Kimberly Kelly Santini (friend and fellow artist extraordinaire) and I hit the road (only pit stopping for coffee) yesterday morning for MVP Metro Club with a van full of panels, artwork, and power tools! Grand Rapids proved to be a very nice city offering wonderful old architecture and clean sidewalks!
the exterior of our ArtPrize venue, MVP Metro Club on Fountain St.
one of the many main buildings in town dedicated to the event
ArtPrize is a HUGE event, it has pretty much taken over the city, with 163 venues displaying the work of over 1700 artists! Every where we turned there were banners and graphics with the logo and that wonderful vibrating line pattern, the city is buzzing with anticipation of the opening on the 19th.
the lobby of MVP Metro Club, unpacking and hanging
Unpacking and setting up art on the panels that Kim and her husband made to hang collages in front of the glass block wall that MVP Metro Club has in their main lobby. They came up with a pretty amazing solution which ultimately looked really good! We spent the day going up and down the ladder with power tools and wire cutters.
hanging with art cards
I used my mad graphic design skills to make us individual artwork tags and bios to hang on the wall with the work. Thanks to Katie, my monitor from the Traverse City workshop, we had them professionally printed and mounted to foam core. We are BIG TIME now!
how professional do we look?
We spent a long time installing the artwork, getting our pieces to flow and look exactly as we wanted them to. Our wall of combined work offers a bunny and some koi fish that we each did our own take on, style and media.
our wall of collaboration
Check out the ArtPrize website to learn more about voting, and the event itself. If you are anywhere near Grand Rapids, MI you might just want to make the trip.
Case-Mate announced their new custom made iPhone 5 cases this week and I'm happy to follow suit. I've put together some of my best selling designs and added some new ones for the new case.
CASES ARE NON RETURNABLE, they are custom made to order
the VIBE Case
This two-piece case redirects your speaker for an increased sound protection, making its presence known loud and clear.
the BARELY THERE Case
This is the classic slim case from Case-Mate has an extremely slim profile that showcases more of your iPhone. The form fit covers back and corners, and offers an impact resistant, flexible plastic shell with access to all ports and functions.
Koi / 20x24 / collage of hand painted paper on birch panel
I am getting ready to ship a sampling of my Noah's Ark Series to Art Prize in Grand Rapids, MI where I will be displaying in the same venue with Kimberly Kelly Santini. Santini and I have created a couple of pieces with the same subject matter to demonstrate how artists have their own style and interpretation of things, even when working from the same subject. Kim's Koi Pond inspired me to move further back from the subject and get more abstract in my execution.
Flopsy / 24x20 / collage of hand painted papers on birch panel
Santini and I both painted Koi and Flopsy. I just Love Kim's version of the rabbit that I enjoyed painting as well. We worked from different reference photos provided by the owner (thank you Heather!)
my voting number and title card for the exhibition
I will post information on voting as it becomes available but you can get started by setting up online now. With an ArtPrize.org account you can easily search, save and share your favorites. To get started click the "Collections" tab once you've logged in. You may find my work on the ArtPrize website here.
After California, I was home for three days and then headed straight to Michigan to teach a collage workshop in Traverse City with the Art Centerthere. I had never been to Michigan before in my life and let me tell you, it's beautiful.
Grand Traverse Bay, swam here to train for my upcoming triathlon
Traverse City State Park, running here to continue my training
Kim picked me up at the Flint airport and even held up a sign with my name on it so I would not fail to recognize my online friend of over two years. She looked just like she did on Skype and in photos, so it was not hard to pick her out at all. We hit the road to Traverse City right from the airport and spent the drive catching up.
At Left Foot Charlie's, drinking wine with Kim
The Workshop
The workshop group was amazing and we had a wonderful time painting papers and making collages. The monitor, Katie was incredible. SHE's the one who text me in LA and told me to go to Nova Color paint factory. She did an incredible job planning lunches, arranging the room, entertaining me and Kim, and keeping everyone happy. WOW!
At the Cantina eating Mexican food with Katie
Painting papers is always everyone's favorite part of my class. We get crazy with the paint and the papers and we make all kinds of textures and patterns and colors.
Getting crazy with my bare feet
You gotta love a mess to love this part of the process
blue blue blue, and the glitter resists the paint
On day two and three, we get rolling with collage and everyone is quiet in concentration. This is when I get the best photos. This class space was in an old museum, part of the zoo originally, so we had TONS of space for everyone to spread out at their own table.
