so much good stuff

Here's something different. Last week my youngest boy and I took a cigar box guitar workshop being offered by my work (The Crossing Arts Alliance)

Neither of us play the guitar, but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to learn the art of low-brow luthiership from maker and talented tattoo artist Tony Powers and co-teacher Brent Shepard.

These two have made CBG's from everything from cigar boxes to oars and cookie tins. In the hands of Tony and Brent these things sound great.

We were given the basic pieces of the guitar to assemble, decorate, and string.

My boy with his new geetar.

Everyone added their own flavor to their instruments.

Mary from LPTV was there to film and you can see the clip here

You're surprised to see mushrooms on mine, right?

This class was so much fun. The teachers made it very accessible and were able to handle any missteps we students made, and it was so cool to have one of them playing throughout the class, giving us hope that we might make something that sounded half as good. And, it's always fun to learn something new, right?

On Saturday I spent the day at a TEDx talk and have come away feeling really inspired and uplifted. I was also introduced to the music of Corey Medina, who moved from New Mexico to Minnesota (on purpose), and I am utterly entranced.

So much good stuff.

What's been inspiring you lately?

acorns from an Oak

A little bit of fun. Wool acorns in an...Oak.

A quarter a piece for the curious soul who encounters this gumball machine in The Crossing Arts Gift Shop. They would be pretty easy to overlook, assuming that they were regular gumballs, but I'm hoping some people will give it a closer look.

Day 7 stone

Day 7 draws to a close. A drop of golden sun at the end of a glorious day.

I spent much of my day working on a project but couldn't resist making dandelion stem bracelets and playing in the grass with my youngest on this cool but sunny day.

I feel a sense of accomplishment and it's a good thing.

arts-filled

 What an arts-filled week I've had.

  Aside from my day job with an arts non-profit, and my usual stone-making, I had the opportunity to take a felting workshop from the Textile Center, attend a wonderful event at Great River Arts in Little Falls, and celebrate local artist Greg Rosenberg, whose amazing agate lamps and stained glass now grace our local library.

Next week I'll help hang the artwork of schoolchildren in our gallery, attend a class with my kids where they'll paint cool fish, and then attend a block printing class by Carla Benjamin.

Whew!  There'll be hardly any time to do laundry!  (she says, not at all sad)

My life is not all art, of course, but it certainly is a wonderful part of it.

Have a great weekend all.  I hope art finds you too.

a few good hours in the Crossing Arts Alliance Sales & Gift Gallery

Yesterday I spent a few hours volunteering at the Crossing Arts Alliance Sales & Gift Gallery in town.  The Crossing Arts Alliance , located in the Franklin Arts Center,  was once a Jr. High School.  In fact, my husband ran through those halls at one time.  It is now home to artists' shops, galleries, dance studios, and artists' apartments and is a real gem in the community. 

photo by Artspace.org

I brought along a stone to stitch on during the quiet times and stationed myself at the counter, smiling at my surroundings.  

Paintings adorning the walls, pottery and wood bowls begging for closer inspection, shibori scarves in gem-like colors, jewelry, sculpture, bags, hats, pine needle baskets propped up on old chalkboard trays...  It was a nice place to spend the day, tucked in among the local artistry.

I fell in love with this 'Two-Holer' vase by my neighbor Haddie Hadacheck.  It wants to come home with it, it told me so.

I thought this oil painting was especially lovely too, especially when flanked by a silk scarf, pine needle basket, and pottery.

The artist behind that amazing chest of drawers - Mark Munson - stopped in briefly at the shop.  He recently had a show at the Q Gallery , also located in the FAC, and I got to see more of his work there.  Such fine woodworking in a really unique style.

What's this?  Mushrooms, wood bowls, and pottery?  Yes please!

This artist, Carolyn Abbot, had these amazing pleated silk shibori scarves on display and a few naturally-dyed scarves too.  Gorgeous stuff.

I'll be sharing some more photos of these pieces and more on the Crossing Arts Alliance facebook page.  If you look closely you might catch a photo of me behind the counter on there.  If you're ever in the area, make a little time to stop in there and look around, and if I'm in the Sales Gallery please come say hi.

Happy Friday!

conversations with the residents

Yesterday you may have caught a glimpse of something I've been working on.  That spiky little guy is my latest textural stone and what I'm calling one of my "conversations with the residents".

Often when I'm out woods-wandering I'll find little mementos left by the woods-dwellers.  Some of these are not things I want to bring home (ahem) but sometimes I can't help but wonder what I can make with some of these found treasures.

