Midwest Collage Society opening reception

My daughter Tammy Deck and I pose next to my collage/assemblage entry "With No Forethought". Tammy is wearing one of her hand felted, attention getting scarves.  There was so much interest in her felting process that she was asked by our education chair to do a demo for our group, possibly in the fall. This new exhibit will be at the Addison Center for The Arts until April 7, 2012.

Art in Public Spaces

Yesterday I took these two collage pieces of art to the Plainfield Township Offices at 22525 W Lockport St, Plainfield, IL. The Plainfield Art League members display some of their art work at this facility so workers, and visitors can enjoy being surrounded with original art on a daily basis.

The art can be purchased by contacting the artist directly.

Dream

Flora

Another great frame

Another great frame found in the garage!! This one didn't need much at all, just a bit of gilt rubbed on the corners and it was ready to compliment this work of art.
 "he said to Simon" now on exhibit at the Plainfield Art League gallery. It is a candidate for selection to the Best of the Best exhibit presented by the Alliance of Fine Art. This will be their 19th annual Fine Art Exhibit held at the Mayslake Peabody Estate in the spring.

Playing with my BLOG, again

I spent the last 2 hours making some changes to the layout and some of the content on my BLOG. Blogger seems to be friendlier now, of course it’s been 2 years since I began this journey. WOW, I was really surprised when I realized I’d passed that landmark. I’m also a little more techno saavy, and more courageous, then I was way back then. One of the things I’ve learned is to invest a good deal of time looking at how other people have done theirs, if nothing else, I learn what I don’t like. I’m not finished yet, but needed to take a break from the computer and go visit the Naperville Art League to see the new exhibit. Hope to get a good photo of my piece in that gallery setting. 

Paper, Process & Perception

Cut & Run

Here’s a quick shot of this new collage that’s going to the Naperville Art League for members exhibit with the theme “Running with Scissors'. Gotta go now, more about it in the next post.

BLOG update

as usual, this is not going as well or as quickly as I had hoped. Part of the problem is not knowing where to find photos when they don’t automatically come up in the pictures folder. Also, some of my photos are on my laptop so I will have to move them to the “bigger, better, faster” computer.  In the meantime higher priorities surface, (isn’t that always the way)?. I finished working on mailing out new member materials for the Midwest Collage Society, and now have to work on new art for upcoming exhibits. I need a personal assistant, any volunteers out there?  Note the description, VOLUNTEER!!

That’s all for now, have to go apply matte medium to the collage for the Naperville Art League exhibit, the theme is “Running with Scissors”, I couldn’t come up with an idea for the longest time. I even went on-line to see what I could find, guess what there’s a book and a movie with that title. Didn’t like what that was about, so went back to mulling about what to do or to just forget it. I hope I’ll have time to take a photo before I take it on Saturday.

FLORA takes 2nd place

Currently on Exhibit at Norris Gallery, St.Charles, IL

Alliance of Fine Art Award Winners Exhibit

Today is the drop-off day for this award winner to be delivered for “The Best of The Best” exhibit.

To be eligible, a piece must have won an award in a member league’s show within the last two years.

“FOUNDS FOR DOTTIE” 16 x 20 Collage/Assemblage

This has become a very special piece of art for me and is NFS. I created it for a dear friend several years ago and it hung in her bedroom until her untimely death. Her family, an exceedingly gracious group, returned it to me to keep in my personal collection. Having it seen and appreciated by others makes it even more favored.

 Alliance of Fine Art

Established in 1962, the Alliance of Fine Art, a non-profit organization, is an alliance of several artists’ leagues in Illinois. 

Our mission is to promote fine art awareness and appreciation in our community, support art education in our schools, share resources and provide educational as well as exhibition opportunities for artists. This includes the fine art of painting, watercolor, collage, photography, pastels, colored pencil, drawings, sculptures, acrylics, mixed media, ink and oils, and more.

