Esty Dallas' Spring Bash

I have been thinking about selling my scarves, headbands and other handmade items on Esty.com. However, I keep procrastinating on figuring out how to do it. Then Leah, who works at the DMA sent me an email about an event tomorrow. Think I'll go.

Check it out: http://handmadebash.com/Home.html

Etsy Dallas, the original Dallas team and the first city team in Texas, is a cooperative craft collective of artists and designers living and working in Dallas who sell their wares on Etsy, the web's premiere marketplace for all things hip and handmade. Etsy Dallas boasts talent from a range of mediums and crafts, and is independently run by its members.

Creative Process: Inside/Out

Last night at the DMA, CEO/Creator of Preservation LINK & photographer Dave Herman and I were asked to talk about our creative process with a group of museum patrons who often come to the Thursday night workshops. They are all creative people themselves and so the discussion was a lively one with input not only from Dave and I, but from everyone there. It was so enjoyable, enlightening and well...it was bonding experience for people who pursue creative avenues of self expression. Dave and I will collaborate on a workshop together on Thursday, May 20 from 6:30-8:30. We are still in the planning stages, but let me say now, IT'S GOING TO BE REALLY FUN, CREATIVE and MEMORABLE for the people who attend. So if you're in the area, you just might want to be there.

We also got a mini presentation on the plans for the new C3 exhibition opening in September. It'll be called Space In Art/ Art In Space. It's going to be AMAZING and really interactive. During the two months that the C3 area will be under renovation, the C3 activities will be moved to the DMA tower. An artist by the name of Jill Foley is going to create the most amazing design for that space. I will definitely post pictures of her work when C3 locates there.

Interesting times ahead indeed...

New stuff I made...

Here are some pictures of new work. One is a hanging light using chicken wire, body scrub thingies, wire and broken glass for color. Think of a cloud with raindrops in it. I was wanting to have a light that was cloud-like and this works for me.

The other is a flower made from a record album, coffee filters dipped in food coloring, a plumbing pipe, wire & glass beads.

ArtLoveMagic in Deep Ellum

I've discovered a super cool group of artists in Deep Ellum; a community spittin' distance from downtown Dallas. The group is called ArtLoveMagic. Check them out here:
http://artlovemagic.com/homebase/homebase.htm

I attended workshops they organized & hosted last Saturday. One was called about Art Law (copyrights, trademarking...etc),and the other was led by art agents who gave tips on how to make a living as an artist. I learned a lot, was inspired and met some really nice, interesting artists while I was at it. I plan to keep their events on my calendar and go to as many as I can.

The photos were taken from the DART station in Deep Ellum where I was waiting for the train to go home.

Waiting on the DART...

When I don't have to tote a lot of stuff to the DMA for one of my programs, I like to ride the DART train from Plano to downtown Dallas. It is generally relaxing, plus a LOT less stressful than driving the congested roads into downtown.

Here are Jeff and I waiting for the DART after spending an enjoyable evening at the museum. The weather is pleasant, the city views impressive and I have my very bestest friend in the world to hang out with.

Not bad.

Friday Night at the DMA

The following are photos are from DMA's Friday Night Live event this April. Artist Lesli Robertson, who I have spotlighted in a previous blog had one of the completed woven works at a table along with assorted needles and threads. Museum patrons were invited to embroider into the artwork and "leave their mark". After finishing my storytelling program and touring the new "Coastlines" exhibit, I could not resist sitting down at the table and quickly embroidering a simple tree shape. It was loads of fun!

Can you see the bird?

Alice in Wonderland Hat

JC Bigornia works at the Dallas Museum of Art in the Center for Creative Connections. He is also a very talented artist who can do just about anything he puts his mind to.

Here he is in a hat he created by looking at a picture! The awesome hat was a real attention grabber during the Alice Wonderland themed Friday Late Night at the Dallas Museum of Art. He was gracious enough to let me borrow it for my storytelling concert and one very lucky dad wore it during a song & dance number.

Spring Vacation Art Projects

As part of my March artist of the month opportunities at the Dallas Museum of Art, I was given the chance to try a few experimental art projects. So, during spring break, I took two days to lead storyart walks in the galleries followed by collaborative art projects suitable for all ages. I decided to design two projects around the recycling theme that could be hung at the Plano Centre during the Live Green Expo, Plano's huge Earth Day event Saturday, April 17th.

Here are photos taken of the completed art works and a few during the creation of the Go Green Graffiti Door. We had a blast and the art looks great. Fun! Fun!

Go Green For Our Kids: The tree with the balls of paper is on a recycled old canvas, covered in old copper wall paper, a ceiling tile that was @#%& to cut, scrabble tiles, masking tape for the kids to write their names on, gel medium & acrylic paint and scrap paper from the museum.

Go Green Graffiti Door: An old closet door from Habitat for Humanity, house paints & colored pencils.

Storyteller Retreat to Ruidoso, NM

Here a few pictures from my trip to Ruidsoso with Jiaan Powers, Gwen Caldwell and Genie Hammel who are also professional storytellers. We went at the end of March.

We had a lovely place to stay, a scenic view, gorgeous scenery to hike in, wildlife...sigh...it was all wonderful.

Another big Texas snowstorm - in MARCH!

What a snowy winter we've had. This one was on the first day of spring. Photos are of my frontyard and backyard. I took them on the morning I left for Ruidoso, New Mexico. What an exciting first hour of driving I had!

Get Your Head In The Clouds

Here are images of my Get Your Head In The Clouds art piece that I created as one of my projects for being artist of the month in March for the Dallas Museum of Art. It was made using those body scrub things, several strings of lights and foam coreboard. The pictures show it only partially completed and with the photos added. Participants created imaginative hats and had their photos taken. Headshots only. Then they learned how to tranfer their images over onto clear packing tape and these pictures of them were then pinned in the cloud.

So everyone got their "head in the cloud". I wanted to impress upon participants the creative benefits of taking time to play (hat making) and dream (Head in the clouds). It really worked - we all had a blast and a good crowd of participants of all ages made crazy hats using flower arrangement materials, which symbolized growing creatively - get it? wink wink

Daughter Lily with her boyfriend Andrew

Here is Lily with Andrew on Valentines Day. She is wearing one of the headbands I made using recycled wool from old sweaters.

I LOVE working with recycled wool. There are several new directions I want to go with it in the near future. Stay posted!

New Scrabble game inspired art...

Here is a new art work I made with recycled items.

I used an old scrabble game and images from a 1940's childrens picture encyclopedia. So when someone wants to literally "spin a tale", they can spin the board, and if it lands on the "legend" side, they can try to link an image to a legend they know.

Meet Lesli Robertson

She is an awesome artist who dreamed up, created, and installed one of the best interactive art activities I've ever seen. Children and adults get to create together marvelous woven walls that once completed, reflect words projected from the ceiling.

Totally cool!

Here is a brief bio about Lesli and a link to her website.
Lesli Robertson

Lesli Robertson is a textile artist by training, but in her creative process often combines materials that are a sharp contrast to the usual fibers. An example would be the use of concrete, silk and journaling. Lesli also researches and connects communities of people around the use of a particular material such as her recent work with artists from Uganda. http://www.leslirobertson.com/

Meet Lesli

Yes, I'm a Bad, BAD Blogger!

It is easy to get behind blogging. Really easy. Especially after I started using Facebook.

Uffdah.

I'm going to try an improve.