Krampus Exchange with the Michael deMeng Workshop Junkies

For the first time I joined the annual Krampus exchange with the Michael deMeng Workshop Junkies.  This creative group of people meet at various locations and on-line to be trained by the man I call Master, Oh My Master.

In a weird coincidence, my Krampus was sent to California to Lois Inman Engle who was busy making and sending this Krampus to me.  Thank you, Lois.

Photo by me

Photo by Lois

Photo by Lois

My Krampus started with a Slim Jim advertising mug that I bought at an antique store in Cedarburg, WI.

With some Aves clay I was able to Krampus up the face and add the needed horns.

Then comes the fun part:  layers of paint.

It was at this point that I realized I might have created a Krampus paint brush holder for Lois so I decided to add some Paint Brushes Gone Bad in the style of Master, Oh My Master.

And so, to all my exchange buddies and the very special Lois--Happy Holiday Season!

2016 Milwaukee High School of the Arts Exhibition

I was pleased to be invited to be an exhibiting artist at the Milwaukee High School of the Arts (2300 West Highland Avenue) during December of 2016.

Besides have a gallery to fill for the month of December, I was asked to speak to a number of classes about my found object assemblage.  

In putting the exhibition together, it occurred to me that this was a ten year retrospective of my career as an artist.

Here is the gallery and the pieces within the exhibition.

Wizard of Odds ArtVenture with Michael deMeng: Day Seven and Eight

Wizard of Odds ArtVenture

New Orleans, LA

January, 2016

Saturday, January 23, 2016

The morning was spent in furious deliberate art making in order to get to the point of the whole workshop:  the critique from our fearless leader.

OK, seriously:  he does do a wonderful critique of our work.  Here are the class efforts:

With all of our thanks to our fearless leader.

Some of us went with Big Mike on a cemetery tour in the afternoon.  There is a lot of nonsense about the cemeteries in NOLA that mostly is tied to St. Louis #1 which is in the city and is now a cemetery that requires a guide.  We visited some of the other cemeteries which are quiet, peaceful and very deserted.  Here are the highlights which starts with our visit to The National Shrine of Saint Roch.

Then it was time to see the big cemetery.

I could be buried here.

This night was the Tapas Farewell Party.  Not sure how Bob ate his food.  

We all headed over to the Graphite Gallery Opening for some guy named Michael deMeng.  This gallery is where the Wizard of Oz influenced pieces were on display.  

The gallery had a few other pieces as well by Michael.  

The workshop in NOLA is timed so that we can attend the first parade of Mardi Gras called

Don't bring the kids.  

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Sunday was a free day to roam around NOLA and see what we could see.  

Monday, January 25, 2016

So Monday was a day to head home and I was home by 4:00 p.m.

I want to say that these trips to NOLA with Michael deMeng and Katherine Engen LET ME FIND OUT about the city, art and myself.  Once again I say, thank you to them and all the participants.  See you next year in the big city.