Kim is deep in concentration
Jana is enjoying peeling glue off her fingers!
On Sunday night after the workshop ended, Kim and I hit the road to her home in Lake Orion, so that I could meet her family and hang in her hood for a few days. I was so fortunate to be able to take Kim's journalling class after she took my collage class! How cool is that? Kim's great at inspiring her students and getting the ball rolling with exercises and ideas on how to use words.
Visiting Lake Orion
Kim inspiring with colored pencil
One lesson was to write down a bunch of words that you had in your head or thought you could work with on your journal page, it was like a stream of consciousness. This was a great way to get the creative juices flowing and the ideas coming to the surface. We then made sentences with the words.
Words on my mind ...
Playing with materials I don't normally use was exciting
Listening to Kim inspire and watching her teach was a lot of fun.
I really enjoyed being a student. I loved learning and trying something new. I used markers and gel pens and watercolor and it was lots of fun and I found it to be very relaxing at the same time. I was quiet and into creating my page. I did tend to go back to the techniques I am most comfortable with however....
My journal page! Collage and cows I can never escape it seems...
Spending time with Kim and Co. in Lake Orion and Detroit was stellar. I really enjoyed our day in Detroit at the farmers market and Henry the Hatter!Driving around Detroit was interesting as much of the city is in bad shape, but parts are coming back too. And the Detroit Institute of Art is AMAZING!
Detroit Farmer's Market
I can never get enough fresh fruits and veggies
Detroit Farmers Market offers much Michigan grown produce
The Heidelberg Project
Another place we visited was the Heidelberg Project. I had blogged about this before, after learning about it through some art photographs hanging on the wall in a cafe in Asheville, NC. The Heidelberg Project is an amazing outdoor community art environment. Recycled materials and found objects salvaged from the streets of Detroit tell stories about current issues plaguing society. Check out the video, it explains a lot!
The polka dotted house photo was the image that started it all for me
Sidewalk art
Yours truly in the dotted car
Making a statement
Giving advice
Kim and I re-create the photo taken by Florence of Florence and the Machine when she visited a few months back
The Caped Crusader and I sign the yellow house
The burt timbers from a house reminded me of Alberto Giacometti sculpture
The Detroit Institute of Art
Another place we visited was the DIA. What an amazing collection of modern art! I couldn't get enough of the Picasso and Matisse current exhibition. We spent a lot of time examining the drawings of both great artists before wandering off for lunch in the cafe, an iPad tour of the Diego Rivera murals and being swept off our feet an amazing collection of modern art. Oh I was in heaven! If you get to Detroit, you MUST visit this amazing museum, and plan to spend all day.
Kim and I and The Princess were even lucky enough to take in a glove finger puppet drop in workshop where we were able to bring out our inner artist!
Showing off our creations
My finger puppet, glue sticks are tricky
Kim and The Princess take a minute to pose for a pic
Hanging Out at Home
After a lot of running around, we had a lot of fun baking pies from fresh cherries and blueberries as I demonstrated my MAD crust making skills for the family. Behold, it's not as hard as it looks, folks say "easy as pie" for a reason... Except for the "over / under" of lattice work, I needed The Princess to keep me straight with that challenge!
I felt right at home!
Cherry pie with vegan crust
Blueberry pie with very confusing lattice work
The life of the artist is not all fun and paint, no! I ran carpool to football and dance with Kim, and we took her kids to middle school and high school orientation. I was happy to tag along with similar activities to what we have at our house! It's a balancing act, being a working mother.
The Caped Crusader at High School orientation
The Princess getting her photo ID taken
Yours Truly and the Caped Crusader at the HS pool
Getting in a Workout (or two)
Through it all I was able to maintain my training for the upcoming October triathlon. I couldn't have done it without help though. Kim was up very early one morning to watch over me and make sure I did not drown in the Grand Traverse Bay. The Caped Crusader took me to the high school pool for lap swimming. A borrowed bike entertained me on the bike trail for 20-miles, twice! And they let me run on my own, nobody wanted to join me for that, I asked!!!!
Michigan has a great bike trail network
I was able to run and bike through some beautiful vistas
I'll be back...
I had a great time in Michigan, and would safely say I'd do it again. Oh! I am doing it again. I'll be back in just about three weeks for Art Prize in Grand Rapidswhere Kim Santini and I are exhibiting our work together at the MVP Metro Clubin downtown Grand Rapids. That story will be next, stay tuned. You never know where life will take you, it's a journey and you have to be willing to ride.
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