It's been a busy month...

...and it isn't over yet. The good news is that the camera and the computer are speaking to each other again. No more going to Bartell's to download from the camera to a CD and then back home to save from the CD to the 'puter so I can use my photos. So I'll be able to show you some pretty nice paper beads later this evening.

Meanwhile go to the Tacoma Art Museum website and read about the Iron Artist event. I just sent in an application...keep your fingers crossed. See you later.

5 Yrs. old: Wonderment

Here's the cake that Lena, Berkeley and I made for the Tacoma Art Museum's Building Birthday Bash. It was constructed of packing tape, recycled plastic, ephemera, found objects, telephone wire, blister packaging from the Dollar Store, old Christmas tree garlands and some hot glue. Oh, and marbles. I've probably forgotten something. One of the found phrases on the bottom layer is "5 Yrs. old: Wonderment" so we chose that as the title of the piece.
Click for larger views and lots of detail. See the other cakes in the slide show to the right.

The bottom layer is cut out words and phrases about art and seeing, mostly from magazines and museum programs. The middle is paper dolls dancing around the art in the museum. Look close and you'll see art by Chuck Close, Renoir and Dale Chihuly - all currently on exhibit at TAM - inside the circle of dancers. The top layer shows the wonderful building itself and its place in Tacoma and the region, set into 12 blister pack windows. (Thank you , Lena!) The candles are paint brushes and the little telephone wire dog is a miniature Leroy, the giant cardboard dog sculpture that lives in the lobby of the museum. (Thank you, Berkeley!)

We had already decided to use the cutout dancers when we realized that the slogan for the museum is "Connecting People Through Art." How about that!

Cake the day after...

The Birthday Bash was a ball, and the cake turned out great, if I do say so myself. I took a lot of pictures and will put some up later today.

Thanks to Lena and Berkeley for your input and work.

More Cake

Two of us got a pretty good start on the Birthday Cake project last Friday. Yesterday I went to Tacoma to take photos of the museum building and elsewhere around town. Had a bit of a setback when I got home and couldn't get the pictures to upload tot he 'puter. Apparently it has decided not to recognize the camera as a bona fide piece of equipment. Couldn't figure out what was wrong, and it was too late to do much about it so I took the evening off. Today I went to Bartell's and got the pictures on a disk, so now I'm Photoshopping and printing. All of which is boring as can be, I'm sure, but mostly that's an update for folks who might be wondering when we'll be working on it again...and that will be tomorrow, Wednesday, in the evening. (I might be there during the day...call first.)

Let's (not) Eat Cake!

The Tacoma Art Museum has called for non-edible Art Cakes to celebrate the 5th anniversary of its beautiful permanent home. I'm pretty busy with that for now, but I'm not sharing any details yet. Will post pictures after May 3. Meanwhile if any of you regulars want to come by this evening or some other time (call me) to work on it please do. We'll make our own party out of it!

Three of us had a nice quiet evening on Third Friday, sitting in the studio watching the blizzard. I do love that big wall of windows, even if I have to go to some lengths to keep the sunlight off the Stuff at times. It was beautiful.

Bras, Gelatin and Cats

Here are a few pictures from recent Art Parties in Room 206. Since Packing Tape Shoes I've been having fun with Packing Tape Bras; that's Berkeley and moi making gelatin prints, and those are some of Berkeley's wonderful Phone Wire Kitties. I'll see you all later, right now I have work to do.

First Tuesday tonight...

Sorry you folks on the mailing list didn't get a reminder this time...seems it came around awfully fast. Anyway - yes, the studio will be open to anyone who wants to drop in. It'll be a bit of a potluck this evening; we will be looking at samples and considering ideas for the next few gatherings. We might get started on Hats or Cats, or you can certainly come and cut rubber again (or for the first time.) Michelle Ward's April Art Crusade involves making stencils, and I have materials and tools to explore that as well. Come be Foolish!

See you after five.
Liisa

Time to Eat Words...

...your own or someone else's! Yes, tomorrow is International Edible Book Day. I am not making this up. IEBD is the creation of Judith A. Hoffberg and Béatrice Coron (a favorite paper and book artist of mine). Look here or here if you want to know more.

Rubber Fun

We had three people at Third Friday carving rubber stamps; Laurie, Lena and moi. First time for both if the other "L"s. Lena made a pretty little flower pot and left it behind at the studio. (If you don't come next time I'll bring it to you.) Laurie carved an image of birds...very cool. Reminds me of the Bremen Town Musicians. She has already posted a link to Michelle Ward's blog; rubber stamps is the theme project for the month of March. (I'll be going over there in a minute.)













I carved something I've been wanting/needing for a while: a fancy corner stamp. It turned out to be best to do it in two parts, that way I could cut the first side freehand and then stamp it on the rubber to get the other half. Does that make sense? The two halves can be stamped next to each other too, to get an interesting decorative element. Does that make sense? Well, the picture may help. Then I did a simple border that looks like little smiling Shmoos. My favorite thing to carve is heads/faces so I had to do another (shown here with some colored pencil embellishment), and then I carved up a few of the scraps that were left. Those turned out to be almost the best...they go together in all sorts of surprising ways. Typical. All in all a good evening, although the less said about the little bird, the better.

The rubber we used is called Safety-Kut ( yeah, I know, dumb name) and it's available online from the manufacturer. It's heavy stuff and the shipping really drives the price up, so if you can find it retail in your area you're better off getting it that way. In Seattle it's cheapest at the University Bookstore, but Daniel Smith has a better selection of sizes that I like, so I usually go there.

Home again.

We arrived late last night, and spent today (Thursday) getting back into the swing of things, and napping, and calling people. It's been quite a month and a half. We thank for your emails and words of encouragement during this stressful and sad time.

It feels good, if a little strange, to be back, and I am looking forward to Third Friday tomorrow - I need a project. I've missed my studio and my friends. Laurie mentioned rubber stamp carving, inspired by Art Crusade #18. Yes, yes...I love carving stamps, and what a great idea for a Friday evening! I went down to Dan Smith today and picked up a big slab of rubber and some extra Speedball #1 blades, so anyone who comes tomorrow and wants to can carve stamps. It really is easy - well, you can make it as difficult as you want to but it isn't necessary. Simple is wonderful - and easy. Even if you aren't interested in carving go visit Laurie's blog. It's full of beautiful things to look at and read. (That IS a very cool red purse!) And if you are interested in carving stamps, then check out Art Crusade #18. You may want to participate.

That's all for now... see you soon. I need to tall you about The Wedding and about Reading Frenzy and about the Best Coffee I've Ever Tasted. And I have a few words of advice for everyone who wants to listen. Now, if that isn't enough to get you to come back, I don't know what is!