4:30 am

Left dc at 4:30am to go to NY. I have a presentation to Lawrence Hospital on Friday and plan to spend a long day gathering up artwork. It was a beautiful train ride up, empty cars and lovely sunrise.












Quick cab ride through Manhattan, and then another train to Bronxville.

Immersed in Nature @ Smith Farm Center Gallery

go see the show if you can, or better yet come to the artists talk on June 6th! We had a great meeting last friday with the artists who will be showing with us in the fall - really a fascinating group of women. Sheep Jones Allegra Marquart Lynden Cline Angela Hennessy. The exhibit will center around the theme of Home and the conflicts between comfort and isolation.

we had a delightful visit with KT and a tour of JMU. Stopped by the Virginia Artisans Center on our way to C'ville. Checked into our lovely omni, got a little work done, then Gretchen, Grandma and I walked the outdoor mall. After checking out all the restaurants we decided to eat at Rapture and share some dishes. It was great fun, including flirting with a toddler that was sitting at the next table.

Last weekend at the Lee Art Center I bought this charming little teapot, by Dana Lehrer Danze. Strapped for cash as I am, it was crazy but oh so lovely and inexpensive. Today we are off on an adventure to visit KT then spend the night in C'ville. Should be fun.

DEADLINE: 5 p.m., Wednesday, June 6

The City of Alexandria Commission for the Arts announces a Call to Artists for the creation of the 2008 Alex Awards. Artists, who either work or live in the city, are asked to submit a proposal for up to five art pieces. All proposals must be submitted to the Alexandria Commission for the Arts office by the close of business on Wednesday, June 6. The theme of the 2008 Alex Awards is The Global Arts in Alexandria , and the artwork created for the award should evoke this theme. Artist(s) will be compensated $500 for each work chosen. To receive a Call to Artists form or request further information call ACA at 703.838.6348, visit www.alexandriacommissionforthearts.org , or e-mail aca@alexandriava.gov.

Ellipse Gallery - The Thread as the Line: Contemporary Sewn Art

I did go see the show at Ellipse before I went out of town last week and loved it. Thought it was full of good humor and wonderful craftsmanship. Also loved the spin some of the men brought to what one would traditionally think a feminine genre. Web site here

florida

now I am not one to complain, please, complain about a trip to Florida? The ocean has been lovely and clear, beach very nice, and I love my balcony. But the rest of the hotel has been a disaster. If this is a $3 million renovation 3 mill doesn't buy what it used to.

The hotel is at best seedy, the carpet is a mess, the artwork is so ugly I wanted to take it down during my stay. I got sunburned yesterday afternoon because they were going to charge my room $20 if I sat under an umbrella (@ 3:00 in the afternoon mind you) and today - no water. I don't envy the person sitting next to me on the plane.

florida day three

well I fully intended to take a long walk on the beach this morning but it was too delicious to just take a photo from the balcony and go back to bed until 8. I have lots of work to do, but have the day to myself.

got back to the hotel after a long day of jury, ate a little anti pasta, had a glass of wine, went for a swim, took my book - fully intending to read but instead fell sound asleep for an hour. lovely! My favorite time at the beach, late afternoon.

The festival in old town this September will be wonderful! It was much more difficult to jury this year. Simply astonishing paintings - I can still see them. Everyone at Howard Allen Events is such a delight.

Alexandria Festival of the Arts
September 13-14
King Street between Union & Washington streets.
Alexandria, VA 22314
http://www.artfestival.com/
703/838-5005

More than 200 juried artists display and sell fine art ranging from paintings, sculpture, prints and photography to pottery, glass, jewelry and ceramics. Old Town. 10a.m.-7 p.m. Sat.; 10 .m.-5 p.m. Sun. Free!

quick trip down, nice balcony, quiet beach

I really enjoyed Katie's workshop, I had forgotten how wonderful it was to work with a teacher who can give constructive criticism. She taught me a number of new encaustic techniques and gave me great advice, especially on my weakness - composition. It was also really interesting to have to do specific class projects - I'm so used to just doing my own thing it was a good challenge for me. Also I had a lovely companion at my table, Linda, we suited each other perfectly.

I'm off to Florida tomorrow, so most likely won't blog until late in the day.

workshop with Katie Dell Kaufman @ the Lee Arts Center, it was lovely!

sweet boys

one of my favorite artists

Lots going on, we have a meeting with Hopkins today about the Art & Addiction show for next year. Gretchen and I are trying to reign in the changing exhibits so we (she) can get the contracts out. I'll be posting a call for entries shortly for exhibits to celebrate Darwin Day in Feb 09. This weekend I'm taking an encaustic workshop at the Lee Art Center - can't wait for that! Monday I leave for Florida to jury the Festival of the Arts (which happens in Old Town in Sept). Home in time for a meeting at SF with the artists exhibiting in the fall. Another quick trip to Harrisonburg and Charlottesville, then Broxville NY at the end of the month.

Our new journal for the Society for Arts in Healthcare

info about the journal here

www.thesah.org

thank you Ellyn!

for the post about our new show... read Ellyn's blog here

LOOK 3 - Festival of the Photograph 2008

speaking of Charlottesville...

I'm in Cville

But at 5:45am I accidentally put my mp3 download cable in my suitcase instead of my camera download cable. So instead I'll post some of the things I never got to last month when I was in Philadelphia. These were my favorite works of art from the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
And it was great to see this Duchamp in person.

a fascinating web site about Duchamp here

Billy Colbert

Go to Hoogrrl! to see a great documentary about Billy who will be showing with us (along with Michael Janis and Paul Andrew Wandless) in July @ Smith Farm

see it here

nice interview @ french laundry at home here

Today Shanti, pc, Koan, Sandra and I met for lunch at busboys & poets. We helped Sandra catch a cab for the airport and then looked around the galleries. We went to plan b, hemphill, g street, irving and transformer's Here & Now. very nice day.

