, streets will be blocked off and there will be music, entertainment, food and vendors on

downtown streets again this weekend. I think our plan is to set-up EARLY, bring our chairs, extra clothes for weather and have the booth be our little piece of real estate to enjoy the festivities front and center! After set-up I think we'll keep Willie and his truck on the "outside" to let the poor doggies out mid day because I think we're in for a long day taking my art to the streets.

Trashing Art?

How can anyone trash art? Literally. I received a sad e-mail from the Curator of Public Art this morning. It seems the "Ravenvane" I created a few years ago was vandalized. The piece was created for the top of a pavilion that is in Oberg Soccer Fields and Park near Chugiak, Alaska as part of a percent for public art work. Truthfully, several of us expected the bird to be shot at before anyone would climb up on top of the pavilion and tear the art from the hinges! We used commercial, heavy duty hardware and tried our best to theft-proof the work. Even several neighbors have been diligent at keeping watch over the work the last couple of years, but vandals struck. When I saw the digital image of the piece in the trash can it made me sad, and even sadder to see that the criminals beat the hand made copper top against something. The directional "S" is missing, but all else is still in place. It's actually hard to believe the idiots, didn't just take it but instead, stuffed it in the park's garbage can.  The wintertime image is of the "Ravenvane" when it was installed B.C. (before the crime - before it's beatdown!). The procedure for such events I learned, is to have the artist give a repair estimate and we will try to fix the artwork -but it may or may not be replaced back atop the pavilion...

On a much lighter and happier note, I'm a basketful of art supplies richer!

The large, "Sandhill Crane" won the People's Choice Award at the Garden Fair this weekend! yippee! The votes for People's Choice were as follows:

1. "Sandhill Crane" by me

2. "Garden Mermaid" also by me 

3. "Bird Sanctuary" (a lovely fused glass and forged steel birdbath) by Laura Mendola

4. "Chenik Fox" (a popular, raku, paperclay Fox sculpture -she also made the Hare "Miss Coquette") by Gina Hollomon

5. "Spring Bloom" (also a beautiful, fused glass and forged steel birdbath) by Laura Mendola

Here are links to some of the Garden Fair press: Fran Durner covered us in her ADN Blog "Talk Dirt To Me" and here is the KTUU Channel 2 

News link on the Alaska Botanical Garden Art Show set up. The Art Show was a success and the ABG Garden Fair volunteers and committee were happy with the record attendance. Now that the volunteer work is over, I'm happily back at work welding today gearing up for this Saturday's G Street Art Fair "From Studio to Street" in downtown Anchorage where I signed up to have a booth...more to come. The hubby returned with the offspring from fishing and threw some steaks and veggies on the grill -mmmm! He's poured me a nice cold beverage and dinner is ready, life is good.

Big Daddies

Happy Father's Day Dad

(called Dad to wish him a Happy Father's Day and Mom said he was golfing -just as he should be on Dad's Day) 

"You're never too old to rock 'n roll!"

and Derek

(Derek and Gus are wetting their lines down on the Kenai River -just as they should be too)

Solstice & Art in the Garden

Happy Solstice!

This weekend the City is a rockin'! Summer Solstice brings everybody out, especially when the sun is shining. Music, fairs and celebrations are everywhere and people are out making the most of summertime in Alaska. This morning in the Garden, we were serenaded to a nesting pair of Ravens! There was quite a commotion in the tree tops as an immature bald eagle circled the Raven's nest! All were safe but the Ravens continued to let everyone know they were there. These selected pieces of sculpture from the Alaska Botanical Garden Outdoor Art show are for my loyal Blog readers who are clay people! We had a great opening day at the Garden Fair, the rain stayed away and the solstice helped to display the art beautifully. Many of the pieces sold Thursday night at the Gala and today we sold Gina's Fox and my large Sandhill Crane! woo-hoo! Tomorrow is the last day but it will be a busy one, with loading out the sold pieces as the customers return to pick up their art purchases and tallying all the votes in the People's Choice Award...

"Miss Coquette" Raku Hare by Gina Hollomon. The Hare is approx. 28" tall. 

Gina's studio and Gray Shake's Gallery is in Anchorage, Alaska.

These pieces below are by Paul Dungan. 

"Bhurka" is 30" x 16" x 6" hand built stoneware, finished with Shino and reduced copper red glaze. "Pillar Stone" is 29" x 11" x 6" hand built stoneware clay, dry wood ash glaze. Paul says "both of these pieces continue my work and fascination with the simplified and abstracted form of the human body." Paul's studio/gallery is in Homer, Alaska.

Sandhill Crane Goes to Market

The Alaska Botanical Garden Art Show and Gala were wonderful! All of the artists showed up on time which made for a trouble free set-up and installation -yippee! Gala patrons were treated to wonderful, fresh food, wine and live music in the Garden, but more importantly, they purchased ART -yahoo! The Garden received great press from the newspapers as well as from NBC affiliate Channel 2 News -click on the video and you can watch me being interviewed(!). The news crew visited the Garden when we were setting up and Jackie Purcell broadcast the weather live from the Gala. All of this footage made for some great plugs for the Garden and the Art Show last night on TV. We got home late but I was able to see the web version this morning, after Kristen e-mailed me because she saw my interview on the on-line version up in Fairbanks! I turn back into a pumpkin (from a famous Garden TV star) today and need to weld up some Chimes -though I admit I'm moving slow and I have little headache from all of the fresh air last night. I'm sure it's not from all of the wine and laughter... Then it will be back to the Garden Saturday and Sunday for the Garden Fair - which thousands of people usually attend. I'll be encouraging visitors to vote for their favorite piece of art in the People's Choice Award -the work that receives the most votes, that artist will win a HUGE gift basket filled with art supplies from Blaines Art! I'm not ashamed to say that last year my large rooster "Big Red" won and I'm lobbying hard again this year! I will also be giving art tours of the Show and hopefully sell the remaining works of art for the artists. I'll take better pictures of the art and post after the Fair.

