Waterfowl Festival in Easton MD

For the past four years we have headed east in November to the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland. It is now our one and only wildlife show on the calendar each year. The wood and wildlife sculptures seem to find a         sophisticated audience on the east coast, even figurative work sells well.

Three years ago, we added Sculpture at the River Market in Little Rock, Arkansas to the calendar in mid-October, which leaves three weeks between the two shows.  It used to be a race across country and back, now it is a leisurely trip between shows—camping and exploring the hardwood forests, rivers and glens. It is also a time to visit family, artists and collectors along the way.

Travel patterns are not set in stone and can dramatically change based on weather—sometimes we go a little south, sometimes we head due east… Flexibility is all part of the journey.  This year we plan a short trip to Asheville TN and explore the possibility of offering a sculpting class at an Art Center next fall.

While in Tennessee, we enjoyed the company of Paul Reagan and his Gibson Master/Flatiron Mandolin and the Black Hawk Waltz by Frazier Moss who won 1st Place in the Weiser, Idaho (the worlds largest Fiddle Festival) - it truly is a small world. Paul and my Aunt Eddie, who played her Charles J Horner violin, serenaded us with Old Annie...

These two just loved playing together... amazing musicians.

Allied Artists of America 98th Exhibition features Idaho sculptor's Ken Newman's American Pi – A Moment's Rest

Every year, we choose a new piece to submit to various shows around the country. Several years ago, Ken was accepted as a member of the Allied Artists of America, Inc. The organization is based in NYC and this year is hosting its 98th exhibition at the National Art Club. This year, American Pi – A Moment's Rest was accepted into the show, which opens this weekend, November 4, 2011 and runs through November 20 with awards presented on this date.

A Reception of Awards Ceremony will be held on Sunday November 20, 2011 at 1:00pm. 24,000 in cash awards and medals will be presented- juror of awards are; Audrey Lewis – curator at the Brandywine River Museum and Gary T Erbe – President emeritus of the Allied Artists of America.

A demonstration by Paul McCormack called "A Portrait in Watercolor" will be featured at the reception and refreshments will be served. The National Arts Club gallery is located at 15 Gramercy Park South, NYC (20th St between 3rd and Park Aves). Gallery hours are; Mon, Weds, Thurs and Friday 10am-12 and 3-5pm, Tuesdays 2-5pm. Saturday and Sunday, call ahead at 212 475-3424.

Ken sculpture is one in a series called American Pi – this particular sculpture captures the essence of the 1960's and the strength and balance required as they entered the work force and dealt with the duality of work and home. Ken Newman has been a member of this organization since 2002 and an elected member since 2008. For details on membership visit; http://www.alliedartistsofamerica.org/  Newman's sculptures have been selected for this annual exhibition five of the past six years; winning awards in 2005, 2007 and 2010.

An Indulgence for Debbie

An Indulgence for Debbie


Picked up a copy of the Steve Jobs new bio while in Arkansas-figured it would be a great uninterrupted read while Ken sculpts and we are camping. Although, not always an Apple owner – I enjoyed the journey of an innovator.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_jobs

My first experience with the Apple was using an Apple II at the University of Irvine campus for educational teaching classes I took when working on my teaching credential back in the late 80s. The turtle was all the rage. I was working at a school district with a program called Writing to Read, which came with IBM's PC jr's, so most of my future computers were PCs; IBM, Compaq and then Dells.

The next time an Apple came into the picture, was when I did a justification presentation for a Macintosh at Tahoe Donner for desktop publishing (using PageMaker and Quark) for our monthly newsletter. This was the only MAC in the company – we were mostly working off an HP mainframe with terminals at the time; but our newsletter's publishing company used a MAC so we purchased one to integrate our copy – in those days even the text was incompatible…

My most recent experience was with the ITouch my son bought me for Mother's Day a couple years back and I use it periodically as I travel and have wireless, do a little downloading of email and tweeting with it (only complaint was that battery life sucks). Both of my sons have iPads now and it has been fun learning about the different apps…

The book was a fairly quick read – four days. It bounced in the beginning a little bit – but settled in and provided a great overview of Jobs life, career and events that impacted his need to create and innovate. He was fascinated by artists, as am I… to understand where their minds take them when they are creating or just understanding how they see their world. As you might image, my view of things is very different…

So if you have some uninterrupted time, the book is a great read and allows a glimpse into the minds that can change the world with design. My only caveat was his approval of using mind altering drugs-allowing him to see the world in a different way and his belief that others should consider it. Only an opinion.