triple crown!

Genna and I are back home after nearly a month on the road. This was our longest trip yet...3500 total miles driven. We'd like to say a huge thank you to all of our friends and clients in DesMoines, Omaha, Denver, and Madison that made this our best tour yet.

Here we are at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha:



Same place, Genna with a giant hypno head:



Same place, me riding a pencil:



Genna running from a T-rex on his birthday (I wish I had video of this as right after this moment his funny face turned to a fearful face as he went running out of control down the hill, eating it at the bottom. He wasn't hurt.):



and us in the Rocky Mountains:



I'm also delighted to report that we won an award at all three of our festivals! Genna's calling it the 'triple crown'. Best of show in DesMoines, Juror's Award in Denver, and an Invitational award in Madison. The best thing about this is that we're now jury exempt for those shows next year. All of my festival friends out there will know how much this means. The jury process for these shows is so competitive that it's not at all unusual to have a great show in a city one year and then wait several years to get back in. So, yay!

Our other big news is that while we were away, a full studio opened up at the Flat Iron Studios building here in Greenville. Our good friend and artist Kent Ambler had graciously offered to split his space there with us so we already had plans to join the Flat Iron family, but we're even more excited that we'll now have a full gallery/studio space to play around with. We'll start our move in process tomorrow so I'll have lots more soon about our new partners, future plans, and the before/after of our new place.

"Memento" at Wynn Bone

Big thanks to gallerist Wynn Bone who is hosting our solo show "Memento" through the end of this month. Wynn's gallery is a lovely, light-filled, second floor space on Main Street in downtown Annapolis. If you're in the area and looking for the show, you'll find it above the fine jewelry shop 'Casa Nova'.

Wynn did a beautiful job installing the show, giving each piece plenty of room to breathe. My favorite part of the show was the treatment of the small works. Due to the tiny amount of real estate we're used to having at festivals, I'm used to seeing my little babies in clusters of as many as 15 at a time. Wynn hung only 3 of the 6 or 7 small pieces we brought, giving each one plenty of elbow room. I loved the effect of this...making each little piece seem like a jewel.

We've been working with Wynn for over a year but this was our first time at the gallery. I was really taken with the stable of artists he has put together. Each artist seemed entirely different on first glance, yet there was a strong connection amongst them. It's hard to say exactly how to name this connection, but I think it has to do with technique and surface quality. Each artist (figurative, abstract, landscape) had a unique process for layering a lush, deep surface that hooks you into long-time-looking.

Building a strong 'artist family' at a gallery has to be in the top 3 most important jobs of a gallerist. Several clients at the show mentioned to us that they collect from almost all of Wynn's artists and that they trust Wynn to bring the goods every show. Check out his artist catalog online at www.wynnbonegallery.com.

Kudos, Wynn.

P.S. I loved his dog.

feeling strangely fine

We're about two weeks away from launching our fall travel schedule...7 shows in two months. We've done it before, 7 shows in 7 weeks last fall, but all things considered this is definitely the most we've ever had at stake. First up is the Sausalito Art Festival in early September. Just getting ourselves and all of our goodies there and back is one of the trickiest (and priciest) numbers we've ever taken on. Shortly after that will come The Plaza in Kansas City which we've been shooting for for years. At the very end of the season will come Savannah, which has been our best of the year two of the last three years.

What work I complete by next Thursday will be all we have for the fall season as we won't have time between shows to create new inventory.

Am I freaking out? I'm totally not! or maybe just a little bit. I have enough work to fill at least four booths, but I always worry I don't have exactly the right thing. The right combination of work so that it presents cohesively, the right type of work for the area we're traveling to, the right balance of large and small, the right color for the moment, yikes.

I'm trying to practice my 'allowing' and be OK with what I have. I'm going to post all of the new work next week before we hit the road, be sure to check out the sneak preview!

(Ya, that's me with a big shark. I thought it would be a good metaphor, like me taming the savage beast that is my fear of inadequacy. I actually have a painting I want to show you, but maybe I'll get around to that tomorrow.)

des moinesian progress

Executing a move that could now arguably be called 'pulling a Signe', I brought us to Iowa for the Des Moines Art Festival a full week ahead of schedule. Now I think it's maybe a tiny bit funny, but the moment of discovery was truly horrible. I'm not a careless person by nature...I never miss a deadline and am rarely late...but I'm HORRIBLE with dates. I couldn't tell you right now when my anniversary is (don't tell Genna).

I told Genna this could have happened for a reason (meaning, like, karmically) and he said "Ya, because you're a crappy organizer." Two-shay. Luckily for me, it's World Cup time, and Genna forgave me as soon as he figured out how much soccer he was going to get to watch.

Since we hadn't made it ALL the way to Des Moines, we cooled our heels in lovely downtown Peoria IL FOR A WEEK. Here's Genna and Jerky at the riverfront...



and Jerky and me in the same spot:



That is a festival behind me, but we weren't in it for once.

Here is our Des Moines booth (a week later):




Nice, right? And here's my view of the newly opened John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park from the back of our booth:



Genna behind the booth with his nice new haircut (thanks to the JCPenney salon at the Peoria Mall), next to my current drug of choice, the Diet MtnDew...



...and here's me:



Here's the backside:



Sunday morning we decided to switch it up and change to a big wall of smalls in the front:




Next time I take show pictures, I'll show you more of the 'ugly truth' part instead of the 'dressed up pretty' part shown here. Des Moines had more of the 'ugly truth' part than most shows. Weather during the first two days was scorching. Friday and Saturday ran to 10pm, by which time crazy grumpiness had set it. Overnight both Fri. and Sat. there were terrible, windy storms that had us awake and wondering if our work would be there the next day. Saturday morning brought a pulled apart booth, complete with nearly top-less tent and wet work. Sunday was windy enough to give me stomach pains. Ah, the care-free life of the artist!

So, two more weeks (I think. Maybe I should check?) and we'll be headed to Wisconsin. Wish me luck!

accidental vacations

While Genna and I are on the road almost constantly, we rarely vacation. We're gone so much that I tend to want to stay put when I can. Genna will say, "Let's take a break and go on a trip." and I say "I'm too tired to go anywhere, let's just stay home and not work for a week."

Obviously, this is a flawed plan. I go in to the studio for this or that little reason and the next thing I know I've worked another full day...or there's cleaning to do at home...or somebody's calling for VAAL business that needs attention.

So, the only way I actually take vacation time is if the universe interveens for me. Last year, we pulled up to the show site for the Port Clinton Art Fest in suburban Chicago to find that the show was to be the following weekend. Oh oh. Genna was in the middle of his huge Kia project, so he had to fly home for the week. Nastiya and I got the accidental vay-kay...we drove to my grandmother's in Michigan and had a blissfully peaceful FULL WEEK away from the studio. My mother flew in and took us on a canoe ride down the AuSable River (she grew up in a canoe livery on said river). It was the very best trip...lots of girl talk, bonding, sharing, make-overs, pillow fights. I hope Genna isn't reading this because he had to go home and work the whole week and still might be just a little mad.

The reason I've brought this up now is that the universe just handed me an even better accidental vacation. Genna was waiting online for Nastiya to get home(home to her Ukranian home)on Thursday so they could have their weekly Skype chat. While waiting, he decided to check in with a high school friend whose kids were waiting for work and travel visas for this summer. Turns out that their visas had come through just the day before and they were on their way from Kiev to Atlanta the next day.

Long story short (too late, right?), Genna offered to pick them up at the airport and drive them to Destin, Fl. Voila, week at the beach here we come!