A is for Artist at Gallery One

 
A-Z: Flora
"Flora" is my newest alphabet set. It's currently in a group show at Gallery One in Ellensburg, WA.

I had the pleasure of visiting the gallery last week.  It's an AMAZING space and definitely worth the drive from Seattle.  I highly suggest a day trip to Ellensburg, it'll be a fun show and a beautiful drive.

A is for Artist:
May 6th-28th, 2016

Nance Bracken
Diem Chau
Samantha Fisher
Leslie Nan Moon
Becky Parmenter
Derek Sullivan
Kyle Sullivan
Hannah Viano

In celebration of Washington State’s Arts Education Month, we have invited six regional artists to create a full alphabet series. You’ll find pieces made with cut paper, printmaking, watercolor, carved crayons and more. “A is for Artist” is an exhibition of the illustrated alphabet and celebrates the creativity of both children and adults at Gallery One for the month of May.

Happy Year of the Monkey

Hello everyone, it's been a long time since I've posted on my blog!  2016 will be a year full of catch-up and productivity.  I'll start off by wishing everyone a happy and prosperous new year.  2016 is the Year of the Monkey and much like the energetic and unpredictable monkey this year will be a wild ride.  I'm looking forward to it.  


This is a detail shot of my newest crayon work.  I'm very excited to incorporate different colors to my carvings.  I started to work on another Zodiac set, this time in technicolor!

These are the Crayola crayons I used for this carving:
Monkey's body and base crayon: Tan
face and ears: Tumbleweed
face features: Black
peach: Salmon
foliage: Olive Green and Green
rocks: Timberwolf





If you're in Seattle, please come out to "Seattle Simplified", it's a showcase of recently acquired artwork by Seattle City Lights. It's on view right now at the Seattle Municipal Tower Gallery. 

Seattle Simplified (Part 2):
December 31, 2015 through April 3, 2016
Opening reception: February 9th, 4 - 6pm
Seattle Municipal Tower Gallery
Level 3 Concourse
700 Fifth Ave.
Seattle, WA 98104

SAM's Party in the Park 2014

I was asked to participate in this year's Party in the Park event at the Olympic Sculpture Park.  Every year the Seattle Art Museum hosts a fundraiser that brings together local chefs, artists and patrons for a night of art, food, music and fun.  Local chefs cook the meal, the artists set the table and everyone gets to party!


This was my table, I made white paper flowers.  I used 100# cotton paper, bamboo skewers and PVA glue. It was a windy and rainy day! Some of the leaves got wet and started to bend a little, but otherwise everything made it through the night.


A closer look.
Each guest got to take a flower away with them.  I sat with people from Alaskan Airline. They were a great group and very outgoing, the conversation flowed freely.  Thanks for a great evening guys. :) I'll fly Alaska more often!

The dinner at our table was served by the fine folks from Shanik in Seattle.  Just the right "hotness" and I'm still thinking about the crispy fried okra bits with jelly beans!  I didn't think that combo would work, but it does!

Here are some of my favorites:

Liz Tran's Table
Drippy colors! I think this was the most over-the-top table there!


Yuki Nakamura's Table
She covered the table with porcelain hex tiles she made. It was a very colorful and tactile table.


Margie Livingston's Table
The stacks are made of layered dried paint. Each guest got to take one with them.


Amy Hamblin's Table
This was a really cool table. It looked like there was squiggly drawings all over and when you looked closer you realize the squiggles are made of cut up bouncy balls! You know the balls they sell in huge cages at Fred Meyer or Target... Yeah those. What a great use of material!


Carolina Silva's Table
The placement of this table was perfect. She hung the words "Here Forever" on the back wall of the tent and beyond it was a beautiful scene of the Puget Sound. I literally could have stood there forever.


Jeffry Mitchell's Table
I LOVED his table! He made cast plaster standees of abstracted/simplified squirrels and bears. It was so awesome, I wanted to take one home.


Having Fun
I took a picture of this couple taking a picture. :P


Artists having fun too!  A big thanks to SAM for inviting me to participate.  Even with the not-so-cooperative weather it was a great evening.  I always look forward to this!
 More pics from this event in my Flickr

NYC Landmark Crayons

NYC Landmark Crayons
These are the crayons I carved at the TIA Toy Fair in Crayola's booth.  They collected business cards during my demo and they're going to do a drawing to win these carvings along with other works made during the Toy Fair.  I don't know who the winners are, but CONGRATS!

