Santa Fe – Meeting Goddess
Yesterday turned out to be a wonderful day. It started out bit stressful. An 8 am with my manager, to talk about the company’s restructuring, writing my blog and other various notes, then off to up load the files via the slowest wireless network in history, and finally off to FedEx/Kinko’s to finish cutting up my postcards. I have to say the morning was stressful, and just like hard work. And all of sudden my phone rang and it was Neena.
She asked if I would like to go to the Traveler’s Market, which focuses on Ethno-Centric art, textiles, and jewelry from all over the world. It is at the DeVargas Center on Paseo de Peralta. I said sure! She picked me up at Kinko’s and we were on our way. It was a sensory overload of color and textures. I was at first overwhelmed and then in awe of the amazing collections and works. The place was designed to give people a place to show and sell their work and collections from Afghanistan, India, Thailand, and many more exotic locations. Neena introduced me to her dear friend Pam who creates jewelry from exotic woods, old fossilized bones, and abalone antique buttons. She also creates shrines that are called messengers. And each shrine has a story to tell. Her aurora and warmth were soothing, thoughtful, and insightful. She is not on the web and doesn’t use any technology. She is amazing.
Neena left me to walk around the market. I had an epiphany while I stood in the market; I realized that the textiles used in the space were perfect for what I wanted my booth to emanate at the show this weekend. Neena and Pam helped select the fabrics that I will use. They are warm gold tones, red, and taupes. I will take pictures of my booth on Saturday.
Then I realized that along with Neena, two of her friends were wearing these beautiful flowing clothes from Homefrocks. It is a lovely shop off Old Santa Fe Trail. The clothes are eco-friendly, hand dyed linens and silks that are beautiful and comfortable tunics, dresses, jackets, pants, and bags. Nancy, the owner, allowed me to try on a beautiful skirt from her Spring ’09 collection. Her clothes are very cool!!
Once we left Nancy’s place we headed out to Neena’s sweet house up above Santa Fe to meet her husband, dogs, and new cat. The land here is so lush and colorful. I was expecting much more arid environment like Colorado. Neena said that allot of the greenery was due to the significant amount of rain they had experienced this summer. We then drove back into town and had dinner at Jinja Bar & Bistro. It is an Asian fusion restaurant. The rice paper wrapped salmon, Pad Thai noodles, and Thai red curry shrimp are great. And we talked for almost three hours. I can’t say how kind and peaceful Neena and her friends are. They are like Goddesses. I was so blessed to spend the afternoon with her. If I went home today, I would have had a wonderful trip.
Neena returned me to the hotel and we said our goodbyes. I then got a call from my friend Nancy Anderson. I met her and her friends at The Shed near the Plaza. I am so excited that they are here. We are going to hang out today. No matter what, this has been a good trip…
Santa Fe - Road Trip
So, I have been quiet for a week on my blog! All I have been focused on is getting through our company’s re-organizations and getting to Santa Fe. Well yesterday was D-Day. With that said I packed up the car yesterday morning, ran about a 1,000 errands, cleaned up the essentials at the house, dropped my son at gymnastics, and finally left at 11:44 am MST.
After seven hours and multiple gas and bathroom stops, I was in Santa Fe, New Mexico!! Colorado and New Mexico are amazing states. The mountains along the drive were breath taking and the weather was perfect and hot. I wanted to take a picture at the border between Colorado and New Mexico. And I assumed there would be a place to pull over, like at the Wyoming/Colorado border. But No! The sign is on an overpass in the Raton Pass. And all you can do is focus on not running over the car in front of you as you tank down the 6% grade that leads you out of the Pass! So, no picture from this leg of the trip. But, as I listened to all my favorite songs in the car, I did hear Route 66 (at least twice) by Chuck Berry and I wanted to share this little 4×4 piece I did about 3 years ago. It was ultimately published in Somerset Studio Gallery in Winter 2007 issue.
Today, I have to buy some final stuff for my booth, so I can hang my art. And I need to go to Kinko’s and make some final print outs (to highlight my new prints).
Oh! One other thing, on Tuesday night, my e-newsletter went out about my website and my forthcoming shows. I spoke to friends yesterday and they said that they had received it. Tracey has also set it up (on my website) so that people can sign up for my e-mails. So folks know what is happening with my art, I am going to send e-mails out only 6 – 8 times per year.
This afternoon, I am going to meet up with Neena and hang out with her. We met in Keith LoBue’s class in April. So, I am really happy she is going to take some time out of her schedule to spend with me. People are amazingly kind, aren’t they?
I had hoped to blog the entire trip. But, it will be tough because there is no internet access in the room. But, I will not be deterred in recording this event. Until later….