A tuft of deer hair, a turkey feather, a couple of porcupine quills...

I've been holding on to these and waiting for the right project.  I like the mix of textures and the idea of combining found natural materials with cultivated natural materials.

I think I also like them because they're a little strange.

These little guys will be in my shop tomorrow, along with another set or two of textural stones. 

lil fish studios : shop

Have a great day, everybody.

Checking in on the Acorn Rainbow - October 2009

A month ago I started my little acorn project. I made a small offering upon a moss-covered oak stump in order to watch its progress. I checked in on my little circular rainbow of wool acorns on this rainy October morning and saw more change than I had expected.

I'm not sure what has been moving the acorns, likely a squirrel or other nosy-body animal, but I'm curious how they managed to arrange the acorns in a line. I'm also curious whether they've eaten the blue and yellow acorns or if they're lining a nest somewhere. Maybe they were hauled off by a curious furry visitor who just had to show his friends what he found in the woods today. "Dude! Check this thing out."

The orange acorn appeared to have tumbled off the edge of the stump and lays partially covered by moss and leaves but the yellow and blue are nowhere to be seen.

I can't wait to see how this progresses.

See you in a month, little acorns.

Making the time

Ah, summertime. I remember summertime as a kid, sleeping in, running around unsupervised, causing minor mayhem, kissing boys, and growing freckles. I remember feeling so free and eventually tiring of the freedom and wishing for school to start again. These days the option to sleep in and run around unsupervised isnt' one I'm afforded. I have, however, been MAKING the time to take some time for me each day. I need my creative time, it's my vitamin.

I sat down to paint the other night, and as always, didn't have a plan for my painting. As I started to manipulate the paint, I began to see a meadow and remembered a time when driving down a country road, we had pulled over so we could run through a field of grass, just like Laura Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie. We took the time to be goofy, destination be damned. I miss that sort of detour. It seems now that it's just priority one to get to where we need to go. Stopping to run through tall grass would throw off the schedule horribly, would dirty our knees, and cover us with bugs. Or would it? Perhaps we need more silliness and simple pleasures in our lives. Let's all stop the car and run through the meadow and share a good laugh. Hold my hand, here we go.

Carving a new niche

If there's one thing that Minnesota has in abundance, it's sand and rock. And well, sandy rocks. And mosquitos, but that's besides the point. I've been picking up rocks since I was wee. I still have boxes of rocks that I collected as a kid and polished in my trusty Thumler's tumbler. Oh how my mother hated that tumbler. It mysteriously disappeared sometime during my adolescence and I have no doubt she tossed it in the dumpster when I wasn't looking.

Now that I'm a mom, and still a rock-picker, I was only too happy to buy my 8 year old a tumbler of his own. Together we gather rocks and polish them up. It's great fun. Probably more fun for me than for him though. We have found numerous agates in our "yard" and they are bumping noisily in the barrel as we speak. I say "yard" as we haven't laid down sod yet and our yard actually looks more like a beach with trees than a yard. Which (finally) brings me to my point. In our yard-beach, we have not only the aforementioned tumbling agates, but loads of river rocks worn smooth so many millions of years ago. With this plethora of natural material, I was moved to start creating with them.

And the carved stone magnet was born.

It's fun for me, and it keeps my husband from complaining about yet another box of supplies in the basement. So, I've been happily grinding down my diamond bits, filing the carvings to perfection or rather intentional imperfection, and sealing the stone with beeswax that I purchased from the very nice catsewg on etsy. Check her out for her great deal on beeswax and some other nifty items.

Working in circles

So, it occurs to me that I've become mildly obsessed with circles. I've kind of realized for a while now that I'm drawn to circular shapes in art, but lately it's moved past "interested" to "OK, back away from the compass". I doodle circles. I paint circles. I paint circular egg cups. I've also been crafting with eggs, which though not a true circular shape, close enough. All of this makes me wonder if this is a womanly trait. I recently received feedback on an item I sold in my Etsy shop in which my wonderful buyer (the fabulous girl behind Skin and Tonic, previously mentioned in this blog) mentioned that she too, is fascinated with circles. What gives? Is it the organic shape? Is it reminiscent of the roundness of our curves? Why do circles feel so comforting? I suppose it makes sense that we encircle someone with our arms when we hug and our mouths make little circles when we kiss. Do men prefer circles or the more geometric squares? Who knows.

But here's a circle-themed poem that I committed to memory so many years ago, for your enjoyment:

Outwitted

"He drew a circle to keep us out. Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win. We drew a circle that took him in." ~Edwin Markham