There were three crayons total, I also carved the NYC skyline on a large 2 pound crayon.  Unfortunately I don't have any good pictures of it.  That crayon was left at the Toy Fair for display.  I took these home with me so I can safely pack them for Crayola.



Statue of Liberty Crayon
This crayon took me a good 5 hours to carve and towards the end her arm/hand broke off!  I think that momentous occasion was even caught on film... you guys should have seen my face.  No tears or swearing, but I was almost there!  Man it sucked to have something break after hours spent working on it.  Luckily the break was fixable, she's now back in one piece thanks to a piece of copper wire and melted wax.  Usually broken crayons  can't be fixed, but this is a special case.  Notice the color difference on the torch hand.  That's where the breakage happened.

I really love how she turned out.  I may have to make another one for myself!


Freedom Tower Crayon
Another famous NYC landmark.  I hope I did it justice... the antennae/spire was hard to make.  I didn't want to make it too thin so the proportions are a bit off.  I had to add some green trees to the base for scale.  The carving is done on a silver Crayola crayon, it has a nice luster in real life.

Thanks again for thinking of my work Crayola, you guys were all a pleasure to work with.  Same with the fine folks at Edleman. :)  Thank you Julie, Nancy, Lianne, Chiara and everyone who came by to say hello! 

TIA TOY FAIR w/ Crayola!

Hello everyone,
I will be at Crayola's booth at the TIA Toy Fair in NYC!  If you're at the fair please stop by to say hi.  Crayola asked me to do a crayon carving demo on a few smaller/regular crayons and one LARGE crayon.  Aside from my regular techniques I'll work on my multi-colored crayons as well.  This will be the first time I show how to create an image by combining colored waxes and make it stable. It's very much like an inlay technique and just just melting wax together. 

I will be at the Crayola booth all day on Monday:
TOY FAIR 2014
Javits Center NYC
Booth: CPLM04 (first floor near registration and escalator)


Johnny Jump Up Flower or Tri Color Viola
One of my favorite flowers because it's so easy to grow.  It's almost a weed in how vigorous it is, but so beautiful.  This carving was done on a HUGE crayola crayon, weighing in at almost 2 pounds!



Detail shot of the design.  This carving incorporates 9 different Crayola crayon colors.  The work is done like an inlaying for wood.  Channels or deep grooves are carved into the crayon then colored wax is melted into those channels.  The excess are cut off and the surface made flush to reveal the design.  This will be a fun process to see in person.




Another detail shot:
The design goes all they way around.



Camellia flower, the Chinese call it "Tea Flower" because tea is made from Camellia sinensis.  It's an early blooming flower, usually the only color that's out when everything else is still covered in snow.  A sign or rebirth and the Spring to come.  This carving was done on a HUGE crayola crayon, weighing in at almost 2 pounds!


Detail shot of the Camellia Flower carving:
This carving incorporates 4 different Crayola crayon colors.  The work is done like an inlaying for wood.  Channels or deep grooves are carved into the crayon then colored wax is melted into those channels.  The excess are cut off and the surface made flush to reveal the design.  This will be a fun process to see in person.


A shot with my hand for scale.

Meet Watson & Brienne!

Oh no I didn't?!
Soooo... these last few months without Guy has been nothing but a suck-fest.  I've been keeping myself as busy as possible so I wouldn't feel so sad about losing my best friend.  My husband and I were not so sure if we wanted another dog when Guy was in his decline.  The last couple of months of his life was hard on all of us, a lot of heartache and sleepless nights... not to mention the enormous amount of stress.  BUT after Guy died we knew we would always be a family with pets, the positive experiences far outweigh any negative ones.  Guy added so much value to our lives it's hard to quantify, without him life is a bit colder and somewhat empty...  Don't get me wrong we have a great marriage and great relationship, but having Guy there made it even better.

Our friend Lisa volunteers at the Seattle Animal Shelter and sent us an adoption link to these 2 darlings, Brienne and Watson (formerly known as Noo Noo & Boo Boo).  We had a very focused discussion on whether or not we should go see them.  We knew once we met they would be coming home with us, the decision to adopt had to be made before we even leave the house.  We were both a little unsure and wavered back and forth about it.  We were driving towards the shelter and asked ourselves if this is it... if we were "ready".  I said, "F*ck it, let's go!"  We're both a little freaked out and very excited and happy to have them home with us! 


