The Art Dept

      Let’s consider for a moment the importance of your display booth at an art fair.      When applying for a juried art festival, the criteria for acceptance comes down to four images of your work and one of your booth. That is the sum total of what the judges use to base their decisions. The artwork, of course,  is the most important element. The jury images need to show a professional, consistent body of work. But where is the artwork displayed? The booth in which the artwork is displayed is equally important.      Your booth, quite simply, needs to be a mini gallery that showcases your work. It needs to be attractive, uncluttered, and of course, weatherproof.      Say you are a judge for an art show, tasked with deciding between two equally great painters. One has a booth that is a reflection of his work. It is streamlined, welcoming, and uncluttered. The paintings are tastefu...

       Until further notice I am away from the jewelry work table and into the woods. And by that I mean full tilt immersed in the series I started last year, entitled “Of the Woods”.  Here’s a little preview of my time in the woods.        My goal all along has been to show in the category of Mixed Media Collage for the 2020 art fair season. Of course it’s only January of 2020, and way too cold to even think about being in shows. However, that being said, NOW is the time to prepare for those shows.      To be in line for  juried art fairs means having four or five professional jury images, a carefully written artist statement, and a booth shot that shows the body of work as it will appear under the customary white tent at a show.      That brings me to my latest accomplishment, the booth image.  Because I am entering a new category, I needed a new booth image that shows my serie...

Now that the presents are unwrapped, the cookies are eaten and the mistletoe is down, now what? Tis the season for looking to the New Year and asking the age old question: So NOW what? I have been pondering that question a lot, especially in terms of my art and where I am going with it.  So I pulled out a large journal that holds a history of such thoughts and plans, and wrote this:  Not that you can read my writing, and I do realize it goes right off the page! I especially like the part that says “in no particular order”. There is something cathartic about simply emptying all the thoughts and plans onto a sheet of paper,  just writing down all those thoughts that have bumping around up in the gray matter, needing a place to land. Good, it’s done. Now I can fold that list into a little paper airplane and send it up to God. (At least in my heart) "Begin, continue, and end every work, purpose, and plan with God. Self-sufficiency and self-confiden...

    This weekend I will be set up at the historic and beautiful Indiana State Museum, where I will be one of the featured artists at the Indiana State Art Show.          One thing I love about this show it’s INSIDE! It is one of the few shows I do that is not out in the elements under a white tent. Of course it IS Indiana and it IS still winter, so I’m very glad to be doing a show inside!        I also love that artists from every county of Indiana display their wares. It is a vivid and variegated group of talented artists that I feel honored to be among. This year there will be a series of demonstrations by some of the artists. I will be demonstrating how to make a pair of earrings from a kit.         I love the people who come to the show. Last year the weather was horrible, which prevented a lot of people from showing up. The show promoter was actually apologizing for the lack of customers (...

          I had arrived at my art show for the day, unpacked my vehicle and found a parking space. My vehicle is a compact Chevy, which you would think easy to slide right into that parallel parking space on the curb in the heart of downtown. But no, I am apparently parallel parking challenged. I line up next to the car in the space ahead, then slowly back up while turning the wheel. Sure enough my little car goes in to the space at the correct angle. It’s just not close enough to the curb and much too far from the car ahead of me. No problem, redo. Up, back, adjust the angle, back, back, okay now forward, okay back, back, then forward, turn wheel a little bit, no too much, now back, angle is off, adjust, okay forward, then back,  now tweek, adjust, check the mirror. Oh dang I am right on the curb and way too close to the guy behind me. Re-do. (Jeesh, good thing no one is watching.) Finally after about ten minutes of up, back, angle, up and back I m...

I am excited to announce that Parts of Art will be showing at: Palmer Park Art Fair Detroit MI June 2 & 3 Talbot Street Art Fair Indianapolis IN June 16 & 17 Please come and see my latest pieces at one of these fine shows.  When you come, mention my blog and you will receive 20% off your purchase.  See you there!