Mayslake Peabody Estate

The AFA:

• comprises thirteen member art leagues

• organizes educational and marketing workshops for artists 

• organizes juried art exhibitions

• organizes juried art fairs

• funds high school student art scholarships

• shares and disseminates information among the member art leagues

2008 Exhibit Winner photos

Collage on the go

I will be working on my new collage art at the Plainfield Art League today, Friday March 19th . If you are interested in seeing more of this technique, and live in the area, please come by and watch. I can visit with you and work at the same time.  If you require further enticement, you can also enjoy the new members exhibit, “Buds & Blossoms”. A link to a slide show of this exhibit is available on the website. I’ll be there from 12 – 4 pm.

Framed art ready for gallery art exhibition

“Flora” 10 X 13 Mixed Media Collage

Here’s the framed collage I just finished in time to hang in the upcoming Plainfield Art League Exhibit, Buds and Blossoms. In this art work I met my objective of using my own photo images with many different methods. The photos are of a flowering tree I have in my garden which was a very prolific bloomer last summer. It’s extremely satisfying to use these photos to profile it in this manner.

“Ready For The Dance” 10 X 13 Photo

Here’s an 8 X 10 lab printed enlargement of one of the photos used in the collage. They are presented in matching LIFESTYLES frames.

Buds & Blossoms

Working on my entry/or entries for the next Plainfield Art League Exhibit has become an interesting creative challenge. The majority of my work being non-objective/abstract, call it what you will, has caused finding or creating a work for this theme, to put me in a state of unrest for several weeks. So today I’ve spent a good deal of time poring over my photography inventory.  I LOVE flowers, and realize that one of the things I enjoy most about the work of Georgia O’Keefe, is the manner in which she brings us up close and personal to the individual flower so we can take the time to see and get to know it, much the same as being a friend takes time.  Ever since I got my digital camera with the real close-up zoom I have embraced the opportunity to take a zillion pictures and only need to pay for and keep the good ones.  But, I really wanted them printed huge, well no smaller that 8.5 X 11, and that gets a tad costly.

Well, the breakthrough for me is this new photo paper for my ink-jet printer. Really good results and the colors, I think, are permanent.  For quite sometime I’ve wanted to use my own photos in my collage work, but when I applied matte medium to the surface the inks always ran, so that needed more research and got put aside. I just printed a small test and coated it with medium. So far it looks good, no moving ink, yeah !!!

Well I got a little off track here, didn’t I? These are some photos from last summer that I just printed and will now have to decide which ones I want to dry mount and frame for the exhibit.  Whew, some days it just all works, doesn't it?

READY TO BLOOM   OPENING ACT

READY FOR THE DANCE

OPEN TO THE SUN

FINAL BOW

New Digs for Plainfield Art League

Well the computer stuff is really giving me the fits!!! So I figured I’d take a ride even though the snow is causing less than perfect driving conditions. Of course I live in the Chicago area, so what do I expect?
I’ve signed up to “mind the gallery”, this is a volunteer organization after all, beginning this Friday afternoon, the 29th., and every Friday thereafter. This new place is so spacious and wonderfully bright. I’ll take interior photos while I’m there on Friday, also will be there this Sat. afternoon.
I will bring work to do, and work to show and tell you about and even sell to you when you come by to visit.
I feel it’s a good thing for those of us who have home studios to get out and into other working environments occasionally. Particularly those of us without a family around to distract us from intensivity. That’s a word I just made up, but I think it fits the situation. 
I can get way to tangled up in trying to resolve a computer problem that I make myself a bit crazy!! Actually, having this BLOG helps, someone to talk to, you are out there reading, right?
I feel as thou my left brain/right brain are battling one another for attention sometimes. It’s gets all conflicted in there.  All too intense!! OK, I’m going to post this now and go make a nice hot cup of tea.

Plainfield Art League

Our Grand Opening and exhibit in our new space, was extremely well attended.  Here are the photos our Exhibit Director/acting President, Tina Storey,  took as the artwork arrived at check-in.  These do show reflections and are mostly meant for documentation and brief overview, if you see one you really like be sure and let us know and/or visit the gallery for closer inspection. 

Our “official” photographer/webmaster, Mike Bessler, took many  great people shots including the young music artists that played for us the entire evening.

