It is all about the journey...

Ken is working on a sculpture, which again captures our journey... We travel the US, north to south, east to west and during these travels Ken's eyes are constantly taking in the landscape, the happenings, the animals and the people. My eyes are typically on the road, as he drives. The sculpture he is working on now is about the adaptation of nature to man and the impacts of that adaptation.





The interstates were built in the 40's, about 70 years ago. This transportation system changed the way everything was done, somewhat like how the computer has impacted society in the past twenty years. The movement of people, materials, food, etc. created a growth in commerce. Most took it for granted.. even the sparrows.





Most people would never consider carving the grill of a semi truck... But Ken is again departing from the norm. This piece will he his first complete lamination.. Beginning with black walnut gifted to him by a friend, the walnut is both western and eastern black walnut, which speaks to the transcontinential movement across America. He is working mostly with hand tools at this point. To create the grill he laminated the walnut into plywood to create the structural integrity and routered more walnut to replicate the chrome.

The plan is to have the piece completed by the end of the Celebration of Fine Art Show on March 29, 2009. www.celebrateart.com I will continue to tell the story of the journey as the sculpture progresses... Remember, it is all about the journey.

Celebration of Fine Art - Scottsdale AZ

Let's talk about the tent. . Inside the tent in Scottsdale there are over 100 artists working in all mediums working daily from 10am-6pm and selling their works of art in their booths.

Susan, to the left is one of the owners, she has a weekly meeting with the artists to give updates, be inspirational to the group of artists from all over the US, Canada and a couple of international artists and answers artist's questions and concerns. Her energy level knows no bounds.

If you are an artist who does weekend shows...that kind of show is called a sprint (3 days of intense setup, marketing and sales). This show is 10 weeks and is a marathon, both physically and mentally.

The show connects artists and art collectors from all over the world. They are drawn to meet the artist and connect with art... It is slower, communicative...somewhat like making friends that love your art and then enjoying it when they find something they can't live without.

The marathon began with setup-creating your booth space, then the opening on January 16th is the highlight as the collectors, art lovers, visitors to the area and other artists enter the tents on a daily basis. Most artists work on their creations during the show, everything from jewelry and glass, to wood, bronze and stone sculptures, to oil, watercolor and acrylic paintings. There is even a cafe for those who find that they need a respite from the aisles of art and sore feet.

If you visit, plan for about 4 hours...8 if you are an artist and plan to learn about techniques. As an artist be aware of the people in the booths and excuse yourself if someone comes in who is actually interested in the work.. Most artists are happy to share...

If you are a serious collector, don't be fooled by the tents... the are very serious artists under the tent, some tenured, some emerging, but all chosen to participate in the juried show. Most artists find that selling in a gallery is easier than exposing yourself daily to people in this atmosphere. The only difference is that the artists in the tent actually enjoy the interaction with people, and many times, their work is influenced by other artists in the tent and by the visitors/collectors. They choose to know who owns their works and stay connected.

Well, that's the first in the series of the tent.. I will do a tent update weekly, other times I will talk about Ken's work... I may even put my pie crust recipe on the blog..

Since we are in Scottsdale AZ - GO CARDINALS! There is a SuperBowl Party at the tents on Sunday, so join us at www.celebrateart.com

Debbie

Sculpting in the Warmth of Arizona

After three weeks in Arizona, we are aclimatized to the warmth, so when this morning it hit 32 degrees we were cold! Just think three weeks ago we were in -12 weather in Idaho and that was normal.. No complaints here in AZ.

This weekend we will be celebrating the SuperBowl in AZ and rooting for the Cardinals.. The Celebration of Fine Art will be bringing in a widescreen TV and the artists will be cranking up their smokers in order to enjoy the SuperBowl under the tents...

The show attendance seems to be increasing and we have noticed a large number of new visitors through the show who have been pleasantly surprised with the art... Some locals and a lot of visitors to the valley. Many who were coming west for the first time... I think there are many looking for property after this colder that usual winter.

Okay, here are some of our neighbors at the Celebration of Fine Art

Bradford Brenner (painter)
Scott Rogers (above bronze)

Whitney Peckman (below)
Syed Ahmad (glasswork)

Sy

Michael Jones

and more to come! Visit us at the NW corner of the Celebration of Fine Art.

Okay, we can take a deep breath...

Set up is completed... the Celebration of Fine Art is open and sales are happening. Finally took a day off to catch up with emails, websites, mailings, etc... We head to the show from the RV park everyday about 8am, to get something done prior to the opening at 10am. Traffic was good the first weekend of the show....

Here are some of our neighbors booths..

Donna Armstrong, an Idaho jeweler

Booth at Celebration of Fine Art

Here are some working shots of the booth at the Celebration of Fine Art... 4 days - 12 hours a day

to prepare for a 71 day working artist show in Scottsdale AZ... visit www.celebrateart.com for more details.

The artwork made it in on Thursday and Friday.. the show opened on Friday at 10am... Many old clients visiting the tents full of over 100 working artists.

Glad to have setup behind us... This is Ken's seventh year, more posts tomorrow evening.

Celebration of Fine Art-Scottsdale AZ

It has started...the Celebration of Fine Art, the artists arrived yesterday to blank walls and the work begins, each artist has 4 days to create their working studio and display where they will create and sell their work for the next 71 days beginning Friday January 16 in Scottsdale Arizona.

http://www.celebrateart.com/

Here are the blank walls, and the first steps...

From -12 to 50 degrees in Two Days

We left on Sunday, January 4, it was -12 in Idaho when we woke up, power had gone out in town so we couldn't meet the Armstrong's for breakfast at Bucky's. (they were coming from New Meadows where they woke up to a -22, they are towing our 13 ft trailer to AZ). Thank you, Thank you... We had spent Saturday uninsulating the 5th wheel, so we spent a cool night overnight in the trailer... We hitched everything up and headed south about 9am... Yeah..

It was -degrees until we hit Boise then things started to warm up (25-30 degrees), although that wouldn't last long... we pulled into the RV Park in Ely NV about 7pm and the temperature was dropping fast, a -16 was expected, not including the wind chill factor.

We woke up on Monday to -8 and flakes falling, headed out to beat a small storm coming in.. only 20 miles of light snow and then on to Vegas, the temperature didn't break 32 degrees until 60 miles north of Vegas... then it was still pretty cold... We dropped Dave off at the airport and were on our way to Laughlin for the night. Ken pulled the RV into the County park right on the river and Donna and I headed over to the Riverside for the night. Cold again into the low 30's but it warmed up the next day..

Left early and arrived in Phoenix on Tuesday morning... 55 degrees and warming to 70 by Thursday... In the next couple days we will be preparing for the CFA www.celebrateart.com and we will document the journey for those who care...