                One day at an art show a man came rushing up to my booth. He had heard that I make jewelry pieces from the dried paint from artists palettes, and he just had to see it for himself.     "Oh my God, this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen!" He exclaimed, picking up one of the necklaces and inspecting it.  “Please tell me you have a patent on this?!”        Well no, I didn't have a patent on it, I explained. He gave me an incredulous look and said " Well that is the first thing you should do! I would hate for someone to steal your idea!” That’s when the dreaded internal dialogue began. You know the ones, those pesky inner voices that say  “What were you thinking, putting your idea out there for someone to steal? Are you that dumb? How can you be so naive? You better quit now before someone steals it from you.”       The next morning I was on the phone with a very ...

      Years ago when I was new to the art show circuit,  there was a local arts and crafts show in which I participated.  All set up and waiting for the inevitable crowds of customers to come,  I started conversing with my neighboring artist.     “You really should do this one show I just did last month,” she said,  “Your work is great and you would probably sell out!”        Now that I’m a seasoned vet of art shows, there are certain phrases that make me run as fast as I can in the opposite direction.  “You will probably sell out” is one of them. I mean, how do they know that I would probably sell out, and why would I even want to sell out?  That day, however,  the words of that well-meaning woman caught my interest.        "You have to set up the night before, because people will come out early to shop." she said. "There is not much for people to do in this area, so people...

       I had arrived at my art show for the day, unpacked my vehicle and found a parking space. My vehicle is a compact Chevy, which you would think easy to slide right into that parallel parking space on the curb in the heart of downtown. But no, I am apparently parallel parking challenged. I line up next to the car in the space ahead, then slowly back up while turning the wheel. Sure enough my little car goes in to the space at the correct angle. It’s just not close enough to the curb and much too far from the car ahead of me. No problem, redo. Up, back, adjust the angle, back, back, okay now forward, okay back, back, then forward, turn wheel a little bit, no too much, now back, angle is off, adjust, okay forward, then back,  now tweek, adjust, check the mirror. Oh dang I am right on the curb and way too close to the guy behind me. Re-do. (Jeesh, good thing no one is watching.) Finally after about ten minutes of up, back, angle, up and back...

     Earlier this month I made the decision to compete. The competition is for a monetary prize that will be awarded in an upcoming show. This is an art show in which I have participated for the last three years, and, for me, the awards are fairly substantial. I am not usually one to go after awards, but I figure I’m going there anyway, so I might as well compete.      The other motivator for me is that I need a new jury image or two. Somewhere along the line I learned that jury images need to show a constistency; the pieces need to look like they are all from the same DNA, so to speak. I have had a concern that my jury images are too dissimilar, and someday I need to make them more cohesive.         So someday arrived this week. I had three days off work, so I scheduled studio time to design and build a show piece that 1) could possibly win a prize, and 2) be photographed for a jury image for next year’s sh...

     I went to the Broad Ripple Art Fair Open Jury in Indianapolis in February. I got to be a "fly on the wall," watching five judges as they decided the fate of 539 artists that had applied for the show.    Because I am a jewelry artist who participates in juried art shows, and because the jury process has always been dark and mysterious to me, I decided to attend. It was a show to which I had applied, located an hour from my home, and an invitation had been emailed to all applicants.      When I got there they were finishing up in the photography category. It was in a conference room with a large screen in the front, where the digital images were projected. The five judges sat at two long tables in the front row. Each judge had a laptop in front of them, seeing the same images that were being projected on the large screen. As they viewed the images - all three plus a booth image, the narrator read out loud the artist statement. There is v...

   Several years ago I was participating in an art show in Delray Beach Florida. What I sell is jewelry which I make from the dried acrylic paint from the artist palette.  During the show, a woman walked into my booth and was studying my jewelry pieces. I mean, really inspecting them more closely than the typical customer. I started to share with her my story, how I start with the palette and go from there.  She listened, then said “Yes, I can tell they’re made from paint. I make paint.” Well at first I wasn’t sure if I heard her correctly, not having ever met anyone who makes paint. Then she introduced herself. “I’m Barbara Golden.” To me this was akin to meeting a Hollywood star! I had a celebrity in my art booth! She went on to tell me about some of the more interesting and unusual applications artists have found for Golden Paints.  She later came back to my booth and we had a delightful conversation about ...