"The Art of a Summer Saturday"

This past Saturday, July 4th weekend, I finally got a chance to stroll through the Riverwalk Market Fair and enjoy the work of the other artists and farmers involved. Armed with a camera, some comfy sandals and the sun on my face, I took a walk.

Right foot, then left foot, I departed my booth and left my mom standing gaurd.

From up on the pedestrian bridge, a view of the artists tents along the river. (This pic was from a couple weeks before but gives you a good idea of the area).

July is "The Art of Music" month at the market and there was live music all over! Here is the Americana duo, the Rockitrangers, at the start of the artists area.

I stopped by each artist's booth to see what people are making. Lots of great artists out there. Here's a view from the 6th St. bridge. It was a busy day!

So many people were out and about shopping for fresh, locally grown produce and homemade gourmet goodies in the farmer's section along bridge square.

A view of the farmer's tents.

Bonnie & the Clydes sang classic folk & rock tunes in a lovely shady spot near the dam.

To hear a taste of the musicians that played July 2nd, watch Amy Acheson's video montage on the Riverwalk Blog.

To view all of my pictures of The Riverwalk Market Fair, check out my album on my Facebook Fan Page, updated weekly.

Fashion as Art

I think so. I consider myself an artist. Fashion is the medium in which I choose to express myself artistically.

art1    /ɑrt/[ahrt]
noun
1. the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.
2. the class of objects subject to aesthetic criteria; works of art collectively, as paintings, sculptures, or drawings: a museum of art; an art collection.
3. a field, genre, or category of art: Dance is an art.

Today I came across a couple interesting articles addressing fashion as art. Both raise the question does fashion have a place in an art museum? "Does Fashion Deserve To Be In a Museum?" in Bust Magazine, and a New York Times article, the Bust article references: "Gone Global: Fashion as Art?" I argue that yes it does. The articles arrive at a similar conclusion while addressing some interesting issues such as what criteria is used to select designers, how some design houses are funding their own exhibits as sort of a brand marketing cum art statement, which has a number of interesting arguments along with it. I highly suggest you read these articles, excellent food for thought.

My art background is wide spanning. I have taken art classes since I was a child and have been schooled in mediums such as painting and clay. I've learned about perspective, the play of positive and negative space, the way primary, secondary and tertiary colors work. How to mix colors, how to make colors play certain tricks on your eye. I've also had the privilege of slowly meandering through some of the world's greatest art museums in Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Rome, New York, Chicago, Minneapolis. I move slow, I stare hard and my cerebral sponge soaks in as many details of the Masters as I can. I treat a clothing store and a fashion magazine the same way as I do the Louvre. I even treat people watching in this way.

My fashion design is derived from an accumulation of art education and observation. I consider each piece a wearable sculpture. A three dimensional painting. A study of positive and negative space. A play of color, texture and volume. This makes me slow, deliberate, obsessed with detail and extremely particular about the end result. Flaws? I think not, these are what gives character to my work. Enjoy!

Current Read: The Handmade Marketplace

I just opened a new library card at my hometown library in Northfield, MN (my old one had expired several years ago since I hadn't been living here). I love the library. My favorite sections are DVD's and the new release book section. Even when I was in high school I enjoyed perusing the new release book section. As I am sure you can imagine, with my new card in hand, I charged right over to that section to see what they have.

One thing I have always enjoyed about the Northfield Public Library, is the abundance of arts and crafts books. Living in the woods, we made regular use of those books to keep ourselves entertained as kids. That said, of course there were a few gems in this genre on the new release shelves.

I got my paws on: The Handmade Marketplace; How to sell your crafts locally, globally and online, By Kari Chapin. It was published this year and is filled with valuable information for independent artists and crafters. Heck, I bet any business owner looking to learn how to better market online would benefit from this book.

With $3.49 to my name at the moment, I am looking for any information I can to grow my handmade fashion business. This is one of my favorite topics to read about online and I try to find out what I can in my free time. The $3.49, numerous rejections from office job applications and frighteningly lethargic sales on my Etsy.com store this holiday season are what provoked me to give this book a careful and thorough read. It is oh so timely I stumbled across it at the library.

This book is current and a wealth of information for anyone looking to improve their small business marketing efforts. I'm reading it armed with pen and paper and have nearly filled a small notepad with ideas...lots and lots of ideas and tasks I wish to execute sooner rather than later.

One of my favorite bonus aspects of this book: it fits in my purse!

Available on Amazon.com.

Boston Handmade Art Fair in Union Square

This past weekend I stumbled upon a wonderful Art Fair in Union Square which I found by way of the events page on www.Etsy.com. It was held by Boston Handmade "a collection of Boston area artists, artisans, & craftspeople with shops on etsy.com ~ all handmade all the time". What talented artists. I can honestly say I liked something at every booth. And the ATM was so close by...don't worry, I was good and only treated myself to some earrings by Glamourpuss!

Please check out these great Etsy.com artists, they are very skilled at what they do and many have very unique products and styles I haven't seen before (so I can guess you too may not have seen before). To view the list of participating artists and links to their stores visit: Boston Handmade Marketplace Exhibitors

ME = Big fan of Portland, ME

Apparently I'm on a shout-outs-to-places-I-love kick. This past weekend, Dan Yaz.;,.;sky ;) & I took a fun road trip to ME.

That's Maine in case your shorthand for states is a bit rusty...just can't get enough of that little play on words.

First suggestion: go to Scarborough Beach en route to Portland. Nice sandy beaches, sand bar, cool shells to collect and calm water. AND the best part is there are not too many people because it is sort of a 'secret' beach.



Second suggestion: go to the "arts district" in Portland. Portland is a very healthy lively city with tons of great local stores and art galleries and restaurants (and no empty store fronts that I saw (Worcester, take note). Walk along Congress Street to satisfy your senses with this great ME treasure.