We had many yummy goodies displayed very artfully by our hospitality committee and Chairman, Cheryl Carmen. She even baked and artiscally frosted dozens of bite size cupcakes and still found time to paint an awesome landscape for this exhibit.

I’ll be “minding the gallery” this Saturday, January 30, from 1-4 if you want to stop by to have a look and chat.

no critique’

just personal observation.  I used my lunch break from computer work to watch the 47 minute running time DVD about Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948).  This “In-depth look at the life and works of the great master” is distributed by KULTUR international films and bears this ISBN:0-7697-8662-6.
I really like this guys work !!! Particularly the collage & assemblage pieces. Totally mixed-media with loads of “trash” which we now describe as ephemera.  This is quite a detailed look at his work and includes good close-up and detail photos. It was filmed during an exhibition of his work at the George Pompidou Museum.
The docent spoke French, and the English translator was easy to understand but seemed to me out of synch and just wrong.  The really huge surprise for me was the actual small size of many of the pieces for which I was glad to observe hanging close enough to one another to get that proportional comparison.
My one complaint is the classical music that I felt was loud, in some cases inappropriate and distracting.
I will watch this one again, as I have it on loan till Feb.9th and will see what other pearls of wisdom I can glean from it.  I may even purchase this one for my personal library.

Mayslake Peabody Estate

I’ve lived in the Southwest suburbs of Chicago since 1982 and did not know about this unique treasure until I needed to find out where to drop off my artwork for the Midwest Collage Society members exhibit “Memories”.  I LOVE THE INTERNET because it’s pretty much the first place I go for info these days on practically anything and everything.  That being said, I looked up Mayslake for directions on how to get there, (20 minutes from my home) and was enthralled to learn all about this historic property.

Here’s the link for the history info, and then take this next link to learn about the restoration plan.  The MCS exhibit is housed in Mayslake Hall, as have been and will continue to be many other unusual and exciting art exhibits.  The Alliance of Fine Art, 18th Annual Best of the Best (which my artwork “Founds for Dottie”, juried into), will exhibit in April.

Their Mission Statement; ”To promote leadership and the ethical stewardship of our natural and cultural heritage and to encourage lifelong educational and cultural enrichment within the context of a historic environment”, with programming ranging from summer camps for at-risk youth and teacher-training plus more, more, more.

So here’s the link to Happenings, which describes the many specialized workshops, classes, family events and activities.  If you enjoy JAZZ music there are concerts in the JAZZ Salon, classical theater performances and so many other offerings, that you need to get on the mailing list for their newsletter.

Below is they’re description of available meeting facilities:

Meetings/Workshops
Whether you are planning your company meeting, retreat or presentation. Mayslake Hall offers a unique and stimulating environment. We are able to accommodate small groups of 10 or larger groups up to 200. We can also offer additional event services such as coffee and tea breaks for your meetings.

By the way, our collage exhibit is awesome, go see it if you can.

90 + pieces of art

today is the Opening for the "Memory" Exhibit at the Mayslake Peabody Estate, in Oak Brook.  Laura Lein Svencner says  the Midwest Collage Society has over 90 pieces on exhibit there. I’m anxious to see this, and how my 2 pieces integrate with the others. 4-6 PM, hope to see you there.

With the warmest thanks to Schulz Properties and Michael Guinta we have a new home

Our new Plainfield Art League location is just south of Renwick on 59, in the Vintage Harvest Commercial space.

Our new space is divided into two separate spaces. The front will be used for our gallery exhibits and the back room will be used for classes, workshops and our monthly artist demonstrations.

Another benefit is that the location provides more visibility to the public. We also will have ample parking for our members and visitors!

Now we are ready for our first exhibit! The exhibit theme is “Fields and Streams”. We will have an open house on Saturday, January 23rd, 6 - 9 PM, to celebrate and show off our new space.

Depth Charge

Depth Charge - Mixed Media on Paper 30 X 22

This piece will be on exhibit at The Plainfield Art League 1/16 - 3/10.

Collage Exhibit at Peabody Estate "Memories"

Marianne - Mixed Media 16 X 20

Escape Into the Night - Mixed Media 22 X 30

Lots of great collage work to be seen in this exhibit.
Mayslake Peabody Estate