Never All Work And No Play Here

My sister and I at the Salvation Army's "Transformed Treasures" fundraiser that would provide critical support to their life-changing programs here in Anchorage.

Yes, I was supposed to stick to my production schedule this weekend, but didn’t. I didn’t work at all -except for inputting the last of the first quarter’s accounting junk. All work and no play just isn’t how we roll anymore, I get too fussy. Saturday my sister and I attended the sold out Transformed Treasures luncheon at the Sheraton Hotel Ballroom while Daddy-O and Gus completed ALL of the yard work honey-do’s (xoxo). In March, I finished up my two donation pieces for the Salvation Army’s 3^rd annual fundraiser and thankfully

on Saturday both sold for over their value! The Birdhouse Topiary went in the Live Auction and sold for $550 and the St.

Francis Garden Sculpture sold for $160 in the Silent Auction. My friend Deanna Teders, the volunteer organizer of the event said the Salvation Army had over 50 new Transformed Treasures for this year’s event bringing the total number of items “transformed” by creative people topping 150! The event is so inspiring, you could hear bidders wandering the tables, scribbling their bids and saying “I’m going to make something next year!” Favorite items included, a stained glass window “transformed” from hurricane glass lamps, ties flatten and sewn into place mats and wool sweaters became very cool pillows with sheep on them. Many pieces of furniture were given new life with a little paint

and artful details added.

The best part of Saturday was that our oldest offspring, Kristen was able to stop in for dinner! She and a group of her UAF cohorts, School of Fisheries & Ocean Sciences (SFOS) scientists were on their way down to Seward from Fairbanks to board a research vessel. They were able to take a pit stop at our house. We happily had a couple of roasted chickens that we turned into a chicken taco feast! Knowing we always have hot showers, a spare room and PLENTY of food the group affectionately calls us their "Anchorage Shore Support!"

Sunday was also supposed to be a welding day but I chose to hang out with the Family. We first rode our bikes to City Market to grab a newspaper and hot cocoas. Daddy-O’s bike needs new tires so he rode the Long Board –which I was supposed to ride but

only made it as far as the driveway before I realized that I’d probably become an episode on Jack-Azz. Gus and I went to Bear Tooth Theatre Pub in the afternoon and caught the movie “Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief.” He’d read the books and wanted to see the movie. Daddy-O took the opportunity to jet down to Girdwood to make a few runs while the snow is still good. He even had the BBQ going with deep-fried Halibut by the time Gus and I got home. Now that’s the way to spend a weekend!

Ma'am Just Step Away From The Skis...

Some real artmaking actually happened yesterday in town and I finished up my Transformed Treasures. The idea behind the Salvation Army fundraiser is to find a “treasure” at the Salvation Army Thrift Store and “transform” it into a work of art that will be auctioned off at a May 1, luncheon. My Thrift Store finds were the small wooden bank and a foam/resin plaque of St. Francis, the patron saint of animals and ecology. Lacking a good solid grasp of Catholicism I had to google St. Francis because I first thought he was St. Peter but when I read

that there was no mention of animals associated with St. Peter I knew

it was another guy who was the patron saint of animals. You find a lot of garden sculptures depicting St. Francis holding small animals and gardening tools. My mom has a beautiful bird feeder statuary of St. Francis that offers bird seed from his hands that I especially enjoy. When I found this plaque I knew immediately that I wanted to “transform” it using plasma cut and welded steel vines to create an outdoor hung wall sculpture. My thought was that it would look great on the outside of a greenhouse or on the fence near a garden. It’s finished size is about 32” tall by 20" wide.

I need to add some enamel paint finishes to doctor up some wear and tear on the plaque and mend some burn holes… Yeah, almost set the whole thing on fire when I was welding the finishing leaves to the front! The hilarious part was when it first caught on fire, I panicked and was actually trying to blow out the stupid fame from INSIDE my welding helmet!! Duh. I finally got a spray bottle of water to weld the other leaves attaching the plaque and squirted out the mini flames right away. The little wooden bank is now a

5’ tall Topiary Bird house. Those little Red Cedar logs only caught fire once…

**Oh, and don't forget to vote for our daughter, Kristen's quilt! It's called "Fairbanks Birdhouse" entered in the Snowman Quilt Challenge at The Material Girls fabric store, in Fairbanks, Alaska. Kristen has started a Blog called Rosie Creek Quilts -in her "spare time" of doing her grad work in chemical oceanography at UAF. Vote by sending an email to materialgirls@alaska.net and vote for "A1"

-THANKS ahead of time to all my blog-buddies around the world!