Our first stop was YES Books, a used bookstore with a maze of hand built book shelves, giant 5 foot tall clay vases made by a local artist and of course a great book selection. Dan always judges a bookstore by its Horror book selection. If they have a Horror section = good bookstore. If they answer hunh? when you ask for the Horror section = not so good. I just like to poke around looking for surprising books in any genre.

After we had or literary fix, we filled our bellies at Wild Burrito. These are the biggest most tasty burritos ever...and the decor is quite distinct (love it!) I wish I had snapped a photo. I snagged The Bollard Magazine during lunch to inform myself on how cool Portland is once I got back into the car. This Trip culminated 4 hours later in Lubec, Maine - the easternmost town in the USA!

Be sure to check out The Bollard's website as you can view a PDF version of the magazine. There is a great article on one of the neatest stores on Congress St., Strange Maine. It's a treasure trove of used albums, obscure books and trinkets from my youth. It's not to be missed on a Portland excursion.

We were also some of the lucky first customers at the Grand Opening of thrift shop upstairs of Strange Maine. I apologize cool new thrift shop...I don't recall your name and did not jot any notes down. But, I will say that Dan wanted to buy all of the CD's & DVD's they had as they were all in his taste and I fancied the majority of their vintage clothing...tried several things on but alas only the buyer for this store can fit all of the XS vintage treasures she has for sale. Do check it out if XS is your calling card.

As we continued our stroll down the street, we wandered into SPACE | Gallery. This is a very edgy gallery with a fantastic modern artists on display! Both of the images depicted here are featured at SPACE. Be sure to read the background on the artists!

And finally, as an Encore to the afternoon, we visited Encore! A vintage & consignment shop that reminded me of the Skidmore College Costume Shop! I fell in love instantly! Racks and Racks packed to the max with exquisite specimens of vintage fashion joy! I indulged my vintage fashion tooth and bought a mint apricot '70's belted shirt dress from France and some black fully embroidered in red and gold fitted pants by Nicole Miller. MMMMM Vintage Fashion makes mouths happy...

Also, I want to tell you a vintage secret...I don't give many of these out. I was chatting with the Proprietor, Ms. Rita Prout-Farley and she informed me that only a few days a week she opens the upstairs of the building and it is a huge clearance sale where she sells groups of clothing for very cheap just because they have cool fabric. A designers dream come true. Unfortunately we didn't get to partake as they were not open Friday and we were on the road to Lubec Saturday. GO please enjoy this vintage treasure chest!


All images are copyrighted by the artists and available at SPACE | Gallery today.

A Mysterious Invite...

About a month ago I received a personal letter addressed from a friend I play wedding music with, Ms. Angie Shyr (we have a string trio, Strings of Desire, and we play weddings and events). It was a letter sized envelope complete with fancy return address labels and one of the coolest comic book stamps ever. So of course I opened it instantly. Inside was a brochure for the Brookline Artists' Open Studios event and that was it.

So I carefully poured over every single name in the brochure to see if I could come up with some clues. Is Angie playing music, is a mutual acquaintance a closet artist? Then a bright picture caught my eye; I quickly read the artist's name and it occurred to me, oh my, Ms. Angie is a closet artist! I never knew! (I did later find out that she went to film school and did quite a bit of animation) (This vivid artwork at right, is an original mixed media piece by Angie Shyr)

Then a week later I received more pieces to the puzzle, a hand written note from Ms. Angie herself inviting me to come see her work (fantastic comic book stamp adorned envelope included)! Of course I jumped at the invite...but Dan and I decided to surprise Angie as we have not seen each other for a couple of months. Roadtrip to Brookline!

Angie was showing her work at the Brookline Sr. Center as a collaborative effort with several other artists. Including a highly skilled fiber artist Ms. Iris Sonnenschein. (At right is an original quilt by Ms. Sonnenschein)

Dan and I also loved the photography of Ms. Gloria Carrigg. Her subjects ranged from nature to her homeland of El Salvador to Cityscapes of Chicago as well as portraits of classic cars, a personal love of hers. (She told me so. At right is a wonderful sleek photo titled "duesenbergII3" © 2007). Dan and I are now owners of two fantastic photographs of arches with beautiful sculptures of people. (Sorry, she does not have a copy of them on her website or else I would share these great photos with you.)

While we were enjoying the art at the Brookline Senior Center, we were serenaded by Ms. Anita Suhanin, an amazing singer as well as a voice teacher. She was singing beautiful jazz pieces.

Dan and I also ventured into an artist's personal studio. We approached the classic brick townhouse and were unsure if we should enter the closed door of a residence. The address was correct, but there were no signs and it looked rather private. We then peeked in the window (we really wanted to see her work, she was one of two fiber artists featured in the entire event). And behold, the Brookline Artists' Open Studio sign appeared taped to the inner door. Phew! I marched in and timidly climbed the stairs to yet another inner door. Dan knocked, a dog barked, the window was dark and a the smiling glowing face of Ms. Marianne Busse welcomed us into her home studio. It was fantastic! Great decor, we had a fun time just ogling her decor in the entry way. She then led us into a room with racks of immaculately sewn clothing and treasures! Marianne specializes in "Cool Creations - Mostly for Kids" (The funky hat pictured at right was one of many incredible items available for sale)

We capped off the evening listening to a friend of Dan's, Phil Raptis and his band "Gold Star Campaign" open at Worcester's own The Lucky Dog. Phil has great pipes and "is not afraid to sing falsetto" (as Dan put it) and his band (after only two months of rehearsals) sounds really tight. They play all sorts of rock originals.

(All art depicted here is credited to its original author and may be subject to copyright.)