2017 Art is You
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Today I am heading out to Art Is You in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Art Is You is a conference run by Sallianne McClelland from Australia and feature multiple instructors and multiple events for the attendees.
I am up at 6:00 a.m. and on the road by 7:30 a.m. It is a five hour drive from Milwaukee to Minneapolis and I do make it by 12:30 p.m.
I may not be a real detail person as I pulled into the same parking garage that we used two years ago which is attached to the Hyatt Hotel. Nope--we are in a different hotel. Art Is You is being held at the Millennium Hotel across the street with its own parking garage. Once I got that all figured out it was easy to get my room. In my defense, my art buddy Kelley Clarke made the same mistake.
There was time to unpack before having lunch with Andrea Matus deMeng, Michael deMeng and Kelley. Eventually we were joined by Sharon Payne Bolton and Marilyn Werst. After lunch, this crew is all heading over to the Minnesota Institute of Art for the Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters exhibition.
Image from the Internet (not mine)
This exhibition was very exciting to see as it had movie memorabilia, books, art and items from the various collections of del Toro. (Not sure what happened but I do not seem to have any of my images that I took when I was in the exhibition. Oh, well.)
When we got back to the hotel it was time for the arrival of Lynn Ovenden.
Back to hotel for Lynn Ovenden’s arrival. Then it was the conference opening reception with vendors and light appetizers. That night I had dinner with Kelley, Lynn Michael, Andrea and T. J. Gorlitz.
Bed by 10 as tomorrow is an early day
Thursday, April 20, 2017
At 6:00 a.m. I am up and in the lobby to catch the Pink Party Bus to head over to Minneapolis’ Junk Bonanza. This is an “event for purveyors & shoppers of vintage finds, beautiful antiques & artisan-repurposed pieces.” Most of the stalls were repurposed stuff which was fun to look at. The amount of actual junk was limited. I did have fun but I do not need to ever go again.
I came back to the hotel with three cabinet doors, two rusty metal containers, a bread making triptych and a bad of smalls—all for around $100 total.
At 10:30 a.m. it is time for Sharon Payne Bolton's Nestled Behind the Double Doors Workshop. We are going to create a double-door-drop-spine-box and then books to nestle inside, bound with a two needle Coptic stitch.
Sharon Payne Bolton
Sharon's class samples
The workshop room with a view
All the goodies Sharon brought to share with us
This night is reserve for a three hour class with John Creighton Petersen called Tchotchke Talisman Transformation. I don't have any process photos from the class but here is the finished item (after I took it home and added a few things).
Friday, April 21, 2017
Today is day two of Sharon Payne Bolton's Nestled Behind the Double Doors and we are back in the saddle at 9:00 a.m.
By the end of the day, this is my box and the pages I made to go in.
Here is the art created by my class mates.
As a going away gift, each of us got a pile of vintage papers to go home and make more books.
So at the end of the day I am cruising past Sharon's class samples and I notice one double door box that has an embossed tag that reads "Hertel." This happens to be the last name of my best friend, Theodore B. Hertel, Jr. I know that Ted is going to retire in a few months and this would make a great gift for a guy who loves books. So, I drop my business card onto the box and ask Sharon if I can commission it to be finished off with cool books on the inside. Jumping ahead, Sharon delivers this box with beautiful hand bound books inside and I delivered it to Ted...and how cool is that? I have no idea how Sharon could find a tag with Ted's name on it just before I take a class with her but this whole six-degrees-of-separation thing worked out really great.
Class photo by John Creighton Peterson
This night some of us went to a special event at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. We marbled paper!
Photo by Sallianne Mcclelland
Photo by Sallianne Mcclelland of me dipping paper
My papers
Checking out the goodies
Saturday, April 22, 2017
On day three I shift over to Michael deMeng's Apocalypto Shrines Workshop.
Lately I work best in Michael's assemblage workshops if I do a little pre-planning at home. Another workshop issue is the "waiting for paint to dry" phenomenon so I like to have two projects to work on. Here is what I put together at home in order to be prepared:
Here are the Saturday workshop photos:
Sunday, April 23, 2017
Today is day two of Michael deMeng's Apocalypto Shrines Workshop.
This is as far as this piece got. It has a long way to go and was not submitted for a class critique.
This is as far as this piece got. This was how it was submitted for the class critique.
Where Everything Weeps For How the World Goes
This is how the piece ultimately looked when I got it home and cleaned it up. Notice the religious doors were taken off. If you were paying attention above, you would have notice that I used them instead on the piece I made in John Creighton Petersen's Tchotchke Talisman Transformation.
The highlight of every Michael deMeng workshop is the critique where you get to see everyone else's work and here Michael's take on the weekend's efforts. Here are the works by my classmates:
My table mate and art buddy Marilyn Werst from Louisville, KY
Monday, April 24, 2017
After overnighting, I had breakfast with Michael deMeng, Andrea Matus deMeng, Kelley, Lynn, and Marilyn.
Kelley and I drove over to Wet Paint in St. Paul to shop for hours through the great paper this store has. We each bought enough paper to keep the store in business for another year.
Then in was hugs and goodbyes as we drove home in opposite directions.
Thanks to Art is You, Sallianne Mcclelland, Sharon Payne Bolton, Michael deMeng and all my art buddies for another great week of making art.
