Sweet Home Alabama

We just came home from a two day trip to Alabama to visit a friend that'll be moving much farther away soon. I just love summer roadtrips, don't you? We visited the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, had a free dinner at Applebee's (we mentioned the lack of service to the manager and he gave us the meal for free), and wandered around a cornfield taking photos. I mean, what else is there to do in Alabama, right? :)

Daniel took the photo above and also took this great shot of our Mazzy.

I've entered a photo contest about the Rural South and thought it was a great idea to crawl into the cornfield and take the photo below. I'll find out in August if I've made it or not.

Speaking of Mazzy and photo contests, how about you vote for my photo to be published in the next issue of JPG magazine. It's a wonderful, inspiring magazine and I would love to be a part of it!

Latest Works

"Sunflower"
16" x 20" oil on gallery wrapped canvas

"Chris"
16" x 20" oil on gallery wrapped canvas

The Sunflower painting was auctioned off at a Summer Solstice gathering for the local arts council. It's now hanging in a friend's bathroom.

Chris's painting was blogged about a few entries ago and I just now got around to taking a good photo of it. It's still sitting in my studio, waiting for Chris to take it home.

I've been keeping low key these past few days. Last week at art camp definitely took a toll on me and I've been relaxing ever since. I read a novel in a few days and have consumed my fair share of coffee and tea. I'm just taking it slow, taking it easy. Tomorrow I'm headed to my dad's house for the weekend. When I come back home I have one day off then I work one day, then on Wednesday we're leaving for a small roadtrip to north Alabama. We're visiting my best friend before she moves to Texas in July. Next I'll work all of the first week in July. The second week I'll work on fish puppets for a local The Little Mermaid production. The third weekend I'm hopping a plane to visit family in Michigan. Busy busy busy little bumblebee. Next thing I know my daughter will be attending her first day of kindergarten!

Notes. For me.

My latest to-do list. Maybe you're interested too?

- Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life, 1990 – 2005 at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. One of the most celebrated photographers of our time, Annie Leibovitz has made witty, powerful images documenting American popular culture since the early 1970s. Born in Westport, Connecticut, in 1947, Leibovitz had her first photographs published by Rolling Stone in 1970. She became the magazine's chief photographer in 1973, and ten years later began working for Vanity Fair, and then Vogue, creating a legendary body of work. In addition to her magazine work, Leibovitz has created influential advertising campaigns for American Express, Gap, Givenchy, The Sopranos and the Milk Board. A retrospective of her work from the years 1970 to 1990 was presented at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., and at the International Center of Photography in New York. (LOVE LOVE LOVE her work. I have to see this soon!) Through September 9, 2007.

- Frida y Diego: photographs of their life together This exhibition is a rare collection of art photographs by several of the most significant photographers of the time, such as Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Nikolas Muray, Manuel Alvarez Bravo and Guillermo Kahlo. Exhibition labels and text are in English and Spanish. (This is a must-see for me too!) Through August 28, 2007.

- SlowExposures - A Juried Exhibition Celebrating Photography of the Rural South Successful work will capture those qualities that unmistakably call to mind the rural south’s unique history and relationship to the land. This is a juried photography exhibition with two categories.
• Images of the Rural South
• Images of West Central Georgia
Photographers are invited to submit up to four (4) entries in each category. A panel of jurors will choose work from submitted entries on the basis of creative excellence and interpretation of the show’s theme. Deadline for submissions: June 30th. (coming up soon! I'm going to Alabama soon so I'll be able to take pictures there.)

- About Face is a juried exhibition of photographs depicting the diversity of human relationships. The theme focuses on and emphasizes the non- traditional pairing of people who develop relationships such as mixed race, mixed gender, old and young, mentor and student, mixed faith,and person and pet. Images will be judged for adherence to the theme, originality, impact, and technical quality. The exhibition will take place October 6-27, 2007 at A Novel Experience, a unique bookstore in Zebulon, GA. For more information, please email aboutfaceentry@yahoo.com. Deadline: August 29, 2007 Fee: $15 for three images

- "EYE OF THE BEHOLDER - PHOTOGRAPHER’S WORKSHOP with David Anderson This intensive two-day workshop will focus on the craft of photographic composition and visual continuity within a narrative project. We will focus on the graphic and emotional elements that make for a compelling image as well as the keys to making a cohesive body of work. Working with both the obvious and unstated elements present in a scene, we will explore methods by which a photographer can harness these tools into a successful body of work. Style, content, composition and sequencing will all be discussed. We will also explore methods of defining what a sense of place means and will use the unique countryside and people of rural Georgia as our inspiration. Dave will also review portfolios of participants’ work. This will not be a technical class, and all participants should be completely familiar and comfortable with their camera systems. (A $400 workshop! Thankfully there's a chance to win a scholarship: http://www.enercomusa.com/pdf/Scholarshipapp.pdf)

- 2007 Juried Photography, in conjunction with Atlanta Celebrates Photography Festival(Link to a .pdf!) Applications are now available for the 2007 Juried Photography Show. Best of Show winner receives purchase award and a solo feature show opportunity in the Arts Clayton Gallery in 2008. Other cash awards are available. The deadline for entries is August 18, 2007.

- JPG Magazine Has anyone seen this magazine? It's crazy great. JPG Magazine is for people who love imagemaking without attitude. It's about the kind of photography you get when you love the moment more than the camera. It's for photographers who, like us, have found themselves online, sharing their work, and would like to see that work in print.

Exhausted, In a Good Way

Last Thursday I was asked to teach at a week-long Art Camp for elementary school kids. I was apprehensive at first. I've never taught a class before and I'm a quite shy person but I said yes. I had exactly two and a half days to prepare for this experience. And I'll admit when that first class came in, I was terrified!

Thankfully, I have helpers in each class that are great with the kids. Each day has been fun and interesting. Most of the kids are wonderful and really, this has been a good time. It's only halfway through the week and I'm completely exhausted! From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. I see about 120 kids. There's about 15-18 in each 35 minute session with an hour for lunch. I'm grateful to have worked with the director of the camp to come up with lessons each day. So far we've used different artistic mediums, talked about different artists, and painted like Jackson Pollock. Tomorrow we'll be collaging like Henry Matisse. Then on Friday the kids will put on a production for their parents. Hooray for Art Camp!

Here's a picture of what my kitchen table looked like on Monday afternoon. I was getting ready for my "A for Apple" lesson. The students used different mediums to draw the same apple. I'm happy to say that most of them had lots of fun with it.

Smoke & Art

Yesterday we drove to Fort Valley, Georgia to hang my newest work at the C.W. Pettigrew Farm and Community Life Center at Fort Valley State University. Due to the wildfires almost 200 miles away in southern Georgia , the usually scenic ride was very smokey.

We could barely see a mile ahead of us. We spent most of the ride hoping for a nice, small hurricane to come and drench the poor, dry south. I wanted to stop by a strawberry field to pick berries & take photos but we decided it was too smokey to be outside.

Well, we finally made it to Fort Valley & to my surprise the Center was ENORMOUS! I only had 17 medium to small pieces, so there was no way I was to fill the space. The lady who helped me was very nice and cheerful and I'm very grateful for this opportunity but I've definitely learned my lesson to visit the space before agreeing to hang my work!

I really did the best I could & you know, my work looked great when I hung it all up so I didn't feel too bad.

I could've easily put 50 pieces in that space!

This has definitely been a learning experience and I do feel inspired to keep on keeping on as an artist. Next, I'd like to display my work in Athens, Georgia. Or maybe even the big, big city of Atlanta!