Immersed in the Natural World - opening

I hope you were there last night, because if you weren't you missed an astonishing opening. From 5:30 on just tremendous crowds. A big thank you again to the artists - Novie Trump (who has also curated a major ceramic show at artomatic), Tai Hwa Goh (who also has a one-person show at Flashpoint opening May 22) Elizabeth Burger and of course Shanti, Sandy, the amazing staff at Smith Farm Center. And I have to thank my lovely SAH board member, Sandra who came all the way from Boston for the opening.

Come to our grand opening at Smith Farm Center for the Healing Arts

This exhibit Immersed in the Natural World gives us a glimpse into three artist’s personal journeys. Elizabeth Burger, Tai Hwa Goh and Novie Trump create images inspired from nature. Each artist arrives at the work from a unique direction, with clearly distinct motivations. There is an immediacy and presence in the work on exhibit. It is rich in not only as an exploration of imagery and scale but also natural materials, paper, wax, clay.

Elizabeth Burger works with materials found in her rural environment, this gives her to an intense awareness of things that live and die on the land. Using algae, seedpods, roots, reeds, thorn bushes and other natural materials, she creates a series of animal/plant hybrids that are inspired by nature. Each of Ms. Burger’s works on exhibit seems to embody life or death. Contrast Apart , three immense beautiful forms that feel as if they are slowly decaying before our eyes, with her series of eighteen of Pod pieces that positively dance with life. Twisted moves in yet another direction. Created from plastic and paper pulp, it’s orange color and obvious reference to plastic construction barricades turns commonly discarded materials into an incandescent work of art.


Tai Hwa Goh’s art is deeply rooted in nature. She sees making art as the effort to search for her identity, and her art work is the diary recording her experiences. The process of layering tissue thin papers and wax breathes an air of mystery to her work, it reveals and at the same time obscures. The imagery, like the titles are delicately ominous – Suspicious Seeds, Lull, Suspicious Spore. The work has a lovely intimate scale and luminous transparent quality to the color.


Novie Trump’s art is very much about the tenacity of nature. It is informed by ancient myths and inspired by her travel to Ireland, Wales and the Galapagos Islands. Her formal training as an archeologist and love of relics and past civilizations is a great influence on her work.
The poetry in her work, the relationships of light and dark, loss and hope, death and rebirth are explored using rough hewn clay tablets, black birds, delicate egg shells, bones.

In an installation created for this exhibit she describes the Temple of the Phoenix. This work “evokes a sacred place of ritual. A ring of pillars inspired by ancient temples and burned trees encircles a nest of blackened bones, which holds a luminous ivory egg. A fierce bird perched on one of the pillars watches over the egg, which waits to be born. In this piece, iconic images of death are deliberately juxtaposed with images of birth to convey the inevitable cycle of life.”

For more information visit www.SmithFarm.com/gallery.

phone: 202.483.8600
1632 U Street NW Washington DC 20009

Reception 5:30 - 8pm
Regular Gallery Hours will be Wednesday-Friday 11AM-5PM, Saturday 11AM-3PM
and by appointment.
We look forward to seeing you Tonight!

we had a lovely lovely event at Smith Farm last night. Very touching remarks and such good humor. As I said last night I really feel this curatorial opportunity is a gift given to me after 27 years of hard work in the arts and health care field. The show is everything I could have hoped for.

SFC gallery day 2

I wanted to give Novie a big thank you for having such grace under pressure. Trying to help, we accidentaly caused her to have to touch up her installation. She kindly helped us while she waited for paint to dry. That on top of her huge curatorial project at artomatic, I don't know anyone else who would have been so kind, with so much work to do. Ray did a stellar job with the installation and stayed to adjust lighting and put up some signage. Scott stopped by and gave us just the fresh eyes we needed to put the final touches on the design. I'm just waiting for Sandy to give the go ahead for my statement and we will be done. I'm very happy with how it came together. Some lovely very happy accidents. Novie's and Tai Hwa Goh's work have a beautiful color relationship. Elizabeth's pod pieces positively dance off the gallery wall.

then moved on to SFC, lots to do to get ready for the opening.

started out before 8am @ the USBG today, installing an exhibit from the White House Gardens

art for empty walls

love the cheerful peter maxish quality of these birds.

Visit the web site here

Smith Farm Gallery

As a leader in its field as the first non-profit gallery dedicated to promoting arts as a tool for healing, the mission of the Gallery is to advance the understanding and utilization of the arts to transform lives, inspire and heal.Grand opening reception highlights include:
Access to the new, innovative gallery space designed to evoke feelings of tranquility and peace through use of live plants, and natural materials and colors.
Michael Lerner, wellness pioneer and author, will give opening remarks on the subject of Healing and the Environment.
The exhibition, "Immersed in the Natural World," focuses on environmental themes, providing an intimate narrative that explores patterning in nature, physical identity, and ritual, featuring works by Elizabeth Burger, Tai Hwa Goh and Novie Trump. (pictured here)

For more information visit www.SmithFarm.com/gallery.phone: 202.483.8600

email: gallery@smithfarm.comHealing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm Center

1632 U Street NW Washington DC 20009

Regular Gallery Hours will be Wednesday-Friday 11AM-5PM, Saturday 11AM-3PM

and by appointment.

We look forward to seeing you on May 9th!