Girls Inc. Of Santa Fe 36th Annual Arts & Crafts Show – Aug. 2-3, 2008
Well it is almost here! I think I mentioned in one of my earlier post, that I have been accepted into the Girls Inc. of Santa Fe 36th Annual Arts & Crafts Show. It is the first weekend in August. And there are 250 artists that will be in the show. You had to be juried in to participate. And to my absolute joy, my work was accepted.
Yesterday, I missed my weekly submission to Mixed Media Monday. Why? I was overdue for submitting an advertisement to the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper. So, I sent over a mock up and then discovered I couldn’t link to their FTP site to upload my actual image. Well needless to say, I was on the phone with the very nice account manager and what came out is that I needed to use FTP software to link to their site (you just couldn’t do it from a standard web browser). So, I went out to Version Tracker and downloaded the update for my FTP Software (I currently use CuteFTP). It is pretty simple and made it feasible for me to up load the image. Yeah!!!
Here is the image I am going to be showing in the ad. I thought it might be fun for the Southwest.
I am really excited and freaked out at the same time!!! LOL!!! It will be the first show I have to do by myself (that is a different story for a different day). I have decided I will blog during the trip, so I will be schlepping my PC and camera. And I can’t believe I am going to a town that I only know one kind soul (and not really very well). It is 453.3 miles from here to Santa Fe, according to AAA this morning. They are creating a map and directions to the hotel! Sweet!! One less thing to sweat!
Now I am going to work on getting prints of some of my key works. I have been really going back and forth over what I should offer at a lower price point. Like all art, I want to make sure my art is accessible! And until I get my book out, my t-shirts probably will not do the complete trick. So, I am having prints (8×10”) done of my work. And I will test them out at the show, along with offering original work and handmade books. I know, I just used this in my earlier post, but “Wish Me Luck!!”
Cloth Paper Scissors Epilogue: A Cup of Tea with a Bit of Cold
Well alas my piece called A Cup of Tea with a Bit of Cold, did not get selected for A Cup of Tea with a Bit of Cold. I am a bit disappointed, but that is life and the process of putting yourself and work out there for evaluation and selection. I did get great feedback last week from the nice folks from Mixed Media Monday, my friends, and family about my work. And that was just really up lifting.
So onward to the next submission, I think I am going to submit to the Denver Modernism show that is in August. If I am going to do it, it will need to be done by 7.26.08, since I will be heading out for Santa Fe next week. Wish me luck!
Mixed Media Monday – A Cup of Tea with a Bit of Cold
What a fascinating selection this week. I have been working on a piece for submission to Cloth Paper Scissors. The call is for pieces that represent “A Tea Party.” And low and behold Mixed Media Monday selected “tea” for this week. I think one might call that Serendipity.
She used to love a cup of tea with a bit of cold, hence the title of the submission. Whenever you made a cup for her, my father-in-law would always remind me to make her tea with just a bit of cold water.
Have a good week….
Running for My Life
I got up this morning with an attitude change, a significant attitude change. Like so many of us, I have a day job. Though stressful, it is a very cool job. However, with that said, like so many others, we are going through downsizing, restructuring, and “right-sizing.” And being a stress eater coupled with the work stresses, I have gained somewhere between 15 to 20 lbs in less than six months. Hypertension and high cholesterol run in my family. I am extremely fortunate, due to exercise and proper eating, I have avoided many weight induced maladies that befall my age and culture.
So, off I went running this morning down our old dirt road. The photo you see here, I took last month on a run. The cows for whatever reason came over to the fence to watch me run by. And I wondered what they were thinking about. And I realized finally, I knew what I really needed to be thinking about.
I thought about the discussion I had last night at the opening for “Transformation of the Mundane” (see my post from last month for more details), why I have gained this weight, and what is going on at work. And something just struck me. I have allowed the stress to take away my joy. And no one has the right to take away your joy. And I thought with two small kids, it is time to let go of the list of things that I can’t change and move on. There is so much to look forward to right now, the last thing I need is to be unhealthy. So, back to Weight Watchers, running, and exercising to regain control of my health.
Last year I took this class, I can’t even remember the name. But, I do remember one key thing. If you want to do something, you need to make a commitment, not just set a goal. The teacher said “try, what is try? If you want to do something, you need to commit to it.” I have committed to my art this year and continuing to make sure my family and friends know I love them. I am re-committing to being healthy and fit, because this is the only life I will get. Pray for me….
Mixed Media Monday – Pretty in Pink
Well I am a little late posting today. But, I still want to share my Mixed Media Monday piece. The theme this week is to use a singular color and all its variations. So, I thought of my dear friend Kelly Kilmer and decided I would work in pink. I have this great vintage image from ARTchix Studio again this week and she was already tinted pink.
