Bottletree Studios

What an amazing journey this has been. New studio, selling in six galleries, new items, working on a book, etc. The new studio is inspiring, going every weekday, treating it like a job. Creating art and always imagining what to create next.

Rhonda Blasingame and I have collaborated on this amazing little place we call Bottletree Studios. We've got a classroom, lounge area, studio spaces for other artists. Located at 809 Adkins Blvd in Jackson, Mississippi, its a vintage 1960's ranch style house with a huge backyard. We've taken the sunroom for our studio and its fantastic. Great light and so much space. Creating these really cool robots from radio and TV tubes, even thinking about writing a book about them. More to come later.

July, wow what a month.

July has been the most amazing month. I received a Visual Artist Fellowship from the Mississippi Arts Commission, participated in a three person show at the Mississippi Craft Center, had a piece accepted at Satchmo Fest in New Orleans, had fun in New Orleans, etc. It looks like things are starting to turn around.

Oh, I won an award of merit at Jubilee Jam in Jackson, learned a valuable lesson, if the judges don't come in your tent KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT. I almost didn't win, because I whined about them not coming in my tent. Though in my defense, they did go in both tents on either side of me and fawned all over them and barely said "boo" to me. Plus it was hotter than three kinds of hell, that day. Though there was electricity and was able to use a fan, so as an artist I was very comfortable, I imagine the crowd that did come were miserable. I didn't set the world on fire with sales, but I did much better than I had thought I would. It was a win-win situation, I'll be back, just have it during the Spring or Fall, Please.

The Visual Arts Fellowship is a grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity, I can now buy supplies and equipment, that I've needed but couldn't afford. As a matter of fact, I'm having hard time trying to decide how to use the money, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. There will be a show next year sometime at the MAC offices in the Woolfolk building in Jackson.

The show at the Craft Center was titled "A Place Like Mississippi," with works by Rhonda Blasingame, art quilts, Carmen Gettis-Castilla, candle artisan and former ARTichoke partner and myself. Our reception was the night of July 2 and we had the most amazing crowd, it was fantastic, at least I think it was. I was SO tired from setting up that day, that I was barely able to function and socialize. Rhonda's sister made the most fantastic food, all southern themed of course, tomato sandwiches, black-eyed pea salsa, shrimp & grits and watermelon. Our work reflected our love of Mississippi, Rhonda did quilts with Elvis, Pinetop Perkins and various Mississippi scenes. Carmen made her beautiful art candles with scents evocative of Mississippi, plus a cool hat and batik. I made shrines to Mississippi artist and authors. We wanted to show all the tourists that come through the center, the things that make Mississippi great.

Bay Bridge Fest, Bay St Louis, MS

It started on a bad note, I stopped at the entrance to the festival for admittance and was told I needed a vendor's pass and why didn't I pick it up at the party last night. I had never been told about the party nor the need to pick up a vendor's pass, plus I had not been notified that I was accepted. So I call the lady in charge and was given directions to another entrance to pick up my packet and was told the police would let me through. Well, surprise I wasn't let through there either, I called again and was told she'd take care of it. Finally the Chief of Police told the officers to let anyone through that said they were a vendor. It was bad enough that I was told I had to be there at 7:30 am when the festival started at 11:00 am and ran through 8:00 am. The festival goers knew this and didn't show up till 11:00. Boy, what a long HOT day and its only May. Cold water for the vendors and a restroom set aside would have been nice as well, though several of the food emporiums that were open allowed you to use theirs. The food vendors were varied and what we tried was great.

All that being said, it was a nice day, didn't sell much, at least not for a 3 hour drive and spending 2 nights because the festival ran till 8:00. The people were nice and I enjoyed chatting with the other artists nearby. I see now, I needed fish, crabs, sailboats, anything coastal and I might have sold more. Still working out what I need to take to shows, though each one is different. Maybe I do just too many things, there's too much to look at. Met June who moved there from San Francisco, she was fun and very enthusiastic about my things. June if you read this don't forget to apply to the Craftsmen's Guild of Mississipp at www.mscrafts.org .

Will I go back, probably not, though I would like to try the Peter Anderson Festival in Ocean Springs.

Oxford's Double Decker Festival

Wow, just got back from Oxford and I'm truly impressed with the Double Decker Festival. I have hesitated applying for this show ($50 jury fee and $200 booth fee) kind of pricey I thought. But after visiting and doing some reconnaissance work ( I always wanted to be a spy when I was a kid, guess I watched too much "Get Smart" and "The Man from Uncle") I've decided it just might be worth a shot.

Several of my fellow guild members were in attendance, Steve Windham, Juliette Johnston, Jerri Sherer, Sam Clark, Lisanne Miller, Stephanie Dwyer and Tim Pace all gave me the thumbs up saying the show was one of the best they do all year. My old friends Rick and Merry Anderson were also there, Rick is a very talented Jackson artist. Jerri won an award for Artistic Merit, way to go Girl. Her husband Roy Adkins is a great photographer and shot the pictures of my found object art.

We stayed in Hernando the night before, we were unable to get a room within 40 miles of Oxford. This also bodes well for the Double Decker. Jack and I stayed at the Sassafrass Inn B&B, what a neat place. Eric (the owner) moved to Hernando from Colorado by way of upstate New York, I can't believe I forgot to ask him what brought him to Mississippi. He's a musician, maybe he wanted to be near the birthplace of the blues. We had an awesome 3 course breakfast, didn't eat lunch till late in the day. I highly recommend the Sassafras Inn of Hernando, MS, I'll be back. We also found a great junk shop, got lots of items to create new things could have searched the endless shelves all day. It really got my creative juices flowing, can't wait to get back in the studio and see what happens.

Finally, I'm writing something for my blog. I don't hate blogging per se, but not really into all that self promotion stuff. However since I'm trying to make my living as an artist I figure what the hell. Sadly, ARTichoke, my gallery I owned with 3 other artists had to close its doors this year, with the sagging economy NO ONE was buying much art. Though I wouldn't trade the experience and all of the wonderful people I met for anything. It was almost worth all of the money I put into it, so instead of spending my money trying to sell other peoples' art, I'm going to concentrate on me. Sounds selfish I know, but its time for a little me time.

I have a wonderful studio space at the Mississippi Craft Center www.mscraftsorg on Rice Road in Ridgeland, MS. I share the space with 2 other wonderful artists, Carmen Gettis-Castilla (my former business partner) makes the most wonderful, best smelling candles you've ever seen or smelt and Rhonda Blasingame, a phenomenal art quilter. The space and my fellow artists has inspired me to be very creative and I'm becoming fairly prolific, spending at least 3 days a week working exclusively on my art. My new passion, though I still love doing my wire sculpture, is found object art. I use anything I can lay my hand on to create unique sculptures of animals. No matter how hard I try, I just can't do "SERIOUS" art, it seems everything I do has a whimsical nature to it. Hey, if you can't make money you might as well laugh, right? Recently juried into the guild with my mixed media sculptures as well.

More to come later. I'll keep you informed with what I'm up to lately and my newest works. I'll have items for sale at http://www.twistedscissors.etsy.com/ or you can contact me directly twistedscissors@comcast.net.