Psyching Out Rejection

I’m hoping I haven’t set myself up for the rejection trifecta. The good news is my feeling of accomplishment is pushing all of my self-doubt and negative thoughts aside for the time being –well at least until the end of March. I submitted my Individual Artist Project Grant proposal on Monday, my four submissions (the maximum) to the Anchorage Museum All Alaska Juried Show on Tuesday and my “Good Fortune Pea Pod” design to the The Guild and Artful Home 2010 Call for Ornaments Tuesday night. Whew! Notification for grant recipients won’t be for a couple of months. The artists are notified if they’ve been considered for the All Alaska Show on April 1 and The Guild will notify artists by March 29. As many of you know I don’t take rejection well. The All Alaska Juried Show can even be a bit of a psyche out, due to the fact you can be asked to submit the ACTUAL art based on the digital images you first

submitted, but the juror (this year it is Michael Darling of the Seattle Art Museum) may still reject your work. This has happened to three of my friends, which I find even worse than the “thanks, but no thanks” rejection letter. Rejection seems to put me in a funk that cuts into my artmaking time, so the last couple of years I’ve limited my exposure to the possibility of rejection. What’s different this time is I have many other positive things going on. Sounds simple, but it’s true. For me, artmaking is very emotional and I’m not an artist who makes her best art when she’s angry or sad –well at least the type of art that will pay the bills. I’m saving making art that expresses anger, sadness and lots of black for some future solo exhibition at an obscure New York or Eastern Block European Gallery. I actually have a lot of vivid imagery and ideas

I’ve stowed away and am waiting for all of the kids to be out of the house, graduated and to be self sufficient so I don’t embarrass or cause potential employment problems for them.

Helping me to stay happily busy is knowing my work found a new home at my friend Katie Sevigny’s Studio in downtown Anchorage. The photo is one I took this fall of her storefront. It’s not that I didn’t have anywhere to go after Half Moon closed in Anchorage, I just wasn’t feeling the love anywhere like I do with Katie, she’s tallented, energetic and super friendly with all of her customers. I even have a commission (after day two in the Gallery!) from one of Katie’s customers for some Ravens. Rather than painting the Ravens as I normally do, the customer requested that the Ravens be heat treated, and I have to say I like the effect. I made two different wall sculptures, each about 4', one horizontal and one vertical that the customer can choose from. I’m also working on 3 pieces for the Artique Gallery “Here Comes Spring” garden themed group show, opening April 2. I’d like to have some of my pods turn out FAB so I can mix them with a little welded steel for that Show. We’ll see, I should be able to fire a ^6 load next week –I’m being really, really patient and letting the new round of pods and “Sedna” masks dry nice and s-l-o-o-o-w. The other fun projects I have on the production schedule are two pieces for the 3^rd Annual Salvation Army "Transformed Treasures" event. This is a fundraiser where we “transform” items

we find at the Thrift Store into works of Art. The "Transformed Treasures" luncheon, silent and live auction will be May 1^st 11:30 - 1:30. Tickets sell out quickly and are $30.00 per person or $300 for a table of ten. If your in town and interested, please call Diane at The Salvation Army 907-276-2515.

What’s fun about this event is the camaraderie and seeing all of the “before” pictures and “after” works of art. I'm easily inspired by the very ingenious people who participate. I’m showing you my “before” pictures of a wooden bank and a wonderful relief of St. Peter I bought at the Thrift Store for under $3. The wooden bank will become a bird house with welded steel topiary frame and St. Peter is going to be Transformed into an outdoor garden shed wall sculpture with welded vines and leaves and a rust patina. The best part about donating to this cause is there’s no chance of rejection!

Lady Godiva is Here Once Again

Along with the Gallery production work and a couple of wholesale orders for friends who have GREAT shops, I get to work on some other cool pieces too. A fun, upcoming group show I’m creating a special (secret) piece for is the Godiva Show. Organized by the famous, Tommy Salami O’Malley, this is a show that gets my creativity really going! The sculpture I created for the 2007 Godiva Show is one of my favorite pieces and is pictured at left, titled “Power Suit.” The 2009 show opens February 20th, at the MTS Gallery with the opening reception from 5-7pm. “Lady Godiva Group show featuring a multitude of local artists exploring the nude figure, male and female -a classic muse for artists, chocolate, and everything else Godiva.”

The other fun event that lets my creativity reign free, is the Transformed Treasures fundraiser. This is a creative and fun way to raise money for The Salvation Army (here is a link from the 2008 event). Selected local artists are given vouchers to the local Salvation Army Thrift Store to purchase a “treasure” or item(s) that get TRANSFORMED into art by artists! Artists are requested to take a before and after picture of their project and the finished works are auctioned off Saturday, May 2 at the Sheraton Anchorage Hotel, Transformed Treasures luncheon celebration. One of the coolest pieces from last year was an old, beat up television entertainment unit that was TRANSFORMED into a childs puppet theater! How cool is that! I’ve got my work cut out for me because my competitive side is definitely peaking…