So, off I went looking for every pink thing I had. I created a 5.25 x 5 inches piece on watercolor paper. The background was covered in pink tissue paper and then painted Golden’s Quinacridone Violet. Then I covered the background in pale pink tulle. Each corner has a torn pink wine label, which is then covered in paper roses. And finally I finished her off with three pink dots (from a candy necklace wrapper). This was a fun project and I think she is Pretty in Pink!
Isn’t it amazing what you can do, when you push yourself?
Stevie Wonder
On July 1st, we went to see Stevie Wonder perform at Fiddlers Green in South Denver. In a word, Amazing!! He is an old school show man. He has an amazing band with his daughter Aisha as one of the three backup singers. The percussion was amazing. He played an awesome set with old and new music, such as Baby Girl (new), Mon Cherie Amour, Isn’t She Lovely, Superstition, Higher Ground, and much much more. His daughter sang a solo as well. And after she finished, he asked the audience to sing to her! So we all sang “Isn’t She Lovely”. He sang as well. And about a quart of the way through the song, he stopped singing. Why? Because he started to cry, then she started to cry, and I started to cry as well. But, the audience kept singing and his band kept on playing. He finally gathered himself together to play part of the song with his harmonica. It was awesome we all finished the song together.
Not long before that, he played Sha la la la la, I Love You and Have You Seen Her, which led into “Higher Ground”. With that song I was (and the crowd) were on our feet singing again. I could still remember the words, when the song came out, and what was going on in my life and the US at the time. Then tears started to well up in my eyes as I remembered visiting and hanging out with my cousins in South Central LA in the late sixties and early seventies. And I remember in particular two of my cousins, who have since left this world. I realized when someone dies, regardless of age; the pain never really goes away. It just returns at an inexplicable moment with varying degrees of intensity.
Stevie would later comment that “Time is long and life is short.” And he said that if you have issues with family or friends, try to let go and get over it. And as he closed the show with Superstition playing in the background, he said we need to unite as one people and make a change (a direct reference to Barak Obama). I thought that took a lot of courage in a definitively Red state.
His final words were “impossible is an unacceptable word.” I realized that this man grew up blind and black in the some of the most tumultuous times in American history, and he can say “impossible is an unacceptable word.”
God brings us lessons at the most unexpected times and places.
Mixed Media Monday – The Dancing Librarian
Well it is Sunday and I am working on my Mixed Media Monday piece. The theme this week is “dance.” What to do? What to do? Well I knew I wanted some sort of a dancer and originally it was going to be a couple dancing. Then I found this vintage image from Artchix Studio. I love Helga Strauss ’ images and I wanted to use this one in particular. Now based on the size, I opted to create an Artist Trading Card (ATC). Helga has Fabiano Water Color paper, pre-cut in ATC size so I was off. I covered the surface with music and book pages, because the story is, that “Ester is a well known librarian in Bakersfield. And on Saturdays she dresses up to go to the local dance”. Hence covering the surface in music and book pages and then tinting the surface to compliment Ester’s outfit. And then I added rhinestones to finish off her great look.
Finally, I wanted to add text to Ester’s card. As such, the piece is both paper and digital collage. I just think this piece is a hoot! And dance was a great theme for the week. Three cheers for Ester, for being who she is and wants to be. May we all remember to be true to ourselves in this lifetime!!!
Laurie Zuckerman & Memory Jugs
I got a chance to have lunch on Friday with Laurie Zuckerman. She is an artist, teacher, photographer and amazing shrine maker. If you have perused my website (www.venitahawkins.com) you will have seen her photography. She took the majority of the photos on both my website and blog. Next year, 2009, she will be doing a show at the Loveland Museum. Her last one in 2006, was just amazing. Laurie did a shrine that stood at least 8 – 10 feet high; it was in memoriam to her mother. She also had 2 smaller shrines, photography and at least 3 memory jugs.
I had the stroke of good fortune to take her memory jug class in 2006 that is the piece pictured here. There were 4-5 of us in class. And every one had such an amazing jug that they created with immense family history and composition. Laurie is going to be teaching the class again the first weekend in August, here in Northern Colorado. If you have time and are local, go take the class.
We visited at lunch for a while. As she has been through many juried art shows, I shared the results of my recent submissions. Her perspective is that the event of being juried is very subjective and that you should continue to submit work whenever feasible. Because an art work that may be rejected in one show, may win first prize in another show.
For me this was great council, because it helps keep perspective on the rejection notices I received from FCMOCA. And with that said, I will be entering the Santa Fe Recycling show later this year, just to see how it goes. As I have said before, if you don’t submit, you can’t possibly win or loose….