Hanging with Santa Fe Modern

I'll have several works on paper and a few sculptures nestled among the sophisticated contemporary furnishings at Santa Fe Modern.

Alone with a Bottle of Ink

Over the last month I have been spending time at the house/art immersion of the two artists known as Chuck and George. They gave me a key so I was able to drop by whenever I pleased. The result is 14 ink drawings of the visually overloaded interior of the world they live in.

Their house from the front porch to the back gate is overflowing with artwork, artifacts and curiosities. All of the walls and even some of the floors are custom painted and just about every surface has artwork on it. Not only with Chuck and George's artwork but also the works by hundreds of other artists too. It's safe to say this is the biggest collection of slightly demented regional art in Texas. You can understand why I was excited about the opportunity to draw in this environment.

On May 20th the Chuck and George house will be part of the Visual Speed Bump Art Tour. I recommend you earmark the day to spend time at this wonderful house as well as visiting the other 13 studios on the self guided tour.

Nomadic Fungi Institute Now Represented at Ro2 Art

the Nomadic Fungi Institute is very happy to announce that Ro2 Art in Dallas Texas has asked to represent the Institute.

5 Preparations For A Successful Studio Visit

As you can see from the photograph, there are a lot of projects underway in the studio, which is great. It's like a cozy cave of self indulgence. But for the uninitiated visiter it's visual chaos, bordering on a  hoarder's hovel.

This week I have a studio visits lined up with Heyd Fontenot from CentralTrak. I personally reached out to him, asking if he would come by my studio to look at a few art projects. The focus of this visit will be on the World Of Nomadic Fungi, a joint project I'm doing with the Nomadic Fungi Institute.

Inviting someone to visit your studio is not to be taken lightly. You are asking them to go out of their way and spend their time indulging your need to have someone look at your artwork. You also have to keep in mind that your time with them is limited, somewhere between 1 and no longer than 2 hours. So, part of presenting yourself as a professional artist means having the artwork and the topics of discussion organized.

As a lot of you know, I spent last year cruising around on the Queasy Tugboat. This visit with Heyd is the first conversation I have had about my artwork with a respected art professional in quite sometime. I'll admit I'm having some anxiety and loosing a little sleep. To combat the jitters I made the following To Do List for myself:

1. Select/edit the artwork I want to focus on. Arrange it so that the visitor can see it without too much competing visual clutter. It should be mainly finished work, but a few works in progress mixed in is a good thing. The finished work is after all my product, what I will be showing to the public. And the works in progress show that I have new and exciting things coming up soon.

2. Decide what are the important topics I want to discuss. I am well aware that once I get started talking I can ramble on and on about art, art concepts, artists and the art world in general, and never get around to talking about MY artwork. So make a list that I can refer back to if/when we get too far off topic.

3. Next, I invited this person because they have skills and talents that are relative to what I am doing in the studio. So, create another list, this one focusing on their special skills and experiences. Make sure to incorporate this list into relative questions; You have experience working with alternative exhibit spaces, How do you approach people/businesses about setting up an exhibit in their space?

4. Talking is dry work, and listing sometimes requires a cool beverage to make things easier to swallow. Think about a gallery opening without wine and cheese. People simply don't linger when their hands are empty. Make sure there are beverages to offer;  wine, beer, lemonade, sparkling water.

5. Lastly, burn a CD with an up to date CV and good images of my artwork. Don't forget to give it to him before he leaves!

Well, looks like I have everything covered. I should sleep like a baby tonight.... Wait a minute,  I haven't even started cleaning up the studio!

Aurora 2011: A Thing To See And Do

Water Walls Dallas Arboretum

I have felt for a while now that I should be spending less time at the computer. All those hours logged on has left me feeling a bit like a big wooden log. So, it's up early, a balanced breakfast, walkies, perhaps a bit of yard work, and get involved with a few art events to get me out of this damn house!!!

Aurora 2011 is one such event. This year it's being held in the Dallas Arts District. 97 light and sound installations will turn the 19 block area into a night of color. The big power switch will be flipped on this Friday, October 28th at 7:30pm-12:00 midnight. Here's the Art and Seek post.

Fountain Place Park Dallas TX

I missed being part of the Aurora 2010 because I was in Italy, which I enjoyed completely and blogged about maybe a bit to much. That said, I have been waiting all year for the next Aurora event. This time I am in town, busy at my computer spicing together bits of video... So much for getting out of the house, or the walkies, or the balanced breakfast.

White Rock Lake 2 AM

I am producing 2 videos that will be projected onto the west garden wall of the Meyerson Symphony Center. Both videos are about water. One is natural footage of ponds, streams and puddles as seen in the top 2 photos above. The other video uses the same footage and manipulates it by re-filming the clips multiple times to produce color separations and distortions, as seen in these bottom 2 photos.

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

This will be my first time to show any of these videos publicly. Very excited about it, and about seeing all the other installations, too!

Houston Fine Art Fair

Well I just can't stay away. I'm heading down to Houston for the Houston Fine Art Fair. I've posted a short blurp on Art n Seek , which I'll follow up on with photos on monday.

Out Of The Loop Fringe Festival Opening Night

It was a great turn out for the Out Of The Loop Fringe Festival opening night party, and art exhibition. I walked in and shook a few hands before making my way up stairs to where the food and apparently most of the local theatre critics were hanging out. Anne Bothwell from Art And Seek introduced me to Mark Lowry from Theatre Jones. We then proceeded to recount dramatic tails of live theatre from seasons past.

Eventually I realized how late it was getting, and that I had not taken a single photo. So here are 2 from the blurry dozen that I took.

Fortunately the WaterTower blog has posted a very nice photo of CJ Miller and I standing with the Producing Artistic Director Terry Martin.