Steve Gordon with his "Turnagain Pass Summer Clouds" which sold last night at the Alaska Botanical Garden's Midsummer Night's Gala.

Steve Gordon adjusts the hanging wire on "Turnagain Arm Lupin" while a Garden volunteer waters the thirsty flower bed.

The "Secret Garden Arbor" gets installed. This beautiful arbor was completely hand forged by Kevin Foster of Ironclad Designs.

Jay digs a hole for Laura Mendola's Fused Glass birdbath.

Gina and her raku "Chenik Fox"  are photographed by Fran Durner of the Anchorage Daily News.

Gala patrons enjoy the Art in the Garden.

Steve Gordon, Gina Hollomon and myself celebrating our post Gala sales!

You wouldn't know it but is 10:00 at night! Nothing better than friends, art, good food and wine in the Land of the Midnight Sun :o)

Gearing Up to Set Up

Tomorrow morning we will begin installing the artwork for the 2009 Alaska Botanical Garden's Outdoor Art Show. The Gala is tomorrow night, where hopefully most of the larger works will be sold and the Garden Fair is on Saturday and Sunday. All of the outdoor art will remain in place through the weekend. I finished the signage and brochure and they are all designed and printed/copied for the art show. This morning it was time to pull out and clean all of my garden stakes from under the deck. I have about 30 small shepherd hooks that hold the individual signs that are placed in front of each work of art. I layout the signs 2 up on 8.5 x 11" paper and print them out on Astrobright Yellow card stock from my laser printer. They are laminated and hole punched to hold-up through the weekend's weather. This year, the brochure is more of a flyer format on legal size paper, two sided, also on bright yellow paper. I include descriptions and prices of the artwork but more importantly, the artist's bios and contact information are included for potential future sales. Many of the artists who participate in the Outdoor Art Show get commission work based on works seen at the Gala and Garden Fair.

The hubby has volunteered to be my trusty & muscle assistant once again. We have the middle son's open bed truck on line to haul the large Sandhill Crane to the Garden tomorrow. Our Toyota Tundra has a topper and will hold the Chime and Garden Mermaid. Every year the Garden Fair is truly a family affair. Gus and a friend will also be along and be able to enjoy lunch in the Herb Garden while 

we set up for the Show. I'll take lots of pictures of the art, artists and the setup tomorrow! I LOVE this time of year!

What Day Is This?

During the summer, time is a blur. With school out, it's difficult for me to keep track of what day of the week it is! Girlfriends and I went garage sale-ing and then to the Farmer's Market in South Anchorage on Saturday. It was the first time I'd been to this Farmer's Market. It was small, only about 18 booths, but it is where all of the quality flowers, veggies and fresh fish have moved. Most of the vendors used to be at the huge Saturday (and now Sunday too) Market downtown near our Anchorage house, but due to a lot of tourism and parking related reasons, I think, the farmers, flowers and veggies have moved south. I thought of Linda when I saw the boothselling Blue Poppies. I'd send her some, but the Blue Poppy needs cool weather -however with her green thumb she could probably make them grow on her property in sunny CA! I couldn't resist buying the fresh salad greens AND a FRESH whole Sockeye Salmon AND over a pound of Shrimp. Guess what we threw on the new "Barbie?"

Losing track of time usually happens when you're too busy or having too much fun. It's always too, too of something for me. I am having fun making a lot of art right now, but I know I'm also a bit too busy making all of this art. It's tough to slow down because when the demand is high, you need to take advantage of the potential sales to help make ends meet during the way too slow times. After my grand day out with the girls, I wrapped up my Garden Fair sculptures on Sunday. I'm happy I've got the 3 pieces made for the Alaska Botanical Garden Fair Show, they are a large Sandhill Crane (that's him in the photo at the top before he got his patina and red enamel paint details on his head), the

 Garden Mermaid and a lovely Garden Chime that features several steel tree branches with a birds nest welded among them. The hubby (he's the volunteer muscle) and I will be meeting the artists in the Garden on Thursday to set up the Show and site their pieces. Having all the artists together with their new work, in such a beautiful setting is one of my favorite times of the Show. So is having (a lot of) nice, cold beverages at the Gala party while patrons are BUYING the art!

Being around all of the fresh flowers and veggies this weekend had me camera happy with our own flowers and trees that are in full color around the house. I like to take quick digital images of everything in the summer to use as reference during the long, cold winters. Oh! Look what I scored on (the internet classified that shall not be na

med) List! Buckets of glaze! It was a bit of a drama to pick it all up because the seller was out on Ft. richardson Air Force Base, but my sweet guys were super patient, drove me out there and we made it all work -and all of these buckets for $30. The seller just wanted them gone, but I offered to give her $30. Pretty good deal huh?! The only problem is I have no idea what ^cone temp it all is!?! I know, silly me, that's a ceramic 101 kind of thing, but the seller didn't know because the buckets were given to her "by a friend who 

made pottery on a wheel" and was transfered and left it behind. The price was right because I'm so out of glaze and I figured with all this time on my hands, how long can it take to make a zillion test tiles and fire a gajillion glaze test loads?!