Meet WATSON, aka Cheddar and formerly known as Boo Boo.  He's a vivacious Pug who loves to roam the yard, eat and fart.  He's also capable of very large poos for his size...  just sayin'.  Watson and his BFF is Brienne (formerly known as Noo Noo) were surrendered at the Seattle Animal Shelter together.  Watson may be deaf and the shelter people said he might be a little bit blind as well.  So far we've noticed that he doesn't really respond to calls, but his sight seems OK.  He does have kennel cough and some stinky ears, but we're taking care of that.  Despite the coughing and being a little under the weather he's still energetic and very affectionate!  He's been giving kisses since day one.  Brienne is  a little more reserved.



Meet Brienne or Brie for short, a Beagle/Pit mix weighing in at 60 pounds.  She was named Noo Noo by her previous owner, but it sounds too much like "no no", something I have to say a lot.  I didn't want to confuse her and it's also a part of their old lives, I think they need a completely new start.  We named her after Brienne of Tarth on the account of her size and manly-man figure, but beneath that muscle clad body is a proper lady.  Brie is a sweetheart, she's still very shy but she's opening up slowly.


The Backstory:
They were surrendered together at the Seattle Animal Shelter on Dec 22nd, 2013.  They grew up together in the same household and are quite the bonded pair.  It seems like Brie is more protective of and attached to Watson.  Watson is a bit more nonchalant about wandering off, but they always look for each other when one wanders out of sight.  Brie has to go anywhere Watson goes.  I guess Watson, the Pug, was quickly adopted out after they were both admitted.  Brie was spayed at the shelter and I'm sure it has devastating when she came out of surgery and Watson wasn't there.  She is always by his side.  Lucky for everyone Watson was returned to the shelter... he can't manage stairs anymore and that was the reason for his return.  I'm sure it was a happy reunion... after all they just lost their family as least they have each other.  We're thrilled we have the capacity to take in both dogs.  Now a new adventure can begin for all of us.

Miami & Seattle Shows

If you're in Miami come by and see my work at CONTEXT Art Miami!  My entire Northwest Natives Alphabet set is at Packer Schopf Gallery, booth E4, right at the entrance.  Here's a free one day pass courtesy of Packer Gallery: http://www.packergallery.com/press/PackerSchopf_Context.pdf

www.contextartmiami.com
December 3rd - 8th

 
I am also honored to be in a group show opening tonight in Seattle:
Equipollent: The Artists of Inside Art 2013
Curated by Juan Alonso

December 5th - 21st

Opening reception: First Thursday Art Walk - December 5, 5-8 pm

e·qui·pol·lent - ēkwəˈpälənt
Equal or equivalent in power, effect, or significance.

"Earlier this year I approached Town Hall to bring a series of artists’ talks which began in September will conclude with the last installment on December 10, 2013. This is an exhibit of those twelve brilliant artists included in this program. As creator and curator of Inside Art, my intent is to break down barriers between artists of different backgrounds, cultures and approaches to visual art and also between the artists as a group and audiences that may or may not frequent usual visual art venues or have academic artistic knowledge or education. I seek diversity not only in ethnicity, age and gender but also in mediums, materials, philosophical views and artistic vision. I would like to demystify art as a profession to encourage engagement and further mutual understanding between the artist and the public." - Juan Alonso

Standing Visit Projects
301 Storefront Gallery
301 Occidental Ave S (at Main St.)
Seattle, WA 98104

Artists Exhibited:

Sharon Arnold
Alfredo Arreguin
Laura Castellanos
Diem Chau
Marita Dingus
Ronald Hall
Stephanie Hargrave
Alan Lau
Margie Livingston
Barbara Earl Thomas
Rodrigo Valenzuela
Dan Webb

Lastly but certainly not least I will be in a panel discussion called: Inside Art -Local Artists on How We Are Remembered.  This is a Town Hall’s Arts & Culture series dedicated to exploring and celebrating visual arts in Seattle.  The panel that I'm a part of is the last installment of the series and focuses on an in-depth look at our legacy through art. Thank you to Juan Alonso, Jess Van Nostrand, The Project Room, Town Hall and everyone who came together to make this happen.

The 3 panelists include, Alfredo Arrequin, Ronald Hall and myself, moderated by Jess Van Nostrand.  Tickets are $5, doors open at 6pm.  Hope to see you there!

Seattle Town Hall 
1119 Eighth Avenue (at Seneca Street)
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 652-4255